Chicago Daily Observer

This just in: an alderman decides not to cave.

Forty-second Ward alderman Brendan Reilly has helped forge an agreement that allows Children’s Memorial Hospital to proceed with its plans for a new facility in Streeterville while requiring it to conduct additional studies on the safety of a proposed heliport, a demand made by neighborhood residents.

The Wall Street Journal ran a blurb from a Harvard economist at the American Institute of Architects (AIA) yesterday projecting

“As the country braces for a possible recession in 2008, there will likely be an easing in demand for design services”

Yet, the actual press release from the AIA stated

“After a fall rebound from a summer slowdown, the Architecture Billings Index (ABI) recorded another healthy score in December”

and

“The American Institute of Architects (AIA) reported the December ABI rating was 55.4, up a fraction from the 55.3 mark in November (any score above 50 indicates an increase in billings), and inquiries for new projects was 58.1.”

So despite the increase in demand, and uptick over previous months, there will likely be an easing in demand. With analysis like that, one could reach pretty much any conclusion, even without being a Harvard economist.

Gordon Brown has not come up a great deal in the American primary campaign, but he did during last week’s Democratic debate in Las Vegas, Nevada. Senator Hillary Clinton brought him up.

It was the second time she’d mentioned our prime minister, actually. The first was on the eve of the New Hampshire primary. And here’s how she put it: “I don’t think it was by accident that Al-Qaeda decided to test the new prime minister Gordon Brown immediately. They watch our elections as closely as we do, maybe more than some of our fellow citizens do . . . So let’s not forget you’re hiring a president not just to do what a candidate says during an election. You want a president to be there when the chips are down.”

There are few better ways to spend a winter evening in Chicago than nestled in the upper tiers of the Symphony Centre. This season, the Chicago Symphony Orchestra has a rich array of offerings, from Shostakovich and Stravinsky to Debussy and Bartok. Those seeking something other than Western classical music will find rich pickings too. “Rhythm, Ragas and Roots” will feature flamenco and Indian classical music. The programme follows Osvaldo Golijov’s “Ainadamar”, a one-act opera inspired by the life of Federico García Lorca, a Spanish poet.