Lucy's candidness about its organic produce issues is why the store is called Open Produce. They do their best to keep their business practices transparent, a tough ideal for any business, but especially difficult in the highly competitive grocery business. According to the Food Marketing Institute, food retailers run their business on 2% profit margins (compare that to the newspaper industry, which for all its bellowing about dying, still commands a hefty 10-15% annual profit, according to the Newspaper Association of America).

Resources re-sources [ree-sawrsez] –noun 1. a source of supply, support, or aid, esp. one that can be readily drawn upon when needed. 2. an indexed organized list of people and places that you can utilize for your project. Kinda like the list found below.

pinball playing field restoration in chicago

ps. I got kind of annoyed at the end of the thing, because I keep going to these things expecting them to be the Throw The Thieving Bastards in Prison Panel, the You Killed Newspapers On Purpose You Fuckers Symposium, a shame-the-greedy-corporate-assholes party that never really materializes. I think maybe I'm gonna have to host that panel some day, preferably out back of a tavern, with some feathers and a nice hot barrel of tar.

good howto to manage FOIA requests in Illinois; many suggestions are relevant anywhere, though some of the details of the FOIA law vary from state to state

The puck is set to drop in the Bridgestone NHL Winter Classic at Wrigley Field just after 1 p.m. ET as the Chicago Blackhawks host the Detroit Red Wings in the first-ever NHL game at a baseball venue.

Workers at Chicago's Republic Windows and Doors are occupying the factory, after management closed operations Friday. Plants and other businesses with 100 or more employees are required by federal law to provide workers with a 60-day notice before layoffs and closures; but Republic Windows and Doors says it had not choice but to close the plant, because Bank of America, the company's principal creditor, is refusing to make the company a loan. After workers picketed a Bank of America headquarters last Wednesday, the banking giant offered to sit down with Republic representatives and workers in a meeting arranged by Illinois Representative Luis Gutierrez. But company representatives never showed up to the meeting, and management shut the plant's doors – that's when workers decided to occupy the factory in protest, demanding the $1.5 million they are owed in severance and vacation pay.

If someone were to rank the long list of people who helped Barack and Michelle Obama get where they are today, Jarrett would be close to the top. Nearly two decades ago, Jarrett swept the young lawyers under her wing, introduced them to a wealthier and better-connected Chicago than their own, and eventually secured contacts and money essential to Obama's long-shot Senate victory.

In the crush of his presidential campaign, Jarrett could have fallen by the wayside, as old mentors often do. But the opposite happened: Using her intimacy with the Obamas, two BlackBerrys and a cellphone, Jarrett, a real estate executive and civic leader with no national campaign experience, became an internal mediator and external diplomat who secured the trust of black leaders, forged peace with Clintonites and helped talk Obama through major decisions.

Studs Terkel, a Pulitzer Prize-winning author whose searching interviews with ordinary Americans helped establish oral history as a serious genre, and who for decades was the voluble host of a popular radio show in Chicago, died Friday at his home there. He was 96.

One other contemporary artist, Robert Irwin, has explored the splitting of focus. Writing about Irwin in his book Seeing Is Forgetting the Name of the Thing One Sees, Lawrence Weschler quotes him explaining that he trained himself by “placing a dot on a window and gazing both at and beyond it, thus allowing two planes of focus, one for each eye.” Irwin played with perception in a famous series of paintings of dots and discs, but the Oakes twins are alone in using split focus to draw perspective. They didn’t know this until after they’d done it.

Chicago, April 1943. "General view of part of the South Water Street Illinois Central Railroad freight terminal." View full size. 4x5 Kodachrome transparency by Jack Delano for the Office of War Information.

here's where to vote in chicago; vote early, vote often

The convention’s opening night in 1968 - August 25, Chicago - as described in Nixonland, by Rick Perlstein. Just one paragraph:

The convention floor accommodated 6,511 delegates, but was designed to hold 4,850. The air hung heavy with summer sweat, cigarette smoke, the smell of the nearby stockyards. The gavel rang, Aretha Franklin belted out a rock-and-roll version of “The Star-Spangled Banner,” and the first of many brawls broke out: the compromise on the Georgia delegation voted by the Credentials Committee wouldn’t go into effect until Wenesday, and liberals jumped on their seats and started shouting at Georgia, “Throw them out! Throw them out!” Senator Daniel Inouye delivered his keynote speech, addressed to the hippies infesting Chicago’s parks.

During the 1920s, the Chicago Rapid Transit Company commissioned the city's finest graphic artists to produce advertising posters that encouraged Chicagoans to use rapid transit for more than commuting to work. The images produced beckoned Chicagoans to the city's parks, museums and other urban spots, as well as to more bucolic destinations beyond the city limits. Curiously, almost none of the posters actually featured the "L"TM itself, only scenic views of the destinations. Although there seem to be no records of precisely how many posters were produced, what they advertised, and what images they consisted of, researchers think approximately 160 posters were produced for the Insull lines between 1921 and 1929.

