• Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich has signed a statewide smoking ban. I think that's great, but it doesn't help me much. My problem is my neighbor whose wife won't let him smoke inside the house -- instead, he smokes on his back porch so it blows through my kitchen window. There should be a law banning that.
  
• Hyperbolic headline of the day: The Chicago Tribune Web site's homepage reads "Expect tougher security at post office Monday." Oh my gosh, will federal agents be guarding the doors? Despite the ominous tone, the headline links to a story saying
  

  Starting on Monday, people who mail parcels weighing 13 ounces or more with stamps as postage will have to hand over the package [at] the post office counter. Previously, the requirement applied only to mail over 16 ounces.

  Wow, "tougher security" applies to people using stamps to mail a package within a three-ounce range... That probably affects dozens of people nationwide. Now those people are required to physically hand over their packages to disinterested postal clerks rather than drop them into mailboxes. Ooh, that's tough!

• Remember the coyote who was caught after walking into a Quizno's in downtown Chicago? One of his brethren in Lincoln Park has been more elusive. Yesterday he held Animal Care and Control at bay for more than five hours until they called off the hunt. Cardinal Francis George lives across the street from the park.

  The coyote seems to have sought sanctuary recently on the mansion's grounds. The nuns at the residence said they were not bothered by the coyote, which they say gets rid of the rabbits that ravage their garden.

  This reminds me of Elvira Arellano, the illegal immigrant who has sought refuge in a Chicago church for the past year. Will the Cardinal protect the coyote from deportation to a nature preserve?

• And finally... Law enforcement officials burned 30,000 marijuana plants being cultivated in Crabtree Nature Preserve near Barrington. As the odor drifted through the air, locals looked around for Willie Nelson's tour bus.

Labels: Chicago, media

- posted by David Johnsen @ 1:06 PM