The pay phone, the vinyl record, the VHS tape - all once cutting-edge technologies that have been upgraded and replaced. Such is the impending fate of Polaroid photography. To commemorate the demise of the snap and print pic, the Chicago Art Department plays host this month to a photography exhibit titled DEATH + EXTINCTION, which consists entirely of projects created in the Polaroid medium. Six Chicago artists flew to New York City in June......

Mount Auburn Funeral Home in Stickney, Illinois, recently swapped two bodies due to mislabeling. When Lillian Grogan's family came to her wake, they were shocked to discover the wrong woman in her casket. "The family of Lillian Grogan said the stranger was wearing their grandmother's dress and favorite bracelet." Gah. Grogran had already been buried in the other woman's grave, so her family had to have her exhumed. The identity of the other woman hasn't......

We know plenty of people whose devotion to the Cubs borders on the religious. So maybe it's not that surprising that there's a new way to show fandom: being interred in a Cubs mausoleum. Beyond the Vines, a Cubs-themed final resting place to be constructed in Bohemian National Cemetery, will include a stained-glass replica of the Wrigley scoreboard and is the first sports-devoted tomb in the United States. There are only 280 urn-spots available though,......

Downtown reflections by Timothy State. The Cubs beat the Sox, 11 to 7. Look for Wrigleyville to be a drunk fest tonight. [Trib] A home-built airplane crashed and burned after taking off at Aurora Municipal Airport. The pilot is okay. [Trib] Daley addressed graduates at Northwestern University, and encouraged their active participation in helping Chicago get the 2016 Olympics. [S-T] A naval recruit was struck and killed by a Metra train in Highwood early this......

The National Center for Health Statistics released its life expectancy report, and good news! If you can read the report, you're still alive. Also, life expectancy for babies born in 2006 is an all-time US high of 78.1 years, and the age-adjusted death rate reached a record low. Other findings from the latest mortality report: The leading cause of death is still heart disease, followed by cancer, cerebrovascular disease, chronic lower respiratory diseases, accidents, Alzheimer's......

On the heels of last week's passing of Harvey Korman comes even more bad news for Chicago entertainment legends. First, Paul Sills, Second City co-creator and director of other troupes such as Playwrights and Compass Players, passed away yesterday at the age of 80. As a student at the University of Chicago, Sills joined forces with Ed Asner, Elaine May, and Mike Nichols to found the school's first student-lead theater group, "Tonight at 8:30." Later,......

This sure looks like Gene Lee in the New York Times this weekend, photographed on a skateboard in Berkeley. Photographer Peter DaSilva says he took the photo February 13, 2008. We thought Lee died in December.......

In a blow to the argument that hand guns help keep people safe, three children have been injured by stray bullets this weekend. First, there was 1-year-old Dashaun Turner. He was standing behind her sister while she cooked noodles at the stove in their West Pullman home when a stray bullet blew through the cabinet and struck his hand. Dashaun’s mother told the S-T: "I heard him holler, and, at first, I thought he'd cut......

If you saw a haze hanging over downtown this morning...nevermind, that joke's too easy. The Doggfather kicked off a two-night stand at the House of Blues last night on his current tour promoting his new record, Ego Trippin' (due out March 11th), and left our ears ringing. Frankly, we weren't sure what to expect. We're old enough to remember when Dr. Dre protege's first record, Doggystyle dropped over 14 years ago. Following that record's release,......

Sad news today: Joseph Zeman, the "pigeon man of Lincoln Square," was killed yesterday when he was struck by a car on the Far North Side. The driver was a 68-year-old who didn't see Zeman as he made a right leaving a parking lot. The 77-year-old was easy to spot at the corner of Lawrence and Western, where he would sit for hours on a fire hydrant, feeding a large group of pigeons that......

Georgette Watson, the 46-year-old principal of Brentano Math and Science Academy in Logan Square, died yesterday while she was having a root canal. According to reports, she was anesthetized, but it's not clear yet if she was under general or local anesthesia. She stopped breathing 40 minutes into the procedure, and despite efforts to revive her, she died. Her autopsy is scheduled for today, but she appears to have had a heart attack. Watson, who......

Thee Erin's title and caption for her photo, above, absolutely slays us: "'When did we become a civilization that dressed for the crowd and not for the individual?' 'Speak for yourself Bob. I taped my ankles.'" Wonderful. "...a masterwork of nausea that is only matched by the breakfast burrito and whiskey sour I enjoyed to prepare for this competition." Joshua Allen provided the commentary for today's dizzying round of Layer Tennis. The CTA workers......

Another man was charged today in U of C grad student Amadou Cisse's murder. Benjamin Williams, 21, was charged with first-degree murder, attempted robbery, two counts of armed robbery, and aggravated discharge of a firearm for the string of robberies that preceeded Cisse's death. Williams was not accused of shooting Cisse, and he's the third person charged with crimes from that night. Authorities previously charged Eric Walker, 16, with Cisse's killing as well as the......

Sure, you may be hungry like the wolf for the Duran Duran show tonight (get it? Hungry like the wolf? Duran Duran? No? Nothing?), but the big show we're excited about this weekend is taking place at The Metro Saturday night. Hip-hop legends The Wu-Tang Clan hit the stage in support of their new record, The 8 Diagrams, their first record since 2001's Iron Flag and since the 2004 death of ubiquitous member Ol' Dirty......

Now this brings back some memories. We've always had this fascination with old movie houses. It probably started with Sunday family days at the Will Rogers Theatre at 5641 W. Belmont in the mid-70's. It was the perfect capper to a day in Belmont Central. Mom would take us shopping for clothes at Goldblatt's — those stores were actually respectable then — or Jack Robbins, maybe have some lunch under the Golden Arches. Then......

