Staking positions

More strike talk at Near North hotels

08/04/2010

Sapped by prolonged contract negotiations, union workers for Hyatt Hotels last week voted to authorize a potential labor strike at the company’s four Chicago-area hotels. The hotel workers union Unite Here Local 1 and a number of major hotel chains have been at a bargaining impasse over wage, staffing and benefits agreements since August of 2009, when the union’s last contract expired.
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Soapboxer's delight

08/04/2010

Looking out over the crowd gathered at the northern rim of Washington Square Park last Saturday afternoon, Otis McDonald took a moment to let the last wave of applause and jeers die down before he resumed his address. The argument of the hour was about gun laws, and whether or not restrictions on ownership should eased in the city.
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Moving down the road

Changing things up after 132 Chicago Journals

08/04/2010

The electronic calendar that I’ve used to organize my schedule for the past two-and-a-half years is thick with short-hand notations like these: 6:30 p.m. South Loop School LSC; 6 p.m. Fannie May site meet; 7 p.m. Beat 1224 CAPS; 9 a.m. Zoning Board of Appeals; 10 a.m. Park ribbon cutting.
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Slack attack on Division

08/04/2010

A 63-year old man told police that he was robbed on the evening of July 23 on the 200 block of W. Division. The man said that the alleged offender, known by people in the neighborhood as "Slack," approached from behind, placed his forearm around the man's neck and said, "You be still, pop."
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Reform may bring relief from faulty home appraisals

The Home Front

08/04/2010

With home foreclosures and short sales dotting every Chicago-area neighborhood and suburb, homeowners who are paying their mortgages on time are scratching their heads and wondering what their house really is worth.
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Rescues of the week

08/04/2010

Salvadore is a gorgeous, 6-month-old kitten. PAWS Chicago volunteers have nicknamed this cutie “Salv-ADORABLE.” Salvadore is very laid back and usually prefers cuddling to playtime.
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Docs take to the small screen

07/28/2010

Web Extra! Slideshow
With his glitzy roster of elite clientele from Chicago and around the world, Dr. Leon Forrester Tcheupdjian is the self-proclaimed king of liposuction. A forerunner in field of cosmetic surgery since the 1970s, Tcheupdjian has brought numerous surgical and non-surgical techniques to the country that loves to nip, tuck and augment their troubles away. With his daughter and head nurse Leslie Forrester by his side, the pair are Chicago’s own "Plastic Royalty." At least that’s how NBC felt earlier this year when they signed up the twosome for a reality television show shepherded by Towers Productions.
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Upswell in Chicago foreclosure filings

More mortagees saying 'they are done' with condo units

07/28/2010

A study released last week by the research and policy group Woodstock Institute states that condominium foreclosures made an unsettling climb in the first half of 2010. According to the report, new foreclosure filings on condominiums in the city grew by 38 percent in the first six months of 2010 compared to the same period last year.
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Barista champ works down the block

Intelligentsia’s Michael Phillips takes 2010 coffee crown

07/28/2010

Michael Phillips, the assistant director of education at Intelligentsia Coffee and Tea, realized he wanted to make a career in coffee several years ago while he was living in Minneapolis.
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Field fight continues in court and in public debate

Heart of the 'hood

07/28/2010

It’s hard to believe it, but the Lincoln Park soccer field controversy continues to reverberate. Considering that members of Protect Our Parks (POP) met through my writing about the field, I thought I’d give you a heads up that POP president Herb Caplan will be on his soapbox on Saturday, sometime after 2:30 p.m., at the Bughouse Square Debates in Washington Square Park at Walton and Dearborn.
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