Login
  • facebook
  • twitter
  • sign up today!

Nov. 15, 2013

Cold feet?

It might come as a surprise to hear that Chicago’s tough and outspoken Mayor Rahm Emanuel had gotten “cold feet” – unless it happened as a result of the mayor plunging into Lake Michigan in early March. And according to Emanuel, that’s exactly what he plans to do.

While speaking at Special Olympics Chicago’s 45-year anniversary breakfast Tuesday, the mayor announced that, as a result of a bet with Chicago Public Library Commissioner Brian Bannon, he will participate in SOC’s annual Polar Plunge fundraiser. The mayor said he would take the plunge if over 70,000 Chicago children read more than 2 million books this summer under the Rahm’s Readers program, and the kids met those marks.

Emanuel, however, used his position as the city’s top elected official to even the score. “As the mayor, and since I have authority, I’ve now made both the head of the library and the head of the park district also join me,” he said. “And since I’ve now acknowledged them publically, they’re now going to do it.”

The ice rink cometh

Friday marked the seasonal opening of Millennium Park’s McCormick Tribune Ice Rink, the Mayor’s Office reminded residents in a tweet. The skating rink, which has attracted over 100,000 visitors each year, will remain open through Sunday, March 9, 2014, according to a mayoral press release. View the release for daily and special holiday hours.

Second City to none

It all started when the Council on Tall Buildings and Urban Habitat on Tuesday ruled that the new World Trade Center was the tallest building in the Western Hemisphere, replacing Chicago’s Willis Tower in the No. 1 spot. After Mayor Rahm Emanuel made a statement denouncing the council’s controversial decision, the Daily Show’s Jon Stewart on his Wednesday night show gloated about New York’s new No. 1 status. The taunting eventually evolved into a full-fledged attack on Chicago, and particularly, the city’s signature deep dish pizza.

Emanuel answered back on Thursday, sending two deep dish anchovy pizzas to the Daily Show staff. Stewart attempted to get the last laugh later on Thursday, tweeting a short video of someone attempting to feed the pizza to a golden retriever. The dog took a pass and scurried away.

Stay here, no move!

Owners of the Billy Goat Tavern were uncertain earlier this week about the fate of the restaurant’s Michigan Avenue and Lower Wacker Drive location, which has been occupied for nearly 50 years, according to the Chicago Tribune. Bill Goat owner Sam Sianis told the Tribune on Tuesday that he did not know if the redevelopment of the Realtor Building, located above his restaurant at 430 N. Michigan Ave., would force his restaurant out of its longtime home. When asked how he would feel about occupying an updated space as a result of the redevelopment, Sianis responded by saying, “No fancy, I want it to be the same.”

The Sianis family in a Thursday statement confirmed that it will not be moving as a result of the redevelopment, according to RedEye Chicago.

Dusty dinosaur

Field Museum paleontologist Bill Simpson on Tuesday gave Sue, the museum’s 67 million-year-old Tyrannosaurs rex fossil, her semi-annual cleaning, according to the Chicago Sun-Times. It reportedly takes about two hours to clean the 42-foot, 280-bone skeleton, which Simpson did with the help of a hydraulic lift platform, a reverse-flow vacuum and a long duster. “I don’t have my French maid’s costume,” Simpson joked before getting started.

-Tom Butala