You might have noticed that houses got pretty expensive pretty fast. Chicago’s market has been at a 15-year high, while inventory is down 48% from last year, and nationwide the inventory of single-family homes is at its lowest point since 1982. And building a new house won’t save you: high lumber prices are adding $36,000 … Read moreRead More
Chicago Homes Under $300,000Whet Moseron May 7, 2021 at 2:00 pm Read More »
We can never repay everything our mothers have given us, but we can certainly try! Odds are, she’s made many a great dish for you, and even if making a meal for her isn’t do-able, you can still repay that kindness. Treat your mom to an amazing meal this Sunday, and give her the chance to kick back, relax, and let someone else do the cooking. Here are our favorite brunch spots for Mother’s Day 2021.
2701 S Eleanor St, Chicago IL 60608
Take it easy on the patio at Duck Inn with your mom as she sips on a mimosa or a bloody mary. Nurse your own coco & joe (rum, coffee and coconut) in between bites of the bananas foster french toast or the smoked salmon avocado toast.
1709 W Chicago Ave, Chicago IL 60622
Check out the very funky “Brunchenhausen” at this West Town fusion of Southern and German cuisine. Sweeten your meal with some crepes, or stick to the savory stuff with a ham biscuit. Don’t forget to chase whatever you eat with a tasty cocktail!
2700 W Chicago Ave, Chicago IL 60622
You and Mom can keep it classic with some french toast or eggs benedict, or if she’s feeling a little fancy, you can try something from Heritage’s selection of caviar (served with bread, pickles, and chips).
56 E Pershing Rd, Chicago IL 60653
Truth of Bronzeville has an impressive breakfast menu full of french toast, waffles, egg dishes, and special savory dishes like lobster and grits.
4609 N Lincoln Ave, Chicago IL 60625
Treat your mom to a stick-to-your-ribs Southern brunch this Sunday, courtesy of Luella’s. The chicken and waffles are legendary, and are even available with Nashville hot chicken. Whether you’ve caught mom on a sweet or a spicy day, she’ll have her pick of brunch food.
2523 N Milwaukee Ave, Chicago IL 60647
This Logan Square-based Italian restaurant offers a prix fixe Mother’s Day brunch with a family-style menu. Along with pastries to share, you and your fellow diners can choose three main dishes to share from a selection that includes french toast, truffle bruschetta, a cured salmon platter, and more.
435 N Clark St, Chicago IL 60654
Southern-style brunch awaits at Bub City! From shrimp n’ grits to buttermilk waffles, this amazing feast comes with bottomless mimosas and live acoustic music.
Brunch Spots Mother’s Day Featured Image Credit: Heritage Restaurant & Caviar Bar
We knew heading into the 2021 season, there were going to be opportunities in the starting rotation. The Chicago Cubs let Jon Lester and Jose Quintana walk in free agency, and they traded Yu Darvish to the Padres for a package of Zach Davies and several prospects.
Adbert Alzolay has been waiting for his chance to prove himself in a limited sample size over the last two seasons. The 26-year-old made six appearances, including four starts in the COVID-shortened 2020 season, posting a 2.95 ERA while fanning 29 batters in 21.1 innings. He struggled with his command in that sample size, allowing 5.5 BB/9.
However, he’s starting to find his groove this season, especially in his last two starts.
Alzolay took the mound on Wednesday, trying to help the Cubs sweep the defending World Series-champion Los Angeles Dodgers – a tough ask for a pitcher with limited Major League experience.
The San Felix, Venezuela native, gave the northsiders five strong innings, allowing just three hits, two earned runs while walking one and fanning seven. He needed just 79 pitches to complete the quality; his second straight quality start to boot.
“I’m putting a lot of trust in Willy,” Alzolay said after the Cubs 6-5 win on Wednesday. “[He] has been the one guiding me during my games, trusting him, trusting his experience in this game, and executing my pitches. Sometimes we just think about getting strikeouts, but pitching for contact when we need to is something that I have been working on lately.”
The two battery mates have called a game that has yielded a .174 average against in 26.0 innings of work.
On the flip side, Alzolay helped the Cubs avoid being swept in Atlanta last week, pitching six innings against a potent Braves lineup and fanning six.
“It was huge for me that I was able to throw my first quality start in the big leagues today,” Alzolay noted after quieting the Braves last week. “As a team, I feel like we needed it. We haven’t been as good as everyone was expecting as starting pitchers, but tonight, I felt it was good, as a team for the starters to that I went out there, and I gave the team six innings.”
Neville said embarking on multi-date tours is no longer appealing. “Don’t see this as a permanent goodbye, by the grace of God, I will keep making more music and may show up at a special event or concert down the road,” he said.
NEW ORLEANS — Fans of the sweet, melodic sounds of New Orleans’ legendary vocalist Aaron Neville won’t have many opportunities to hear him live from now on.
In posts Thursday on his official website and via social media, Neville announced his official retirement from touring.