"At times, I feel inconvenienced, but I don't feel deprived," says Zrust, an advertising Web producer who is blogging about his summer at www.georgezrust.com/carfree/. "That's a big difference I've been trying to understand."

nice article about Adrian Holovaty, Django, and hyperlocal journalism

Hit: Proposal for second daily Amtrak run

We agree with the Midwestern High Speed Rail Association, which is pushing for a second daily round trip between Chicago and West Michigan on Amtrak’s Pere Marquette line, with a schedule designed to make it easier for Chicago residents to visit this area. We’re big supporters of rail travel as an alternative to the car, but we’re far from optimistic that a second daily Amtrak run is in our future any time soon. Despite steadily rising ridership, the state of Michigan still has to pay Amtrak a $1.8 million annual subsidy to support the Pere Marquette. It’s not likely our cash-strapped state government is going to be eager to increase that figure anytime soon, or that Amtrak will expand service without greater state support.

street photography of 1950s Chicago

Bell's Brewery Inc. beers are headed back to the Windy City nearly two years after the company pulled its brands out of the Chicago market following a nasty dispute with a distributor.

Comstock, Mich.-based Bell's Brewery on Thursday announced new distribution agreements with Central Beverage Co., Schamberger Brothers and Skokie Valley Beverage Co. that will mark the return of Bell's brands in Chicago beginning Friday.

wire story on chicago chicken ordinance.

Though he’s a native-born Chicagoan, my 8-month-old son’s middle name is Detroit. My wife and I figured if he became a rock star, he could just drop his guttural Slavic surname, and he’d have the perfect pseudonym: Grayson Detroit.

independent coffee shops in chicago

i'll be speaking there

i met wil in ann arbor

The CBS 2 Investigators have learned maps to guide ambulances around marathon road closures were not immediately available. Dispatchers were heard over the radio shouting "We need maps! We have no maps down here!"

Nokia announced Monday it plans on paying $8.1 billion in cash -- a rich price, analysts say -- to buy Navteq, which makes maps for car navigation systems, Web sites, personal navigation devices and, more recently, cell phones. Navteq will remain headquar

Karen Meyer joined ABC 7 as a feature reporter in 1991. Her segments, which deal with issues pertaining to people with disabilities, appear on the ABC 7 Sunday Morning News and on ABC 7 News each Thursday at 11:30 a.m. Profoundly deaf since birth, Meyer h

Tune into WLS Channel 7 in the Chicago area on Thursdays and Sundays and you'll find Karen Meyer reporting on people with disabilities.

crocheted graffiti, chicago (no seriously)

Detroit and St. Louis competed with Chicago in the 19th and early 20th century, but saw their city populations more than halved between 1950 and 2000. Decisions to throw away their streetcar networks and build huge freeways everywhere only hastened their

Walking the length of Chicago gave me a stronger sense of belonging here. It's my home, yes, and has been for a decade—but now it feels like my hometown. (Ruth hikes to Evanston; 59000 steps)

The theme for the 3rd annual Community as Intellectual Space conference acknowledges the essential role that individuals’ experiences play in the development, maintenance, and survival of the Puerto Rican community, in the diaspora as well as on the isl

the gargantuan Super H Mart (801 Civic Center Dr., Niles, 847-581-1212), which opened last summer, leaves CFC in the dust. Besides the most astounding and exotic produce section in the region, it has an extensive seafood department where whole fresh critt

photos and stories of the That's-A-Burger takeout burger place on the South Side of Chicago.

mark smithivas public art project

april 21-22 2007

Version is an annual springtime convergence that brings together over 400 artists, musicians, and educators from around the world to present some of the most challenging ideas and progressive art projects of our day.

"Wow, Free Press, this is really incredible journalism."

scheduling and calendaring for community groups, group in Chicago having a discussion

delays noted on every line, lots of deferred maintenance coming home to roost

CHICAGO - Lake Michigan is less of an impediment to travel between the Milwaukee and Detroit areas. Train 350, the morning Wolverine Service train eastbound from Chicago, has a new schedule allowing for a connection from the first Hiawatha Service train a

On April 2, megabus.com will begin serving five new cities, including Ann Arbor, which will add about 20 minutes to the 5 1/2 -hour Detroit-to-Chicago trip. Some critics have said the stop is needed to fill buses that still run half-empty; Moser argued it

university of michigan club of greater chicago events blog

chicago area um football ticket exchange, with the odd announcement of someone chartering a plane to a game.

Like so many recent U-M graduates, Abbey Gavrila headed to Chicago. There she's found dozens of kindred spirits - Midwestern 20-somethings savoring that first job and freedom.

inexpensive 2x/day bus service from Ann Arbor to Chicago

9:00 AM Depart Ann Arbor U of M State St Park and Ride
Arrive Chicago, Union Station 12:40 PM

n 2005, the FRA approved an historic increase in passenger train speed to 95-mph, using the Incremental Train Control System (ITCS) made by a unit of GE. This year, Amtrak, MDOT, FRA and GE are planning a 20-mile expansion of the ITCS-enabled line from Ni

prediction markets for the chicago alderman elections

a hit! as complete a bio as you'd need to dig more

"compelling marines"

aha! les chaney is lester joseph chaney. still tagging, now I have a full name.

not sure who the photo is of. looking for information on artist les chaney of chicago.

shared transit pass

architectural photography of chicago from dale winling, u mich alum

pete has a nice setup

schools closed in chicago information

art project cell phones + geolocation in chicago

mark smithivas

rick hasn't reviewed it yet - based in chicago babysitter exchange

good old fashioned identity theft, notes Richard Stiennon

downtown main library in Chicago. open sunday 1-5pm

Shannon Clark's conference in Chicago, sessions in MP3

camp for big kids in chicago

reported "soon to open", rumor has it they are online now