The Nooner | Chicago news and beyond | September 19, 2011

Rosie O'Donnell's moving in.

Rosie O'Donnell

Photo: Robert Trachtenberg and courtesy of OWN: Oprah Winfrey Network

The Nooner: Chicago news and beyond
Today, the news is about Rosie O'Donnell and dolphins.

Rosie moves to Lakeview
Rosie O’Donnell’s in it for the long haul with her new Chicago-based show on Oprah Winfrey’s OWN network, “The Rosie Show.” She is in the process of buying a $2.5 million house in Lakeview. The 5-bedroom brick-front home has its own mini-theater and multiple patios.O’Donnell’s said that she’s buying the house with all of its furniture; I’m not so sure about those chaise lounges, Rosie.

Chicago RULES
The Atlantic has listed Chicago as No. 4 in its Global Economic Power Index. That’s fourth worldwide, haters. We beat Paris. We beat Hong fucking Kong. I feel awesome about this, clearly. The final rankings were the result of combining stats on a city’s economic output ($460 billion, thankyouverymuch), Global Economic Power Score, Financial Center Score and Innovation Rank. The rankings are part of a new site from The Atlantic, The Atlantic Cities, which also includes a really good article about why cul-de-sacs are a bad idea.

Chicago gets first-ever Foursquare city badge
I’m surprised that no major city has an official Foursquare badge set up already, but I’d also say that we’re still in the “what the heck is Foursquare?” era, so that would make us early-adopters. To get the badge, users check in at five of 20 designated attractions; mayor Rahm Emanuel announced the new badge alongside Foursquare cofounder Naveen Selvadurai (check out the picture. The Foursquare guy is kinda rowrr.) The Chicago Sun-Times story has a list of the attractions in question: “The 20 designated sites include: Oriental Institute Museum in Hyde Park; Garfield Park Conservatory; DuSable Museum; Chicago Velodrome; Jane Addams Hull-House Museum in Little Italy; Glenwood Avenue Arts District in Rogers Park; the Green Mill in Uptown; Dat Donut in Chatham-Morgan Park and Chicago’s Home of Chicken and Waffles in Bronzeville. The list also includes: Renegade Handmade in Wicker Park; Co-Prosperity Sphere in Bridgeport; Vida Simple Mural in Pilsen; Ping Tom Park in Chinatown; Merz Apothecary in Lincoln Square; Swedish Dala Horse in Andersonville; 63rd Street Beach; Milio’s Hair Studio and Music Box in Lakeview; the Michael Jordan Statue and Revolution Brewing in Logan Square.”

Ask! Tell!
The U.S. military’s “Don’t ask, don’t tell” policy phases out at midnight tonight, despite some futile last-minute delay attempts from a few Republicans on the House Armed Service Committee. The Servicemembers Legal Defense Network has a countdown going. I bet that the pro-DADT alarmists in Congress will be surprised and pleased to see how very little changes once DADT disappears. 

New species of dolphin discovered
And, of course, it’s adorable. The newly found fishy frolickers, Tersiops Australis, have been in plain sight off the coast of Australia all along—they look a lot like your regular extremely adorable dolphin, but are genetically distinct. I’m picturing scientists doing cheek swabs of dolphins in order to figure this out. The new species’ common name is “Burrunan dolphin,” using an Australian Aboriginal word.