Now 80, Neville said embarking on multi-date tours is no longer appealing.
“The time has come for me to stop ripping and running on the road,” Neville wrote. “I waited for someone to invent a way to beam me from show to show but no such luck. … Unfortunately, the grueling nature of travel and the schedule needed to make a tour work has become less than desirable. The current climate of our world brought me many realizations. Life is short and I’d like to spend my remaining time on this earth being less hurried.”
Still, Neville said his love for singing has not waned.
“It provides so much joy for me, at least as much as for those listening, if not more,” he said.
“Don’t see this as a permanent goodbye, by the grace of God, I will keep making more music and may show up at a special event or concert down the road,” he promises.
Neville hasn’t performed live since March 2020, when the coronavirus pandemic caused concerts to come to an abrupt halt in the U.S. Instead, he has livestreamed solo performances from Freville Farm, the 12-acre home in upstate New York where he and his wife, photographer Sarah A. Friedman, have lived since 2013.
The virus is of great concern to Neville, whose old age and asthma makes him especially at risk of developing a severe case of COVID-19.
“I don’t want to get sick,” Neville said in an article last year written for AARP. “So, I canceled my tour dates and we’ve been home and isolated on our farm in New York.”
Neville’s solo career flourished after the 1966 release of “Tell It Like It Is” and a later collaboration with Linda Ronstadt on “Don’t Know Much” and “All My Life.”
He also garnered much of his fame from his work with the Neville Brothers, an R&B, funk and soul group that was based in his hometown of New Orleans and also consisted of his brothers Art, Charles and Cyril.
The group, which formally disbanded in 2012, was known for closing out the New Orleans Jazz and Heritage Festival’s two-weekend run each spring.
The Chicago Cubs are in a very tough spot right now as an organization. The future is as bleak as it has ever been, despite the recent past being so successful for the most part. Of course, they won one World Series when many thought they would win multiple but that isn’t how baseball works. […]
Chicago Cubs: 3 players to sell high on before June hits – Da Windy City – Da Windy City – A Chicago Sports Site – Bears, Bulls, Cubs, White Sox, Blackhawks, Fighting Illini & More
A 12-year-old boy was critically wounded when he was accidentally shot by another child Thursday night on the South Side.
The boy was hit in the chest inside a home in the 3500 block of South Rhodes shortly before 7 p.m., Chicago police said. He was taken to Comer Children’s Hospital in critical condition, according to police and fire officials.
Another child had been handling a gun and accidentally fired it, police said. The child fled and the handgun was recovered at the scene, according to police. The child was later found and released by police, who said no charges were pending “at this time.”
Family members gathered outside Comer declined to comment. Community activist Andrew Holmes told the Chicago Sun-Times that the boy’s condition was stabilized but was still “fighting for his life.”
“We’re just praying for his healing and his recovery,” said Holmes. “We’ve got a lot of upset family members [and] upset friends.”
:no_upscale()/cdn.vox-cdn.com/uploads/chorus_asset/file/22497635/_8507675.jpg)
The shooting happened at the T.K. Lawless Gardens, a housing complex where Ald. Sophia King (4th) and state Rep. Kam Buckner have offices.
King said she was told the boy was accidentally shot by another 12-year-old on the 22nd floor of the building. “I think it’s a case of kids playing with a gun,” she said. “That never ends good.”
King said it’s “very concerning” that a gun wound up in the hands of a child, and she wants the gun owner to be held accountable.
Buckner, a Democrat whose 101st District covers a large swath of Chicago, said he had only heard scant details about the shooting. But he acknowledged that “it’s been a rough few months over there.”
Nine other children 13 years or younger have been shot so far this year, according to Sun-Times’ records. Less than two weeks ago, a 13-year-old boy and his 14-year-old cousin were shot while walking in the South Chicago neighborhood
Of those nine children, two were killed — 7-year-old Jaslyn Adams, and 11-year-old Ny’Andrea Dyer.
On nights when he’s not playing a game himself, Blackhawks defenseman Nikita Zadorov might be watching another NHL game.
Or he might not be. He has to balance his love for hockey while avoiding an overload.
“In the playoffs, I watch lots of games, for sure,” he said. “When it’s on NBC, definitely it’s easier to watch. Sometimes when I’m on the road or I’m eating, I turn it on [on] my phone.”
But the NHL won’t be on NBC or NBCSN starting next season. The league announced a new seven-year “A” package contract with ESPN in March, then a “B” package contract with Turner Sports, which airs games on TNT and TBS, in April.
That’s an exciting change for Zadorov and other Hawks, who are fans in general when their team isn’t involved. ESPN and Turner will put the NHL on more popular, more widely available platforms.
“It’s the right decision because ESPN is the biggest sports platform in the United States, probably the world,” Zadorov said. “It’s definitely a step forward for us to sell the game. We’re going to bring more people, more population to watch [us]. And it’s a big step up with the money as well for us, which is going to help us in the future with the next [collective-bargaining agreement].”
