Chicago-based sculptors Mindy Rose Schwartz and Bernard Williams and writer Jack Zimmerman all won grants through The Helen Coburn Meier and Tim Meier Charitable Foundation for the Arts. Read more
On your agenda: Second City takes a stab at holiday humor… the Marx Brothers wreak havoc… free music, plus the weekend plans of the composer Marcos Balter Read more
Real-estate data has been getting dished up in the past few weeks as heartily as mashed potatoes get passed around the Thanksgiving table. And this year, for the first time in a while, the information provides some solace—though not nearly as much as the comfort food will... Read more
"Room & Board just keeps on coming up with new reasons for me to shop there. At the moment, that reason is a new assortment of limited-edition artwork." Read more
CTA fares are going up again, at least for monthly passes—from $86, the price they've been since 2009, to $100. It's a steep increase, but it actually brings the current fee to about what riders have paid over the past 44 years. Single-ride fares will stay where they are, which is also about average for the past 65 years. Read more
The collision of improv comedy with contemporary art would make an excellent exhibition—and if it happened, it would surely include the artwork of Justin Cooper. Read more
Readers ask questions, and our real estate expert answers. This week, a reader named Barry from Mount Prospect asks for advice on how to price an empty lot he wants to buy, which seems to have no comparable sites. Read more
Euro Street Style
Amsterdam-based Scotch and Soda (1639 N. Damen Ave., 773-687-8980, scotch-soda.com) quietly opened its first Chicago store in Bucktown over the weekend... Read more
The governor's hokey pension snake drew more attention to pension reform than it's gotten in months, but Squeezy's site is kind of a dud. There's nothing wrong with a little juvenilia, but the adults need something to play with as well. Read more
