Quantcast

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

What We're Reading: Will Chicago's 'Lime Line' Ever Really Happen?

By DNAinfo Staff | August 27, 2015 1:42pm 

 The Lime Line as envisioned by the Active Transportation Alliance.
The Lime Line as envisioned by the Active Transportation Alliance.
View Full Caption
Active Transportation Alliance

CHICAGO — Here's what we're reading today.

Doors Open on Your Left: Reporter Heather Cherone is reading about the Active Transportation Alliance's plans for a new elevated train line it is calling the Lime Line to bring better public transportation options to the West Side. The tropical colored line would start at the Jefferson Park Transit Center, where it would link to the Blue Line, and head south along Cicero Avenue to Midway Airport before turning east and ending at the 95th/Dan Ryan Red Line station. The new line — which advocates say could be a Bus Rapid Transit Line or a train line — is designed to give Far Northwest Side and West Side residents a better option than enduring a slow bus ride or an out-of-the-way train trip Downtown to get to their jobs on the West or South sides. The group is hoping a petition will get county officials on board.

Oregon Couple Had a Weed Bar at Their Wedding: Since marijuana for recreational use is legal in Oregon, an enterprising couple hosted a "weed tent" at their party, which was even a draw for an intitally skeptical 81-year-old guest who hadn't smoked the herb since the 60s and ended up "loving it," USA Today reports.

From Seed to Spirit: Farm to table is cool and all, but how about from seed to spirit? Reporter Paul Biasco is reading a Chicago Reader story on Illinois' first farm distillery that is making bourbon straight from grain grown on-site. Whiskey Acres, a DeKalb distillery, is so new that its first barrels of bourbon are still aging in oak barrels. For now, the distillery is producing corn whiskey that has already earned it an award. "Bourbon has to be made out of a minimum of 51 percent corn; we grow corn here better than almost anywhere else in the world. It was being in the right place at the right time," said owner Jamie Walter.

Fire Brass Bans Bulletproof Vests on Paramedics: Believe it or not, top Chicago Fire Department officials have banned paramedics from wearing bullet proof vests over their uniform, even when the paramedics pay for those pricey vests out of their own pocket. Reporter Stephanie Lulay is reading Tribune columnist John Kass' interview with Patrick Fitzmaurice, a paramedic field chief who supervises 10 ambulances each night on the city's violence-plagued West Side. Many times, paramedics are the first to arrive on the scene. "People get crazy out there when their emotions are up, it's volatile. So if I catch a bullet, then which one of these bureaucrat bosses are going to stand up at the wake and tell my wife?" Fitzmaurice asks. Does the Fitzmaurice name look familiar? The straight-shooting Irish guy was featured heavily in ads supporting mayoral challenger Jesus “Chuy” Garcia.

Off With Her Head: If you're going to judge a book by its cover — c'mon, you know you do — here's a head scratcher. What happened to all the women's heads? Slate's Heather Schwedel points out that the book jacket trend for this summer's beach reads — the "flat woman" — is actually an improvement over the "headless woman" cover favored by publishers in recent years. "By not showing the female character's face, a publisher assumes that readers will be able to use their imaginations to fill in what she looks like." Pop on over to Goodreads, which keeps a list of headless women titles, and note which body parts require no imagination.

Paula Allen-Meares

A Little Somethin' for the Effort?: Just in time for the first college tuition payment of the year, the Associated Press has tallied the cost of former University of Illinois administrators and their current jobs and salaries within the system. The AP's David Mercer said four of the administrators, most of whom left their postions under dicey circumstances, will be paid $1.3 million next year.

Paula Allen-Meares, who was pushed out as University of Illinois-Chicago chancellor in a no-confidence vote in 2014, got a year off with pay and will make $380,000 as a professor of social work. Michael Hogan, who resigned in 2012 after less than two years on the job as president of the U of I system, got a year off and then a teaching job at the U of I-Springfield. He taught two history classes in the fall of 2014 and none in the spring. His salary: $306,000.

For more neighborhood news, listen to DNAinfo Radio here: