Events

Depending on tomorrow's weather, this month might be the coldest February in Chicago history: As of Friday morning, the average temperature for the month was -9.33°C, surpassing the average of -9.27°C in 1936 that is currently ranked the second coldest February, according to the National Weather Service. Could Chicago see its coldest February ever? That record, an average of -9.67°C, was set way back in 1875. Oh, and: This month currently ranks as the third snowiest February on record with 671 mm...

My old company wants to add 200 people in 2015: A Chicago consulting firm plans to hire 200 people this year, a one-third expansion of its staff, to keep up with increased business from middle-market companies needing help with business and technology strategies. The 200 new hires will be primarily project managers and experts in banking, retail, healthcare, manufacturing, and energy and utilities. Of West Monroe’s 600 current employees, 400 work at the Chicago headquarters, which the company is...

CityLab's Eric Jaffe takes a good look: Let's acknowledge, right from the start, that there's a lot to like about Chicago's long-awaited, much-anticipated Central Loop BRT project, which is scheduled to break ground in March. The basic skeleton is an accomplishment in its own right: nearly two miles of exclusive rapid bus lanes through one of the most traffic-choked cities in the United States. The Central Loop BRT will serve six bus routes, protect new bike lanes, connect to city rail service, and...

This morning's -10°C temperatures weren't that much better than yesterday's, but it still felt warmer, maybe because we got all the way up to -2°C by 6pm. The sun may also have helped: More cold coming. Spring, too, should be here in a couple of weeks months.

Chicago's municipal election last night failed to elect a mayor: Chicago's incumbent mayor now is destined for an April 7 runoff election against Cook County Commissioner Jesus "Chuy" Garcia in an unpredictable battle over the city's future and the right way to get there. With just 5 percent of precincts yet to report, Emanuel had 199,861 votes, a bit over 45.4 percent. He hovered at that level most of the evening. It was agonizingly close for him, but still short of the 50 percent-plus-one vote he...

The temperature in Chicago hasn't gone above freezing for 12 days, and got down to -20°C only last night. So right now, at -2°C, and with the sun out, it feels positively tropical. Unfortunately, the forecast doesn't show us actually getting above-freezing temperatures as far out as it goes. Medium-term forecasts also show below-normal temperatures all the way out through mid-March. And in the latest bit of good news, the Great Lakes are almost 86% covered in ice, close to the record of 94.7% set in...

Between rehearsals, work, and life, I haven't had a lot of time during the day to goof off keep abreast of world developments. So here's what got sent to my Kindle just today: Fallows on Sebastian Junger's response to previous blog posts on the U.S. military (read through the history—it's really interesting) TPM on Yitzhak Rabin and Binyamin Netanyahu The Daily WTF with a tale from the interview Chicago History Today on Mayor Martin Kennelly The Washington Post on Gerbils being responsible for the Black...

Saturday night I attended the Chicago Symphony's performance of Mozart's Piano Concerto #24 and the Requiem, both pieces I know well. I was disappointed, particularly in Riccardo Muti's direction of the Requiem. The Chicago Symphony Orchestra and Chorus comprise some of the best musicians in the world. The CSC, in fact, had a reputation for being the best chorus in the world when I was growing up. But Saturday, they seemed robotic. Every note, rhythm, cutoff, dynamic, and pronunciation was perfect; and...

Last week, Parker's daycare and boarding facility had a serious scare when two men stole one of their vans: The van was found abandoned near 21st and Wabash — dogs still inside — by a Good Samaritan who notified authorities. On Wednesday, two gunmen took the van, which was left running and unattended in the 800 block of West Superior, police said. Though the driver wasn’t in the van when it was taken, the robbers did point a gun at someone who tried to stop them, police said. Joseph Giannini, owner of...