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'Really incredible': Inside a downtown Chicago pizza tour

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 08:37:19 GMT

CHICAGO — The Chicago Architectural Tour gets a lot of glory, rightfully so, but there's also a downtown tour of one of the city's other staples — pizza.Jonathan Porter grew up eating pizza all around the city and became addicted to all the various delicacies Chicago has to offer.After a career in sales, Porter admitted he was doing it more "for the paycheck" and wanted to find something he truly loved."Once the economy took a downturn in 2008, I didn’t have the passion for what I was doing. I told myself at that time, if I was going to have to work the rest of my life, I wanted to make sure it was something that I truly loved," he told WGN News. Porter, who describes himself as a "pizza nerd," knew how popular tours are for Chicago tourists and locals, but noticed no one was doing pizza tours. So in 2010, he bought a bus and established Chicago Pizza Tours.He has no plans to slow down anytime soon."I am now 13 and a half years into it — I still feel like this is my baby and I don’...

What does the slang acronym 'IJBOL' mean?

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 08:37:19 GMT

(NEXSTAR) – Just when you thought you had them all memorized, yet another internet-driven slang term has arrived to make you feel out-of-touch.The latest of these slang terms is “IJBOL,” an acronym that stands for “I just burst out laughing,” and can be used much in the same way as LOL (laughing out loud), ROFL (rolling on the floor laughing) or LMAO (laughing my a-- off).As reported by The New York Times and Today.com, the acronym is increasingly being used on social media, or in texts, to convey users’ reactions to something they find surprisingly hilarious. It was first embraced by the K-Pop fan community in 2021, the Times reported. The iPhone ‘hang up’ button may not be moving as much as we feared As of this week, many users on X (formerly Twitter) appeared to be adopting the term more frequently in their posts, though plenty of those posts were also poking fun at the term, or mocking the media outlets that reported on the acronym’s alleged popularity.In any case, searches fo...

Texas football set for key second scrimmage

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 08:37:19 GMT

Just about two weeks from Texas football opening the regular season against Rice on September 2, the Longhorns will take the field for their second and final scrimmage of the fall Saturday."[I] thought we had a really fast practice today," said Texas Head Coach Steve Sarkisian about their Friday practice. "Good tempo. Good energy. We'll get back out tomorrow for our second scrimmage."Practice reports from Sarkisian to the media have been positive throughout fall camp. Still, the Longhorns leader knows how important these scrimmages are for tightening things up."[There is] a couple different scenarios we want to get better at," said Sarkisian. "Some of the substitution things. Game-like substitutions where you're rolling situations as they come."The first scrimmage was last Saturday and was the first look for the coaching staff to see the players in a game-like atmosphere. Now with another week of installation, the progress will be key to observe."Third, fourth down type work," said ...

Met Council delays Summit Avenue bikeway vote as opponents petition for environmental review

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 08:37:19 GMT

The Metropolitan Council has postponed a Wednesday vote on St. Paul’s proposed Summit Avenue bikeway after opponents petitioned state regulators for an elaborate environmental assessment.The petition cites the 4.5-mile bikeway’s potential impact on the trees, layout and historic character of Summit Avenue, whose streetscape sits on the National Register of Historic Places. Gary Todd, chair of the S.O.S. (Save Our Street) committee, turned in the petition Monday to the Minnesota Environmental Quality Board.Citing the work of an independently-hired arborist, the S.O.S. coalition has estimated the $12 million bikeway, together with the $100 million road reconstruction, could claim as many as 950 trees. City estimates have it closer to 220 trees.Cycling advocates have accused bikeway opponents of using the tree estimates as a smokescreen to protect their parking.Todd, in a brief interview on Friday, emphasized that Summit Avenue is populated not just by Victorian mansions li...

Q&A: Loons owner Bill McGuire on club’s salary spending, strikers woes and Lionel Messi buzz

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 08:37:19 GMT

Supporters can pick holes in Minnesota United, but Loons owner Bill McGuire chooses to take a holistic approach.The Loons (7-8-7) are one point outside the newly expanded, nine-team Western Conference field for the MLS Cup Playoffs, with 35 percent — 12 matches — left in the regular season.For years, MNUFC has been outside the top 15, sometimes top 20, in MLS salary spending and has needed to outperform that low ranking on the field to clinch four consecutive playoff appearances.But to McGuire, it’s about more that. He points to things such overall competitiveness and experiences, Allianz Field being tabbed as the best stadium in MLS, per the Philadelphia Inquirer, and the club’s and players’ standing within the community.“I think what fans want is, one, a great experience,” McGuire said this week. “And two, they want to have a club or a team that they can be oriented with, they can feel part of. It has emotions around. I don’t think that a majority of people expect to go and ...

