Cubs pitcher Jason Marquis has told team management (though the media, of course) that he’d rather be traded than suffer the indignity of going to the bullpen. And Cubs Manager Lou Piniella has responded the way Lou Piniella does when this sort of controversy comes up: He told Marquis that if he wants a spot [...]

Chicago Blockshopper reported last month that former Peoria City Council member Charles Grayeb has bought a half-million-dollar condo in Chicago. Is this investment property, or will Grayeb be moving to the Windy City? The article notes that the property — located in the 1100 block of West Eddy, a block south of Addison — includes [...]

It must have been more than a decade ago. I was watching the”Tonight Show,” and Johnny Carson’s guest was a nice old lady whose avocation was to collect hardened bird droppings and polish them into jewelry. The finished products did, I must admit, look pretty in a sort of cheap trinket sort of way. But [...]

The following are paragraphs from my upcoming column in The Community Word, due on newsstands next week.
Here is a tale that is truly conspiratorial. I have no idea if it is true or not. I’m printing it because once it’s out there, there’s a chance more information could come forth to confirm or deny it. [...]

When I’m not tossing together posts for my own blog, I’m commenting on other sites. I’ve been having a bunch of fun on Eric Zorn’s blog recently, specifically this post about the Daily Illini firing its editor.
Zorn is a columnist for the Chicago Tribune. His insightful musings bring a ton of readers to the Trib’s [...]

President Bush came to Chicago to raise money for the GOP. Considering that Illinois is a blue state, I don’t know how much good it’s going to do any Republican candidate who gets too close to the guy. And you would have thought the advisers who tell him what to say would have warned him [...]

Via Chicago Tribune
A Metra train derailed Saturday morning on an elevated track near 47th and Wentworth killing at least one person, according to the medical examiner’s office.
Rock Island District train No. 504 from Joliet on its way to the LaSalle Street station in Chicago was carrying about 100 people, said Tom Miller, a Metra [...]

Via Chicago Tribune:
Two more trucking company owners were charged in an indictment made public Friday with paying bribes and campaign contributions to get and keep work in the city’s scandal-plagued Hired Truck Program.
Anthony Affetto, 66, the owner of Affetto Trucking Inc. of Chicago, and Robert Mangiamele, 62, the owner of R & V Trucking LLC [...]

I usually laugh off conspiracy theories like this:
The current Illinois governor, Democrat Rod Blagojevich, has millions of dollars to spend on his reelection campaign, but also has declining support around the state. Illinois Republicans, still hurting from an unsuccessful attempt to run a candidate for the U. S. Senate, but realizing Blagojevich’s growing unpopularity, feel [...]

Doug Finke turns in a fine column today by leading with a fine example of yet another downstate politician running for office by scapegoating the Windy City:
“This is not about going to war with anybody except the politically corrupt Chicago guys who think the state of Illinois is nothing but an opportunity for them to [...]

The feds recently coughed up some dough to finish a road project in Chi-town. Here’s comes Copley News Service with a warning: The state might have to spend money in Chicago to qualify:
U.S. Sen. Barack Obama, D-Chicago, suggested the state might choose to tap into the discretionary road funds from the federal transportation bill to [...]

There was a time in Illinois when a mayor of Chicago wouldn’t put up with some uppity senator showing such lack of loyalty:
Sen. Barack Obama said Thursday that the investigation into corruption at Chicago’s City Hall has raised serious concerns, and he brushed off questions about whether he would support Mayor Richard Daley for re-election.
“I [...]

Even though Tucker McElroy is a White Sox fan (ugh) I’m still going to add his Happy Hour blog to my blogroll.
Happy Hour,Tucker McElroy,Chicago,White Sox,White sox suck