Brett McNeil

A Dave Matthews Band tour bus dumped human waste on a tour boat in the Chicago River. Here’s our original report.

July 29, 2024 at 12:56 p.m.

On August 8, 2004, a Dave Matthews Band tour bus passing over the Chicago River unleashed a torrent of foul-smelling waste onto a tour boat and passengers below.

Year 2020: The disorientation of grief

December 23, 2020 at 8:55 p.m.

My brother Timothy died last month at Stroger Hospital, another lost name added to a grim roster in this terrible year of despair. He was 45. Tim avoided COVID-19 but...

Blackhawks, here’s one more goal: Play better music

May 11, 2019 at 9:00 a.m.

The Chicago Blackhawks lace up their skates this week for a ninth-straight season of playoff hockey, and things are awfully good on West Madison Street. At least four future Hall...

Workers at Macon Resources Inc. (MRI) produce Illinois license plates in Decatur on Thursday, June 16, 2016. Illinois ranks at or near the top of all states in the number of vanity and specialty plates.

Bring back the ’80s Illinois license plates

May 11, 2019 at 8:32 a.m.

Dear Jesse White: A good friend recently returned to Illinois after several years in New York, and he needs new license plates. Which is a problem, and I think you...

In Melrose Park, federal agents raid police chief’s house

August 22, 2021 at 10:47 p.m.

Federal agents bearing a search warrant raided the home of Melrose Park Police Chief Vito Scavo on Thursday morning. FBI spokesman Ross Rice said agents of the FBI and the...

Possible Oak Park burial is discounted

August 22, 2021 at 7:12 p.m.

The owner of an Oak Park apartment building where a confessed serial killer once lived disputed published reports this week that questioned how thoroughly police in 2003 investigated the possibility...

Children’s hospital site search leads to West Side

August 22, 2021 at 6:39 p.m.

Children's Memorial Hospital is considering a move to the Illinois Medical District on Chicago's West Side, according to sources close to the discussions. The medical district location--near Rush University Medical...

This could stack up as a major art restoration

August 22, 2021 at 8:22 p.m.

It was meant as a statement about strip malls and American car culture but almost since it went up in 1989 the giant car kebob sculpture near Harlem Avenue and...

UIC student’s death stuns family, suspects’ friends

August 22, 2021 at 9:24 p.m.

Tombol Malik was a 23-year-old who read Charles Dickens and loved to dance. The youngest of four children in an international family, Malik had a bright future and was planning...

Prosecutors tell details of attack

August 22, 2021 at 4:06 p.m.

It was supposed to be a carefree summer spent soaking up as much of the sun and the city as he could when he wasn't waiting tables and cracking bad...

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