The Nooner | Chicago news and beyond | September 13, 2011

Chicago's tourism chief has called striking Hyatt workers "selfish" for picketing on the 9/11 anniversary. Something tells me that's not really why he's mad at them.

The Nooner: Chicago news and beyond
Today, the news is about bakery fires and high gas prices.

Northwest side bakery burns down
Pasieka Bakery, a Polish bakery in Avondale, was completely destroyed by fire yesterday—it was four hours before firefighters could get the blaze under control, and they had to bulldoze in the rear wall of the business to seek out and snuff smoldering remains. The fire started in one of the ovens; no one was injured. The bakery, at 3056 N Milwaukee Ave, had been a neighborhood staple for over 75 years.

Chicago’s gas prices are the highest in the country
We’re number 1! We’re number 1! In gasoline prices. Again. I’m okay with that; I think it should be expensive to drive a car, and these gas prices certainly do that. Chicago’s gas currently costs an average of $4.02 a gallon. The country’s lowest price is in Tucson, Arizona, at $3.32 a gallon. And the very highest gas price in Chicago, as of yesterday, was at the BP station at 755 W Lawrence Ave; they’re charging $4.49 a gallon. We're basically always near the top of the gas-price heap nationwide. Why? Taxes, of course. About 60 cents a gallon worth of local taxes.

Have I found my soul mate? He’s a very tidy Swiss man.
Actually, I bet I would drive this guy totally crazy, because though I’m a type A, he’s like a type AAA. Swiss artist and comedian Ursus Wehrli has made a career out of tidying things up. Things like a bowl of alphabet soup. We’ve all thought about it (you haven’t?)—he did it. And the results are both satisfying and hilarious. Other things he’s neatened to entrancing effect include a park and a parking lot. Click through to the NPR story linked above to see a great set of images of things he’s put into impeccable order.

Chicago’s tourism chief accuses strikers of 9/11 disrespect
Union workers at two Hyatt hotels—the Regency Chicago and the Regency McCormick Place—began picketing this past Thursday morning and continued through the weekend, causing Chicago’s tourism chief to call them “disrespectful” of the 10th anniversary of 9/11. The union workers have been working for two years without a contract. A union leader described these accusations as a “cheap political shot.” This union is the same one that had heat lamps turned on them during a July picket of the Michigan Avenue Hyatt.

Victim’s name misspelled on 9/11 memorial
This was actually the first thing I thought when I saw the first images of the memorial at Ground Zero: I wonder if they messed up any of those names? Apparently, yes, they flubbed one in the just-opened memorial. As someone who’s misspelled a name or two myself, I can tell you it’s surprisingly easy to do. But if it were being carved into a bronze plate—and particularly if it were the name of someone’s lost loved one—I like to think I’d copyedit it really, really carefully. The misspelled name is that of Jeffrey Schreier, whose first name is spelled “Jeffery” on the monument. A correction is in the works, but it could take a while.