Saturday, April 20, 2013
Across Patch's network of 900 sites, people felt the effect of the bombing at the Boston Marathon.
On mobile? You can see a scrollable, full-screen view of the map here. Monday's terror attack near the finish line of the Boston Marathon shocked the country and touched communities far from Massachusetts. The Boston Marathon is a national and international event, drawing participants and spectators from far away. When the bombs went off, they reverberated among families, friends and people who joined vigils honoring the victims. To illustrate the reach of this story, we've created this interactive map which displays every Patch site that wrote a story about local people touched by the attack. Each marker on the map is clickable and includes the name of the local person connected to the story and a link to their story. The 400+ markers on …
Friday, April 6, 2012
Instead of playing the lottery, just send me the money care of Patch.
No! I did not buy a lottery ticket, thank you very much! In fact, I haven’t purchased a heinous slip of paper in more than 20 years. I know y’all love to label me as a liberal, but this fiscal conservative refuses to fall prey to what’s nothing more than a voluntary tax. Because when it comes to winning the ping pong ball sweepstakes, you have a better chance of dying in an asteroid strike, being struck by lightning, dying of a snake bite, being attacked by flesh easting bacteria, or watching your golf foursome hit two holes-in-one on the same hole. But despite those incredible odds, apparently everyone in this bloody country but interim Patch editor Dan Campana and myself shelled out $1.5 billion for the privilege of participating a one …
Saturday, February 11, 2012
Some red carpet moments are just too good to be true, while others make us cringe. What will it be like this year?
Going to the movies with friends is always fun, but most of us see movies in our living rooms these days. Call me old fashioned, but I still love seeing a good film in a real theater where the screen is huge and the lights are low. I'm not what one would call a movie buff—you could fill a thimble with my knowledge of the industry. However, I am a huge fan of watching the Oscars. This year Billy Chrystal will be back at the helm, and it's anybody's guess as to which flick will get best pick. Although my favorite, Midnight in Paris, is an unlikely winner, overall it was a wonderful year for movies. There was literally something for everybody. And it should be a very good year for fashion as well. If the Golden Globes were any indication, …
Thursday, February 9, 2012
For this opinion column, we're talking about Baby Boomers on, so "It Happened One Night" and "Some Like It Hot" don't count. I've got my list. What's yours?
I was shocked—shocked!—to find out what Moviefone picked as the Top 25 romantic comedies of all time. Although I might agree with their top choice. Yes, I'm a 54-year-old man, and I shouldn't admit it (in the off chance my high school or college buddies actually read this) but I'm a sucker for romantic comedies. Unfortunately, I don't think we get a lot of good ones anymore. There was a time when it seemed like Hollywood was producing a truly great romantic comedy once a year. Nowadays, the movies that fall under that heading come off (to me, at least) as unscripted or over-the-top, lacking the elegance or charm of their counterparts from the 1980s or '90s. That's my opinion, anyway, and I'm sticking with it. Here are my top 10 of the past…
Friday, February 3, 2012
I just don't understand all the animosity directed at teachers these days!
I still don’t get it! Back in December I lamented the fact that teachers, school bus drivers, daycare workers and the folks with whom we charge our children in general don’t get paid nearly enough for their excellent efforts. Though I haven’t really tackled the teacher topic directly (until now), in addition to the dismissive comments coming out of that column, it would seem that whenever the subject of educators arises, the educators always come out on the short end of the stick. Trust me, I can clearly recall all of Sister Camilla’s shouting, and I still have those deep yardstick imprints on my back, but that single, bad Catholic-school experience hasn’t soured my attitude toward teachers. In fact, I’m still friends with some of those St…
Friday, January 20, 2012
With girls high school sports what it is today, it's time to retire the pom pons!
