Last Sunday, I was at the Cermak-Chinatown 'L' station, waiting for a Red Line train back to Edgewater, when i saw something unexpected pull up the nearby Rock Island District Metra line tracks.

A steam locomotive.

I couldn't pull out my camera quick enough to catch it, but I was able to get a few shots of the rest of the train.


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Ever since I started writing for Cook County Chronicle, it's been a constant exercise of "surely, they can't possibly accept that pitch?" A look at a recent Pace suburban bus service expansion? An article delving into the ins and outs of connections between suburban Metra train lines? An in-depth look into Chicago's Russian community? Surely that's ( Read more... )

So back on November 13, Chicago (and a lot of other parts of the world) got to experience a "supermoon." I was attending the Chicago Book Expo, and managed to catch it just that it was rising.


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Since January 13, writer Thomas J. O’Gorman has been been writing a gossip/society column for Skyline community newspaper. He took over the beat after Ann Gerber, Chicago’s longest-running gossip columnist, retired late last year.

I said that there is never going to be anyone quite like Ann Gerber, and, to his credit, Thomas O’Gorman doesn’t try ( Read more... )

This has been brewing in Chicago for weeks, but it didn't really make national news until today ( Read more... )

So, back on Friday, Chicago Transit Authority uploaded some pics of the new, currently under construction Cermak-McCormick Place Green Line 'L' station. Which isn't technically new. Per se ( Read more... )

In a recent piece for the Washington Post, University of Chicago grad student Daniel Hertz raised a provocative question - are the people who are opposing gentrification essentially arguing that neighborhoods should remain segregated?It's not that he's arguing that people who oppose gentrification are entirely in the wrong. He readily acknowledges ( Read more... )

After spending the past few months acting like he's running for Mayor and the last couple of weeks making pretty unsubtle hints on Twitter that he's going to run for Mayor, Chicago 2nd Ward Alderman Bob Fioretti made it official.

He's running for mayor.

Click to view

There are a lot of reasons a lot of people in Chicago have been looking forward to this. As I' ( Read more... )

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Back in Monday, Ald Bob Fioretti (2nd) made a speech in front of the City Club of Chicago. And while he didn't announce a candidacy for Mayor of Chicago, he sure sounded like the man campaigning. Or at least testing the waters for his campaign.


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