County Commissioner Forrest Claypool mostly stayed out of the fracas this week, but he's still going after Stroger. And he pronounces "patronage" so the first syllable rhymes with "rat." Don't most of us pronounce it so the first syllable rhymes with "rate"? Also...is Mark Suppelsa secretly foxy?......

In yesterday's Tribune, John Kass discovered the existence of "freegans." Like Alaskan Senator Ted Stevens trying to describe the Internet, Kass ridicules the movement as "equal parts youth, privilege, guilt and Al Gore's wackier environmental pronouncements mixed with bits of what your socialist professors told you in college but you can't remember, exactly" while theorizing (via his assistant) that most freegans embrace the philosophy because "(i)t's all about getting dates." We have a hard time......

Wednesday we told you about the closing of Penang Malaysian Restaurant and Sushi Bar in Chinatown for multiple health code violations. Even though a Penang spokesman would only comment to Chicagoist that they were "doing the best (they) could to correct the violations," manager Joe Leung felt slightly more confident when he told Crain's that they only had "plumbing problems" and expected to re-open that same day. We received an e-mail from Tim Hadac from......

A dog named Miss Pickles was rescued from the Chicago River last night. Miss Pickles's owner Claude was walking her and his three other pooches—yes, on leashes, according to reports—near Chicago and Halsted when Miss Pickles, a bullmastiff, started chasing a rat. She wound up running right into the water, so Claude called 911. After falling in the water, Miss Pickles began to paddle eastbound underneath the bridge, before heading north around the Goose Island......

The city Health Department just sent out a press release announcing that Penang, the popular Malaysian restaurant and sushi bar at 2201 S. Wentworth, was shut down yesterday for "critical violations of the City Health Code" after being tipped off by a person calling 311, reporting the sight of a rat entering the building housing Penang. Among Penang's many offenses, inspectors found live fruit flies and rodent feces throughout the kitchen and "premises" (one can......

While the fish-taco revolution is swimming across the area, there are plenty of other events happening this week. Before we list them, however, we should let you know that the cockroaches are taking over our downtown restaurants. This week's victim of the ultimate survivor, Bice. Cockroaches were the least of their problems, however. A Health Department inspection also found no hot running water in a kitchen sink and fruit flies in the bar. If you......

It's been confirmed. Orlando Jones, John Stroger's godson who avoided being interviewed by the FBI in conjunction with a hosptial shakedown in Las Vegas, committed suicide on a Michigan beach. Not only is this a tragedy for the people involved, but we're really disappointed with the Jesuits, as well -- The Rev. Donald McGuire has been convicted of molesting two boys in Wisconsin, faces a new accusation of sexual abuse, and his Jesuit religious......

You wouldn’t necessarily know it by looking at him, but Dean “Deano” Schlabowske is a traditional kind of guy. Well, at least he is when it comes to wine. After 17 years in the wine business, Dean decided to put his experience to good use. His motto? Corporate wine still sucks. No, really, that’s what it says on the sign posted on the window of Cellar Rat Wine Shop, his two-month-old Wicker Park store. And......

If it hasn't been drilled into your heads yet, street festival season is kicking into high gear. This week, we'll highlight a couple to check out, as well as feature one of the more humorous press releases to reach our inbox this week. Strap it on! We'll Call Ours the "Triple Bypass": Wendy's is hosting an online contest to see who can design their next burger. Folks who log on to www.thisismyburger.com can choose from......

Rats are nasty. Chicagoist wouldn’t want our cat to tangle with one. We’ve all seen those scary “Target: Rats!” posters up in nearly all of the alleys in Chicago. We’re not really sure what the city does when they target rats, but we don’t really want to know. The town of Cicero will spend $8.43 per person this year on rat eradication in comparison to Chicago’s $3.32 a person, and part of their plan this......

There's so much going on across the Ist-a-Verse that it's almost impossible to keep track these days. Fortunately, we do it so you don't have to! Londonist took a walk through Oliver Twist's London, thanks to a gorgeous map layer for Google Earth. They also caught up with modern-day fictional London, with the Fantastic Four and 28 Weeks Later. It was a week of insanity over at DCist. They started the week off with......

We don't know about where you are, but it seems like spring can't decide whether or not to happen. Some days are warm, some days are cold, and sometimes you aren't sure which. Baseball may have started up (and soccer/football winding down) but it still seems cold out there. Unless it's not. Anyways, onto the -ists. Austinist happily anticipated fall's Austin City Limits, even though they're not fully recovered from South By Southwest. In other......

Carl Icahn is moving into Motorola's apartment, sleeping on their couch, and eating all their cereal. Conrad Black: Don't read my love letters to my lady The Illinois House says state money should be used to support research using embryonic stem cells. A Northwestern prof is dropping big change for a new facility. The head of the MCA is stepping down. United is giving Jet Blue balls too. Police develop website for teens to......

January Gym Deals?...

Is the 50th anniversary of a historic Frank Lloyd Wright building worth pausing that "Dick in a Box" video and paying attention for a minute or two? What if we told you that building was in Bartlesville, OK? We can see you going back to the YouTube window. You may not give a rat's ass about an architectural wonder in a town you've never heard of, but the Chicago Architecture Foundation does. "Prairie Skyscraper: Frank......