Oh, man! Am I gonna get it for this one! But when you add the story of fools and angels to an uncanny capacity to speak my mind, we may as well just let the chips fall where they may! I can’t remember in which of the five newspapers arriving daily on my doorstep I saw it, but one of ‘em ran a photo of local cheerleaders participating in a state competition. The question that immediately popped into mind without any premeditation whatsoever was, “We still have cheerleaders?!” There was no disrespect intended. It was just the kind of thing you might whisper to yourself when walking into a store still selling cassette tapes, PDAs or bell-bottom blue jeans. You can’t help but think, “I thought we were past that.” Before Title IX, cheerleading …
Saturday, December 17, 2011
November home sales in the Chicago area show signs of stability, according to sales statistics issued by one real estate company.
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Saturday, December 17, 2011
Home sales activity in the metropolitan Chicago real estate market during November delivered another indication that a gradual increase in the number of homes changing hands is beginning to help stabilize home prices, according to an analysis by RE/MAX of sales statistics gathered by Midwest Real Estate Data, LLC. November home sales in the seven-county metro area totaled 5,408 units, 19 percent more than a year ago. Compared to sales in the prior month, November transactions were down 6 percent, a favorable result when considering that the average decline in sales from October to November during the prior five years was 13 percent. The median home sales price in the Chicago area for November was $150,000, 14 percent lower than in …
Friday, December 9, 2011
Check your credit cards and account balances. I-PASS customers may notice unnecessary charges and refunds.
The Illinois Tollway issued a statement at about 10:56 a.m. Friday announcing a software issue that could result in bad charges or refunds. On the morning of Dec. 9, the Illinois Tollway's I-PASS system encountered a software issue and erroneously began a cycle of account charges and refunds to I-PASS accounts that were scheduled for automatic balance replenishment. As a result, I-PASS customers may notice unnecessary charges and refunds from the Tollway on their credit and debit cards. "We are currently working to ensure that all I-PASS automatic replenishment accounts have been correctly refunded," the statement said. "We are also working with our banks to ensure that customers do not incur overdraft fees as a result of this computer …
Basta! High school girls-sports uniforms are getting out of hand. There's no reason for athletes at any level to emulate Maria Sharapova.
It drives me nuts! Don’t get me wrong. I enjoy the female form as much as any 53-year-old American male. But when I turned to Page 45 of the Nov. 29 Sun-Times, it made me want to shout my favorite single-word Italian invective, “basta!” Because there was Wimbledon finalist Maria Sharapova kneeling in a skimpy bikini, arms strategically positioned to hide a likely skimpier top, all the while staring seductively at the camera. And that photo was also accompanied by one of Ashley Harkleroad (misidentified as Caroline Wozniacki) in a similar pose wearing an impossibly short tennis skirt, a well-placed towel, and get this, high heels. Even worse, there are those athletes who abandoned all pretense by taking it all off for a Playboy pictorial—…
Tuesday, December 6, 2011
Does it make sense for the Bears nemesis to take over as quarterback this late in the season? Would it be a miracle, a sideshow or something in between?
ESPN Chicago says Brett Favre will listen if the Chicago Bears want to make him an offer to play quarterback for the balance of the season—and, who knows, beyond? As Adam Jun points out in his blog, there's been a lot of talk lately about the Bears seeking some veteran help, either in the form of Favre or Donovan McNabb, the Chicago native and former Pro Bowler. But it's the Favre connection that perhaps is most intriguing. How many times have we watched Bears-Packers games in the past when we thought, "Boy, if that guy was our quarterback, we'd be going to the Super Bowl." On the flip side is the Bears-Packers rivalry (Do we really want the legendary Packers QB doing the signal calling for Da Bears?) and the possible humiliation of a …
Terry Flanagan
4:26 pm on Friday, April 6, 2012
Jeff, I think one of the unfortunate truths behind the lure of the lottery is that many Americans are disillusioned with the American Dream and believe the only way they will wind up in the one percent is by pure luck. Hard work and education don't seem to be the formula for success any longer. Even a college degree doesn't seem to count for much these days and a lot of people with advanced … more ›