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Lollapalooza Suspended, Resumed After Dangerous Weather Conditions

By Erik Thompson With additional reporting by Reed FischerThe 2012 installment of Lollapalooza has thus far brought the requisite extremes, in terms of performances and potent weather. A two-hour delay cut through the middle of Saturday's entertainment at Chicago's Grant Park, and a good many peopl ... More >>

Just How Hot is 108 Degrees?: Daily RFT Time-Travels Back to 1954 to Find Out

The National Weather Service predicts that the temperature will hit 108 degrees this afternoon. That's only a few degrees more than 105, which we've lived through plenty of times, but 108 seems more significant somehow, maybe because the last time it was ever this hot in St. Louis was back in July o ... More >>

MetroNixed: Metromix ends its local coverage

Can the Cards Survive the Deadly Ex-Cubs Factor? [UPDATED]

Do the Cardinals need one of these?​Update October 31: It turns out they can! (It was proven in 2008 when the Rays lost to the Phillies that minor-leaguers do count as ex-Cubs.) Which means...if the Ex-Cubs curse has been broken, is the Curse of the Goat far behind? Dare we say -- Cubs in 2012 ... More >>

Federal Funds for Food Pathogen Screening in Danger

Wikimedia CommonsSprouts of doom.​ Despite growing concerns about E. coli outbreaks in food supplies, the Chicago Tribune reported yesterday that the federal government might eliminate the screening test for the form of E. coli that recently sickened more than 4,000 people and killed more than ... More >>

Jelly Underbelly: Q&A with Jelly Belly Creator David Klein

Lies! Buyouts! Blackmail! Jelly beans! Katie Moulton​ In 1976, lifelong candy enthusiast David Klein had an idea: to take the lowly jelly bean, that reject runt of the Easter basket, and turn it into gold. Jelly Belly, the world's premiere gourmet jelly bean, was born, and the rest was histo ... More >>

The Obamas Still Proud of That Chili Recipe

Ian FroebThe Obamas' chili, as prepared by Gut Check in 2008​Skimming Eater this morning, I couldn't not click on the link to an article titled "Michelle Obama, Your Chili Is Bullshit" -- and not just because that's one helluva compelling headline.You see, three years ago, Gut Check made the chili ... More >>

New Release Highlights For November 9: Cee-Lo Green, Floacist, Kid Cudi and More

(New albums are typically released on Tuesdays, i.e., today. What can you spend your hard-earned pennies on this week? Find out below.) Floacist's Floetic Soul​*Floacist, Floetic Soul Soultracks.com says of the new record, "With Floetic Soul, Stewart successfully continues the neo-soul and po ... More >>

Locavores Get What They Pay For

When food activist Michael Pollan put a price tag on some local foods ($8/dozen eggs, $3.90/lb. peaches), he came off as a locavore elitist. The Wall Street Journal investigates to see if this is true, and finds that consumers often get what they pay for. The Chicago Tribune investigates the true ... More >>

Porcinis to Die For.

Good enough to die for? Eighteen Italian mushroom-foragers have died in ten days. According to the Guardian, it's not the mushrooms that are deadly; it's the terrain. Weather conditions this have have led to an explosion of porcinis in mountainous northern Italy, which has led to exceptionally compe ... More >>

Blagojevich Won't Be Retried -- Rob Blagojevich, That Is

image viaThe Blagojevich brothers in 1960.​If you think Rod Blagojevich is annoying now, just imagine how he must have been as a child. Now imagine having him for your little brother. By that criterion, Robert Blagojevich should be up for sainthood. Well, Rob is finally getting his just rewar ... More >>

Don't Panic Over Halal Food Carts Near Ground Zero.