The money is undoubtedly the biggest positive from a league-business standpoint. The NHL will net $645 million annually from ESPN and Turner, plus another roughly $400 million annually from its ongoing Rogers/Sportsnet contract in Canada. It previously received less than $300 million annually from its contracts with NBC and Disney (for online streaming).
The increased TV revenue will balance the books after a devastating financial year and help the salary cap rise again — although that isn’t expected for another year or two.
“It’ll be good to get some freshness after the year we all had with COVID and everything,” Hawks forward Brett Connolly said. “It’ll be different, but hopefully it’s an advantage, which I think it will be.”
Only the Hawks’ national broadcasts — not the local ones on NBC Sports Chicago — will be affected by the change, and they’re unlikely to be on national TV any more than before. NBC and NBCSN planned to air 109 regular-season NHL games nationally each of the last two seasons. The new contract gives ESPN 25 and Turner 72, for a total of 97 over a longer season. Every playoff game will continue to be nationally televised. (All other games will be streamed online out-of-market on ESPN+.)
The most anticipated changes may be outside the game broadcasts themselves. Turner’s NBA studio shows, such as “Inside the NBA,” are known for their fun and lighthearted (but still informative) approach, which could carry over to similar NHL studio shows. And Turner also plans to use affiliates Bleacher Report and HBO Max for additional content. ESPN, through “SportsCenter” and other shows, knows how to market superstars.
Essentially, the NHL has seen the NBA’s popularity explosion in the social-media age and hopes to follow the same path.
“I can’t wait to see Shaq breaking down our games,” Zadorov joked.
NBC, although consistent with its NHL broadcasts since 2006, was often too serious, stagnated over time, stubbornly kept around unpopular commentators and didn’t highlight individual stars as much as it could have.
The Hawks’ final game this season, Monday night against the Stars, will be their last on NBCSN.
“NBC has done a good job. It’s been a long relationship,” Hawks coach Jeremy Colliton said. “But certainly ESPN has a huge platform. And TNT as well — they’ve got a lot of experience with big-time sports, so it’ll be interesting to see what they do with it. Hopefully we can all work together to build the game.”
With two NFC North quarterbacks being hot topics around the league for very different reasons, it’s a good opportunity to look at why they slid in their respective drafts. The Chicago Bears finally secured themselves what should be a franchise quarterback in Justin Fields, but he’ll have a long way to go in order to come close to his current division foe.
Five people were wounded in shootings Thursday across Chicago, including a 12-year-old boy who was critically hurt in Douglas on the South Side.
Shortly before 7 p.m., the boy was shot in the chest inside a home in the 3500 block of South Rhodes Avenue, Chicago police said.
He was rushed to Comer Children’s Hospital and listed in critical condition, according to police and Chicago Fire Department officials.
The boy was shot by another child who was playing with a handgun and accidentally fired it, police said. The child fled and the handgun was recovered at the scene.
A man was shot Thursday morning as he was dropped off in the Humboldt Park neighborhood on the West Side.
A woman in a black Jeep then pulled up at 5:50 a.m. in the 1500 block of North Campbell Avenue and fired shots at the man, police said.
The man, 21, was shot in his inner thigh and buttocks, police said. He went to Stroger Hospital, where he was listed in fair condition.
Also Thursday morning, a driver was in serious condition after he was shot several times by people in another car in the West Garfield Park neighborhood.
At least two shooters opened fire from a maroon car at 6:45 a.m. in the 4100 block of West Congress Parkway, police said.
Eleven rounds struck the man’s silver sedan, and three of the bullets hit the 52-year-old man in the abdomen, police said. Media reports showed the man’s car crashed into a concrete barrier.
He was taken to Stroger Hospital in serious condition police said. No arrests have been made.
A gas station employee was shot Thursday night in Burnside while trying to stop a group of males from leaving the store without paying for an item.
About 8:40 p.m., the employee came from behind the counter to stop a group of three males from leaving the store in the 400 block of East 95th Street without paying when one pointed a gun at him, police said.
The employee, a 37-year-old man, grabbed the gun and pushed it toward the ground as the person fired shots, striking him three times in the leg, police said.
The group fled the scene and the employee was transported to the University of Chicago Medical center in fair condition, police said.
In the day’s first reported shooting, a 19-year-old man was wounded in a road-rage related shooting in Ravenswood on the Northwest Side.
About 1:40 a.m., he was a passenger of a vehicle and the driver got into an argument with the driver of a black BMW in the 4400 block of North Western Avenue, after the two vehicles almost collided, police said.
The driver of the black BMW then pulled alongside him and fire a shot that went through the door and struck the 19-year-old in the leg, Chicago police said. He was driver to Weiss Memorial Hospital where he is in fair condition.
Thirteen people were shot, two fatally, Wednesday in Chicago.
5 shot Thursday in Chicagoon May 7, 2021 at 10:14 am Read More »