In quick succession, the Cook County Board shot down a series of tax hikes yesterday, including proposed increases on electricity and natural gas. Five other increases backed by Democrat Roberto Maldanado, including taxes on SUVs, hotel stays, jet fuel and liquor sold in bars, died without support from any commissioners. The 2-14 vote against the electricity and natural gas taxes, proposed by Stroger ally Bill Beavers, signaled the unofficial death of Board President Todd Stroger's......

More news today about the state's case against Reginald Potts, and the evidence is really piling up. Potts was charged with murdering his ex-girlfriend Nailah Franklin over the weekend and on Monday was denied bail. According to Assistant State's Attorney Bob Milan, Potts left a voicemail for Franklin saying he could have her "erased" after Franklin sent an e-mail to some of her friends detailing Potts's criminal past. (According to Potts's blog entry on his......

Timothy Krajcir, a currently incarcerated repeat violent sex offender, pleaded guilty yesterday to killing Deborah Sheppard, an SIU student who was murdered in 1982. And then he confessed to eight other murders in Missouri and another area police haven't disclosed yet (possibly Kentucky). So far, he's been charged with five counts of murder and three counts of rape, and was sentenced to 40 years in prison for Sheppard's murder. Krajcir is 63. Krajcir's rap sheet......

Reginald Potts, Jr., was charged late last night in the murder of Nailah Franklin, who went missing in September of this year and whose body was later found in a wooded area in Calumet City. Not a big surprise, as Potts has been the primary suspect all along. In fact, the police didn't have to go very far to find him -- he was already locked up in county jail on other charges of violating......

Jaylnn Hall, 4, died early yesterday morning after her 15-year-old brother shot her in the chest, apparently accidentally. Her mother, whose name hasn't been released, is a Cook County corrections officer, and the 9mm handgun used in the shooting is her "duty weapon," which corrections officers are allowed to carry outside of jail. The mom was at work at the time of the shooting, and she's been "de-deputized," which is standard procedure according to......

The first storm of the winter season has passed. Here’s how it came down, by the numbers: About 400 flights canceled at O’Hare and Midway; those not canceled delayed 40 to 60 minutes. Wind gusts up to 45 m.p.h. Up to a quarter-inch of ice in some places. One death reported in Wisconsin, in a weather-related traffic accident. 100,000 customers without power across northern Illinois, mostly in the west and northwest suburbs. About 15,000 are......

Wonder where "celebrities" shop in Chicago? Expensive places. Ask Ellie gives some tough-love advice on how to get over a work crush. "This is getting beyond a crush to an unhealthy obsession." Burn, lady! How about something a little nicer? Sheesh. If you've been working on writing an episode of CSI or Bones (which...is secretly great), have we got a mystery-solving method for you: A Canadian scientist uses isotope analysis on teeth and bones......

Yesterday was the 20th anniversary of the death of Harold Washington. The Chicago of 1983 was very different from the Chicago of 2007: factories were shutting down, and white middle-class homeowners were leaving the city in droves, taking their property taxes and urban stability with them. An alarming upswing in crime and drugs, coupled with escalating racial tensions left many Chicagoans nervous about the future. Richard J. Daley had been dead for seven years, and......

It was twenty years ago today that Mayor Harold Washington collapsed at his desk in City Hall. He died of a massive heart attack. In 1983, Washington surprised Chicago by winning the Democratic Primary for Mayor. He won with 36% of the vote, beating out incumbent Mayor Jane M. Byrne and Richard M. Daley. In the April 1983 general election, Washington received 52% of the vote to become Chicago’s first black mayor, trumping Bernard Epton......

Dealing with the death of a pet is never easy, but it can be especially crushing for children, since it's probably their first experience with death. When Naperville freelance writer Melissa Wells' beagle died at age 13 from cancer, she found there were no words for her to console her young sons. As part of her own healing process, Wells decided to write her story down to help her family, and others. The result is......

Lonely phone calls, dying and dead relatives, a literary classic, and a reexamination of the Middle Eastern conflict took the prizes at the 2007 Third Coast International Audio Festival competition. The jury turned much of their lives over to their headphones, listening to 225 entries in search of the best English-language radio docs. Winners received a trophy/sonic instrument, a national platform for their work, and some cash to help support their future work. The radio......

In a surprising move, John McDonough resigned as Cubs president on Tuesday to become president for the Blackhawks. Isn't that like if Da Mere were to resign so that he could fill a vacancy on the water reclamation district board of trustees? McDonough had spent nearly 25 years with the Cubs organization, working his way up the marketing org chart before landing atop the front office when Andy MacPhail resigned following the 2006 season. McDonough's......

An investigation is underway in death of 34-year-old Freddie "Latee" Wilson, whom police shot and killed Tuesday night. It's the newly-formed (well, newly named at least) Independent Police Review Authority's first case, so Ilana Rosenzweig and her agency are under a lot of pressure to handle this appropriately--and quickly. Should...be....easy? Wilson's family and friends say he was "getting his life together" after a few stints in prison and was now a role model and mentor......

A little while ago, we told you about Granny Ball, a basketball league for cougars. Well, attention ladies over 50: There's another round of tryouts tomorrow for the newly formed Granny All-Star League. More than 250 people submitted adoption applications for the 41 horses that survived that truck crash. Wonder where we can see a bunch of local news promos....oh. Right here. Donda West's doctor confirms that she had plastic surgery but denies any......

First, you're diagnosed with a life-threatening illness, and then you wait months and months on the UNOS list (along with about 100,000 other Americans) for an organ. But your case is rare; you actually get the transplant you need. Hurray! Unless you're one of four transplant recipients in Chicago whose new organs gave them HIV and hepatitis C. This is the first time in more than 20 years that donor organs have transmitted the virus.......