Good God, no! They're selling Halal food at Ground Zero! The Washington Post sensibly explains to a concerned reader why selling food that adheres to Islamic law in Lower Manhattan isn't threatening.An English professor was forcibly removed from a Manhattan Starbucks because she refused to participa ... More >>

Beef From Cloned Bulls in the Food Chain

Last week a U.K. farmer anonymously confessed to selling illegal milk from cloned cows. Now the Guardian announces that beef from cloned bulls has entered the food chain. Two bulls were sold for food by a Scottish farm, one last summer and a second in May. The farm, which is the largest breeder of H ... More >>

Chicagoans Continue to Broaden Horizons, Explore St. Louis

image viaIntrepid Chicagoan Blair Kamin.​To a Chicagoan, the state of Illinois south of Joliet is nothing but a lot of cornfields, except maybe for Champaign-Urbana, and St. Louis is just a teeny, tiny blip on the distant horizon. But when an intrepid Chicagoan dares to cross those nearly 300 ... More >>

Brazillian Meatpackers Ditch Amazon-Threatening Beef

The three largest meatpackers in Brazil veer away from environmentally unfriendly ranches. Food Safety News reports that the move to stop doing business with 221 ranches came after a Greenpeace report on cattle farming's effects of Amazon deforestation. The meatpacking industry intends to cut more e ... More >>

Blago Won't Testify After All; Wife Loses Chance to Catch Up on Summer Reading

image viaWould this man lie to you?​Former Illinois governor Rod Blagojevich, who, for the past year and a half, has been proclaiming his innocence to anyone who will listen (and even some who don't care), has decided to hold his tongue, for once. Blago announced his intention earlier this we ... More >>

The Morning Brew: 5.14

Raw milk advocates protest on Boston Commons, complete with cows. The Atlantic reports that even though Massachusetts is one of the 28 states where raw milk sales are legal, proponents are displeased that it's only legal to purchase raw milk directly from farmers because of control by corporate da ... More >>

The Morning Brew: 5.6

The latest food news from the Gulf Coast oil spill, courtesy of Business Week: fishing will stay banned until May 15 at a minimum. Estimates predict the spill it threatening twenty-five percent of the U.S.'s total fresh fish. Louisiana crab suppliers are charging $170/barrel, as opposed to $120/ba ... More >>

The Morning Brew: 5.6

The latest food news from the Gulf Coast oil spill, courtesy of Business Week: fishing will stay banned until May 15 at a minimum. Estimates predict the spill it threatening twenty-five percent of the U.S.'s total fresh fish. Louisiana crab suppliers are charging $170/barrel, as opposed to $120/ba ... More >>

The Morning Brew: 4.30

As the oil from last week's rig explosion creeps closer to the Louisiana coast, New Orleans restaurants are becoming concerned about the fate of their local seafood, especially on the verge of oyster reproduction season. The Chicago Tribune interviewed people whose livelihoods rely on Gulf oysters t ... More >>

Hot Thumbs: Illinois Lawmakers Loosen Teen Sexting Laws

Image viaThe phone of an Illinois lawmaker or an Illinois teenager?​Under current Illinois law, if a sixteen-year-old girl takes a revealing picture of herself with her cell phone camera and sends the pic to her seventeen-year-old boyfriend, it's possible that both of them could be arrested and ch ... More >>

Will Blago Ever Get to Hang in the State Capitol?

Image source​Rod Blagojevich may have been fired from Celebrity Apprentice, but that doesn't mean he's been forgotten by the people he used to govern. This week, the Post-Dispatch reports, the Illinois Senate will vote on bill that will prohibit state funds from being used to finance official ... More >>

The Morning Brew: Friday, 2.12

​ Gap in meat inspection process makes customers vulnerable to E. coli. (Chicago Tribune)British study finds that soy-based vegetarian diets might be more harmful to the environment than eating meat. (Times Online)A warning to anyone who might dare to complain about the coffee at Tim Horton' ... More >>

Awful Breakup: Teen Charged in Neck-Slashing Death of Tyra Whittaker, 18

Kyle D. Starks​A Metro East family mourns the death of Tyra Whittaker, who died Sunday night of a slash-wound to her neck, allegedly at the hands of her former boyfriend.Police officials say Kyle D. Starks, 19, of Cahokia, slashed the neck of Whittaker, 18, with a "razor knife", after she tried to ... More >>

The Morning Brew: Wednesday, 12.2

​ How to eat healthy at airports. (Washington Post)A remembrance of coffee shops past. (Chicago Tribune)Pittsburgh Pirates pitcher interning with the USDA. (ESPN)Singapore's Satay Man is the last of a dying breed. (The Atlantic)Monsanto draws antitrust scrutiny. (Washington Post)