Concerned environmentalists in Chicago should know better than to expect satisfaction when the fate of a 100-year-old maple tree rests in the hands of the Department of Streets and Sanitation. In fact, when said tree is blocking the development of a multi-million dollar home, as we learned from this instructive Tribune report, they shouldn't just expect to lose their argument, they should also prepare to watch the object of their mercy get fed into a......

The city claims to be winning its war against rats, according to a Streets and Sanitation official. Spokesperson Matt Smith told the Sun-Times yesterday that citizen complaints about rats are down 14 percent from last year. Smith credits increased baiting efforts and the roll out of new garbage cans with tightly fitting lids. Chicagoist wrote about a rat and mice infestation at City Hall last year in which we also quoted Mr. Smith, and now......

Mrs. Gov. Blago was involved in some lucrative real estate deals with a woman whose company has a no-bid state contract. Fishy? Some guy followed a woman off the Red Line, threatened to "slash her throat" if she made any noise, stole her money and her iPod, and sexually assaulted her. There was a witness, so there's a good sketch of him here. People are pissed because holiday trees are up in some suburbs......

We would rarely recommend a band full of ghetto mechanics, but the Ukrainian polka band Holyy Lazarski Nahane isn’t your average bunch of world musicians. They have jettisoned across the Atlantic just to play with The Bomb at a pre-Riot Fest show at Subterranean November 4. We’ve already picked up our tickets, and we would really recommend you do the same, since missing this show would suck almost as much as being forced to do......

The village of Lincolnwood has filed complaints against the ultra-sexy Purple Hotel on Lincoln and Touhy. The complaint cites "dangerous and hazardous conditions" at the hotel, including 53 separate violations like missing fire extinguishers, mold, rat droppings, food on the floors in the bar and restaurant, and "flying insect infestation." You'd never know it from their surprisingly slick website though, which boasts, "We invented guys night out." We find that hard to believe, but the......

The last time Chicagoist tackled eating on the Southwest Side, our map reading skills were called into question. So, knowing that this week's installment of "Cheap Eats" is located in the Heart of Chicago neighborhood, we'll let you debate whether this qualifies as a south side cheap eat, or a west side cheap eat. We're here to tell you about the food, which is worth the trip, with or without a compass. When Chicagoist last......

Yesterday Chicago’s Inspector General, David Hoffman, announced a new hotline and secure website for tipsters who want to rat out their fellow city workers engaging in corrupt practices and illegal patronage. Hoffman said when he arrived on the job six months ago the office lacked the technology and expertise to properly handle such issues. But now a quick call to 866-IG-TIPLINE (448-4754) or a visit to ChicagoInspectorGeneral.org is all it will take for city workers......

The first woman on the IL Supreme Court is going to retire this summer. 1-800-Flowers has agreed to buy Fannie May. The city has submitted a proposal to the FAA to build collapsible concrete beds at the ends of the runways at Midway to prevent planes from overshooting their landings. At an estimated $40 million, that's some expensive concrete. The Dept of Streets and Sanitation bought some really expensive, high-tech surveillance cameras with night......

Royal George Picketers?...

If you watched any of the major local news broadcasts this week, you surely saw the story about a "rat infestation" at City Hall and the Cook County Building. But not the same rats causing all those scandals, har har har, as Warner Saunders and Mark Suppelsa assured us, but real live scritchin' and scratchin' disease carryin' rats. Gross! As it turns out though, pest control inspectors say the problem isn't rats, but their smaller,......

It was only a matter of time before Lord Conrad Black was indicted on criminal fraud charges. Just a few minutes ago, U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald announced that Black would stand trial for looting millions of dollars from Hollinger, his once-mighty media empire which owns the Chicago Sun-Times. The company also owns dozens of suburban newspapers and once owned the Daily Telegraph (UK) and the Jerusalem Post. The indictments also named three former Hollinger execs,......

Before a certain sports team and its star player made international headlines, most outsiders associated Chicago with tales of mythic gangland figures like Al Capone or Terrible Johnny Torrio. Chicagoist saw proof of this many years ago on a family vacation to San Francisco when we encountered a street performer dressed as a clown. While making a balloon animal, the clown asked us where we were from. When we said Chicago, he said “Oh? Gangsters,......

Chicagoist never really had a "bisexual" phase. We jumped straight to gay, which is why we've never fully understood guys who claim to like both sides of the fence. A new study shows our suspicions may have been warranted. Researchers at Northwestern University asked 101 young adult men to rate their sexual orientation on a scale of 0 to 6: 0-1 indicating dudes who claim to like the chicks, 5-6 for the boys who like......

Yesterday a judge imposed one of the largest food-safety violation fines ever in the Chicago area, and possibly the nation, on Certified Grocers Midwest Inc. for providing refuge for mice, birds and cats at their warehouse in Hodgkins, Ill. Prosecutors were only asking for a $300,000 to $500,000 fine. During a two-week inspection, officials found over 250 mice (one nesting in a noodle box with it's babies), two dozen birds (that shat all over food......

Everyone's eaten airline food that tastes like shit, but no one really expected this: Mayor Daley's Dumpster Task Force reportedly shuttered an O'Hare warehouse containing snacks and beverages, intended for airline passengers, due to fecal contamination. Yum! The warehouse of Gate Gourmet, an airline food distributor, was closed yesterday after inspectors discovered more than 1,000 rat droppings nestled among the pretzels and beer. Mmmmmm, pretzels and beer... Chicagoist actually thinks these rats sound pretty awesome.......