Do dogs on trails need to be leashed?

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 08:37:19 GMT

ADIRONDACK PARK, N.Y. (NEWS10) - From small trails to high peaks, the Adirondacks are home to hiking paths perfect to take a four-legged friend on. This week, campers on one mountain in the Adirondacks got a reminder of what could happen when proper precautions aren't taken. Get the latest news, weather, sports and entertainment delivered right to your inbox! The Cabins at Chimney Mountain made a Facebook post this week announcing the temporary closure of the Chimney Mountain trailhead, following a recent dog-on-dog attack at one of the cabins. According to the post, a dog belonging to a hiker attacked a dog at the campsite, grabbing it by the neck. It took three adults to separate the dogs, in what Cabins at Chimney Mountain calls one of several such incidents the two-person management team has struggled to deal with."It was our full intention to keep the trail access through our private property open," the statement reads in part. "However, we are at the point where we feel it i...

Hochul signs ban on dumping toxic waste into Hudson River

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 08:37:19 GMT

ALBANY, N.Y. (NEWS10) — Gov. Kathy Hochul signed the "Save the Hudson" bill into law, prohibiting the dumping of radioactive waste from decommissioning nuclear plants into the Hudson River. It went into effect immediately on August 18. Get the latest news, weather, sports and entertainment delivered right to your inbox! In June, both the Assembly and the state Senate unanimously passed the measure. It aims to protect communities in New York’s Hudson Valley by preventing dumping into the Hudson River. It's expected to halt Holtec International’s planned dump of over one million gallons of toxic radioactive wastewater from the downstate Indian Point site. “The Hudson River is one of New York’s landmark natural treasures, and it’s critical we stand together to protect it for generations to come,” Hochul said in a statement announcing her signature. “My administration remains committed to protecting the economic vitality of the region and working closely with local communities who h...

Two Jan. 6 rioters sentenced to prison; 3 co-defendants still on the run

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 08:37:19 GMT

TAMPA, Fla. (WFLA) — Two Tampa Bay area men were sentenced to prison this week for multiple offenses connected to the January 6 riot at the U.S. Capitol. One faces a year and a half incarcerated and the other faces four years while three more from their group remain at large. Get the latest news, weather, sports and entertainment delivered right to your inbox! On Wednesday, U.S. District Court Judge Carl J. Nichols handed down an 18-month prison sentence for Joshua Doolin, 25, followed by three years of supervised release, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ). And on Thursday, Nichols sentenced Michael Perkins, 40, to four years in prison, followed by three years of supervised release.Court documents state that Doolin considered bringing a semi-automatic rifle to the rally outside the Capitol, but decided against it "at the last minute." He traveled to the Capitol with a group of family and friends, including Perkins, of Plant City; Olivia and Jonathan Pollock, of Lakeland...

These Colorado businesses raising money for Maui wildfire victims

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 08:37:19 GMT

Coloradans – who are no strangers to wildfires – can donate money to victims of the ongoing wildfires on the Hawaiian island of Maui by frequenting several businesses statewide.As of Friday, at least 111 people died in the wildfires that swept across Maui’s west side last week. What started as a brushfire strengthened with hurricane winds, leading to the deadliest wildfire in the U.S. in the more than a century, according to The Associated Press.Maui County officials reported on Thursday night that the Olinda fire is 85% contained, the Kula fire is 80% contained, the Lāhainā fire is 90% contained and the Pūlehu/Kīhei fire is completely contained, but not extinguished.Today, Native Hawaiians are asking tourists to refrain from visiting Maui as they try to locate their missing loved ones, recover bodies and house people experiencing homelessness – all with limited resources.The wildfires “really wiped out the entire town of Lāhainā,” said Lisa Kelekolio, the current ...

Proposed railway that would bring millions of gallons of crude oil through Colorado halted by federal judge

Published Wed, 12 Feb 2025 08:37:19 GMT

Development has paused on a proposed railway that would haul millions of gallons of crude oil through Colorado after a federal appeals court on Friday found significant deficiencies in analyses of potential environmental impacts like increased wildfire risk and potential spills into the Colorado River basin.A coalition of private companies and seven Utah counties intended to build the 88-mile Uinta Basin Railway Project to connect Utah’s oil fields in the 12,000-square-mile basin to the national rail network. The project would send up to nine more trains a day through Colorado and eventually to refineries in the Gulf of Mexico.The Surface Transportation Board — a federal agency that regulates railways — violated the National Environmental Policy Act by failing to take a “hard look” at some environmental impacts of the project and disclose key potential damage in its environmental analyses, the court found. The analyses failed to mention any potential im...