Lots Happening in the Newsroom at 900 North Tucker

Photo ViaJoe Mahr​Let's start with the bad news: the imminent departure of St. Louis Post-Dispatch investigative reporter Joe Mahr (who the RFT just named its Best Reporter of 2009 earlier this month.) You probably saw his byline, along with that of fellow muckraker Jeremy Kohler, atop this past w ... More >>

Illinois Man Sentenced to Jail for Yawning in Court

Was Clifton Williams sleepy or dopey? ​Poor, poor Clifton Williams. The Illinois man was attending his cousin's drug sentencing in a Joliet, Illinois, courtroom when he let out an enormous yawn. The ill-timed exhale so angered Will County Judge Daniel Rozak that he sentenced Williams to six months ... More >>

Killer Queens

The Best of Gut Check: Hecho en Mexico

While Gut Check is on vacation, enjoy highlights from the past two years. Every few years I fail miserably to overcome my adolescent's addiction to Coca-Cola. I make it a few weeks or months -- but then, usually without thinking about it, I'm dropping fifty cents into the office soda machine or snag ... More >>

A Squirrely Gift for Father's Day

Yes, it's that time of year again that Unreal dreads so much: Finding the perfect Father's Day gift for the old man. There are only so many golf balls you can get a guy -- and the idea of giving your father balls...okay, let's not take that road any further.The Big Mouth Billy Bass fad has totally r ... More >>

St. Louis T-Shirt Maker Inspires Chicago Copycats; White Sox Manager a Fan

Ozzie GuillenChicago White Sox manager Ozzie Guillen might not know it, but he's a fan of St. Louis-based Rina Wear clothing company. The Chicago Tribune reports that prior to today's inter-league match between the White Sox and Cubs at Wrigley Field, Guillen came across a street vendor selling T-sh ... More >>

Jay Bennett Sues Wilco's Jeff Tweedy, The Internet Freaks Out

Now that swine flu hysteria appears to be waning, news organizations must be trying to figure out how to fill space. How else to describe the beyond-comprehensive coverage of the breach-of-contract lawsuit ex-Wilco member/one-time Undertow artist Jay Bennett filed against songwriting darling/Be ... More >>

St. Louis to Chicago in Under Four Hours By Train

It may be possible in the not-too-distant future. Yesterday President Barack Obama unveiled plans for a high-speed rail network throughout the United States. A Midwestern route -- with a hub based in Chicago -- could go online in 2012 connecting the Windy City with Milwaukee and Detroit. Another lin ... More >>

Blagojevich and the Cubs: It Gets Better

From page 44 of the indictment of Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich, about the deal the Tribune Company was seeking on behalf of the Cubs (via Talking Points Memo): "During the call, Rod Blagojevich's wife can be heard in the background telling Rod Blagojevich to tell Deputy Governor A 'to hold up t ... More >>

File: View the Criminal Complaint Against Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich

By now you've probably heard about Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich being arrested early this morning by the FBI. Things have gotten strange in Chicago lately, what with Blago's alleged corruption finally imploding, the Tribune Company filing for bankruptcy protection and the perrennial losers, tho ... More >>

The Morning Brew: Friday, 5.27

No Depression Magazine to Cease Its Print Publication

The Morning Brew: Wednesday, 8/22

Got a Minute?

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Best TV News Anchor

Kathryn Jamboretz
KPLR-TV (Channel 11)

Release the Hounds!

Dogs are born free, but parks are extra

I Eat My Young

Popular Post columnist comes clean, unleashing a cavalcade of confessions

Pulitzer's New Prize

The Cardinals have billed Michael E. Pulitzer as an owner, even when he wasn't. Now that he is, can we trust the Post to tell the truth?

Bad Head Job

The Post leans on TV for election coverage and flubs the Big Story

Letters to the Editor

Published the week of June 14-20, 2000

Lost at Sea

Editor Cole Campbell has left in his dinghy, and the mutineers at the Post-Dispatch are jubilant. Now, the flagship is listing and the crew has no idea where it's headed.

TOUCHING HOME BASE

The first woman to play NCAA baseball hits one out of the park with a new short-story collection

News of the Weird

News of the Weird