"Chicago Tribune" Reader

"Chicago Tribune" Reader

Bears' Dent elected to Hall of Fame

Posted: 05 Feb 2011 04:30 PM PST

Super Bowl: the fun after the storm

Posted: 05 Feb 2011 04:30 PM PST

After the snow and shoveling, it's time to connect with friends

Shovel-weary Chicagoans will come together over warm bowls of chili and subs that stretch on for feet and take in a Super Bowl that should be a particularly welcome respite from a week that seemed interminable.

Review: The Decemberists relax and have fun | Photos

Posted: 05 Feb 2011 02:55 PM PST

"One of my all-time favorite pastimes onstage is to throw things at the drummer," The Decemberists frontman Colin Meloy said, before he and drummer John Moen jokingly requested panties be thrown to help booster self-esteem. While that request went unfulfilled, it did set the tone for fun and folly during their sold-out show at Riviera Theatre Friday night. And for a band that has taken a scholarly approach to album-making, character-rich, rife with literary references, highbrow vocabulary and a studied understanding of myriad pop styles often taken to theatrical heights, their live performance demonstrated they don't take themselves so seriously.

Wynton Marsalis | Photos

Posted: 05 Feb 2011 02:55 PM PST

The Jazz at Lincoln Center Orchestra long ago established itself as a virtuoso ensemble. But in recent years it has become something more: an uncommonly malleable band that can recalibrate its sound and style to accommodate an increasingly wide-ranging repertoire.

Northwestern holds on to beat Illinois, 71-70

Posted: 05 Feb 2011 12:21 PM PST

Bush trip to Switzerland canceled over protest threat

Posted: 05 Feb 2011 09:41 AM PST

GENEVA (AP) — A visit former U.S. President George W. Bush planned to make to Switzerland next week has been canceled because of security concerns, after left-wing groups called for mass protests and rights activists proposed legal action against him for allegedly ordering the torture of terrorism suspects.

House Republicans go easy on budget cuts for Congress

Posted: 05 Feb 2011 05:09 PM PST

WASHINGTON (AP) — Republicans now running the House are barely touching Congress' generous own budget even as they take a cleaver to many domestic agencies.

Bolingbrook girl's 1996 disappearance still a mystery

Posted: 05 Feb 2011 01:02 AM PST

Dad focuses on keeping her name in the public: 'Miracles do happen,' he says

Jeff Skemp still listens to the copy of Alanis Morissette's "Jagged Little Pill" that he pulled from his daughter's CD player the weekend after she disappeared 15 years ago.

Airlines press legal battle with Chicago

Posted: 05 Feb 2011 09:35 AM PST

American, United seek to force Daley's aviation commissioner to answer their questions

Chicago and the airlines seeking to slow the expansion of O'Hare International Airport filed dueling court motions Friday over whether Aviation Commissioner Rosemarie Andolino should be required to give a deposition in connection with the carriers' lawsuit against the city.

Portraits of lives lost to blizzard

Posted: 05 Feb 2011 08:59 AM PST

How some of the victims lived and died

The Blizzard of 2011 played a role in the deaths of at least a dozen people in the region who were trying to cope with the punishing storm. Here are some of their stories.

The dangers of rooftop snow

Posted: 05 Feb 2011 08:26 AM PST

Even 8 inches could be hiding a host of problems

It takes only about 8 inches of melting snow on a roof to create the kind of instability that can threaten lives and ring up costly repair bills.

Finding reality behind the rhetoric

Posted: 05 Feb 2011 12:59 AM PST

Emanuel, Braun and Chico have tendency to gloss over history

The three top contenders for mayor, Carol Moseley Braun, Gery Chico and Rahm Emanuel, are pitching a vision of the future that doesn't always square with their recent histories.

Egyptian turmoil spurs another local rally | Photos

Posted: 04 Feb 2011 06:14 PM PST

Several hundred people rallied Friday to support the ongoing anti-Mubarak government protests in Egypt.

Police: 1st post-storm shooting over a snowblower

Posted: 04 Feb 2011 11:07 PM PST

A man was shot and robbed of a snowblower in the Englewood neighborhood on the South Side early this morning -- the first shooting since this week's blizzard hit on Tuesday, police said.

Joyce Sloane, mother of The Second City, dead at 80

Posted: 04 Feb 2011 09:45 PM PST

She was associated with the theater for all but one of its 50 years and found and nurtured such comedy giants as John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Chris Farley and Bill Murray.

Joyce Sloane, the beloved maternal powerhouse of the Second City improvisational theater in Chicago, and the woman who found and nurtured such comedy giants as John Belushi, Gilda Radner, Chris Farley and Bill Murray, died of natural causes Thursday in Chicago. She was 80.

Egypt's ruling party leaders resign, but Mubarak holds on

Posted: 05 Feb 2011 04:43 PM PST

CAIRO (AP) — The top leadership body of Egypt's ruling party resigned Saturday, including the president's son, but the regime appeared to be digging in its heels, calculating that it can ride out street demonstrations and keep President Hosni Mubarak in office.

Flurry of complaints on cleanup effort

Posted: 04 Feb 2011 11:00 PM PST

Schools open, transit improves, but some neighborhoods say they've been forgotten

Residents of some neighborhoods, particularly on the South Side, complained that their communities remained hobbled by impassable side streets and major thoroughfares.

Blizzard won't bump golfers

Posted: 04 Feb 2011 06:16 PM PST

Die-hards brave elements in quest to keep game in shape

Two days after a ferocious blizzard, Cog Hill Golf Club in Lemont looked like the surface of the moon. Bunkers were indistinguishable. Greens as white as an eggshell. That didn't stop everyone.

Chico ad swats at Emanuel's tax-swap plan

Posted: 04 Feb 2011 06:33 PM PST

Takes on front-runner with first TV attack spots of mayor's race

Candidate Gery Chico is up with the first TV attack ad of the Chicago mayor's race, a spot in which he blasts opponent Rahm Emanuel's idea for a sales-tax swap.

CSO music director Muti to have surgery for fractured jaw

Posted: 04 Feb 2011 06:39 PM PST

CSO music director out through Feb. 15

Chicago Symphony Orchestra music director Riccardo Muti will undergo surgery Monday to repair what the CSO is now characterizing as "multiple facial and jaw fractures" sustained from a fall from the podium Thursday.