Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

8 Stories You May Have Missed This Week

By DNAinfo Staff | January 30, 2015 6:29pm 

 A hero aldermanic candidate, boozy root beer and the mystery of abandoned bikes.
A hero aldermanic candidate, boozy root beer and the mystery of abandoned bikes.
View Full Caption
DNAinfo

• Forget craft beer. The newest trend hitting Chicago's bars is...root beer? Yep, root beer with booze is finding a home behind bars and in liquor stores across the city.

"As much as everyone talks about how we're in the golden age of craft beer, we're also seeing tremendous growth in the sweetened, flavored, soda pop-y, beer segment. Things like shandies, hard root beers and hard ginger beers have been on fire for the past couple of years," said Pat Brophy of Binny's Beverage Depot.

• Twice in a matter of days, anti-gentrification activists targeted Pilsen's Bow Truss Coffee Roasters as a symbol of the changing neighborhood.

Signs plastered on the coffee shop's windows read, "Te Gusta leche con tu cafe? Sugar with your GENTRIFICATION?"

Owner Phil Tadros said he hears the complaints, loud and clear, but wishes the people responsible would come forward.

"To do anything positive, or move forward, we have to have a conversation with the people doing this. We aren't here to harm anyone," Tadros said.

• After two people were shot to death in Rogers Park last year, police told residents one man was the target of both shootings. Now that man - rapper Young Pappy, aka Shaquon Thomas - is behind bars, arrested after a fight at the McDonald's where he was shot at last year. In that incident, 17-year-old Markeyo Carr was fatally shot.

• Ever wonder what happens to Chicago's abandoned bikes? Reporters Tanveer Ali and Ben Woodard looked into it. Now the question is, where are all those bike owners?

• Alinea. Goosefoot. Girl & the Goat. All some of Chicago's best restaurants. But the top city restaurant, according to Yelp users, is located in a quiet strip mall in Roscoe Village. Reporters Josh McGhee and Patty Wetli got the scoop on why Pi-Hi Cafe is so darn good.

• Ald. Rey Colon (35th) was cleared of drunk driving charges after being pulled over in July. DNAinfo Chicago obtained the Illinois State Police dashcam video of his arrest, which shows Colon taking a field sobriety test after being pulled over in the early morning hours of July 25, where the Logan Square alderman can be seen wobbling slightly as police conduct the roadside check.

Asked about the video Wednesday night, Colon said via text, "Cameras and videos are great tools to determine verdicts of guilt or evidence of innocence."

• Second Ward aldermanic candidate Steve Niketopolous is getting a little help from his friends in the form of a cheeky new campaign video. In it, a friend, Jon Steinmeier, aka Steinomite, raps the candidate is "like 8 feet tall, saves kitty cats every day for a year, [and] has regular meetings with Batman." Steinmeier boasts Niketopolous is the "Alderman With The Plan."

• Gov. Pat Quinn punted on issuing licenses to medical marijuana dispensaries, but documents reviewed by DNAinfo Chicago show at least one Chicago pot shop would have had his blessing.

Businessman Perry Mandera's application to operate the dispensary in Fulton Market was one of two top-scoring proposals in the city's West Township district.

While Democrat Quinn, who has since left office, ultimately ended up leaving the task to his successor, Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner, the documents offer an inside look at the state division's scoring system. And if Rauner ends up approving licenses based on those scores, Mandera could end up running a medical marijuana dispensary after all.

For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here: