The Chicago Portal

Chicago is the most populous city in the U.S. state of Illinois and in the Midwestern United States. With a population of 2,746,388, as of the 2020 census, it is the third-most populous city in the United States after New York City and Los Angeles. As the seat of Cook County, the second-most populous county in the U.S., Chicago is the center of the Chicago metropolitan area, often colloquially called "Chicagoland" and home to 9.6 million residents.

Chicago is an international hub for finance, culture, commerce, industry, education, technology, telecommunications, and transportation. It has the largest and most diverse finance derivatives market in the world, generating 20% of all volume in commodities and financial futures alone. O'Hare International Airport is routinely ranked among the world's top ten busiest airports by passenger traffic, and the region is also the nation's railroad hub. The Chicago area has one of the highest gross domestic products (GDP) of any urban region in the world, generating $689 billion in 2018. Chicago's economy is diverse, with no single industry employing more than 14% of the workforce. (Full article...)

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Crown Fountain is an interactive public fountain in Millennium Park, in the Loop community area of Chicago in Cook County, Illinois, United States. Designed by Jaume Plensa, it opened in July 2004. The fountain consists of a black granite reflecting pool located between a pair of artistic and technically sophisticated opposing glass brick sculptures measuring 50 feet (15 m) in height. The structure involved numerous complicated electronics and architectural considerations, and the construction and design cost $17 million. Throughout most of the warmer months, it incorporates water in the form of a cascade and spouting water nozzle as well as a reflecting pool. The sculptures are known for the digital videos of Chicago residents that they display continuously throughout the year. The fountain has been praised by both trained architects and ordinary city residents for its artistic contribution to Millennium Park. In addition, the fountain has a reputation as a public play area that accommodates a need to escape from summer heat. At times when the National Weather Service issues summer heat advisories and the Illinois Governor is compelled to declare state office buildings as official daytime cooling centers, the national press points to Crown Fountain as a respite not only for Chicagoans, but also for residents of the most remote reaches of the Chicago metropolitan area.

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The Chicago Bulls are a National Basketball Association (NBA) team based in Chicago, Illinois. Dick Klein founded the Bulls in 1966 after six other professional basketball teams in Chicago had failed. In the Chicago Bulls seasons, the Bulls have achieved a winning record multiple times, and have appeared in the NBA playoffs multiple times. They received international recognition in the 1990s when All-Star shooting guard Michael Jordan led them to their six league championships. The only NBA franchises that have won more championships than the Bulls are the Boston Celtics (17 championships) and Los Angeles Lakers (14). The Bulls initially competed in the NBA's Western Division. The Western Division was renamed the Western Conference in 1970, and was split into the Midwest and Pacific Divisions. The Bulls played in the Midwest Division until 1980, when they moved to the Central Division of the Eastern Conference. (Read more...)

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George Lawrence Mikan, Jr. was an American professional basketball player for the Chicago American Gears of the National Basketball League (NBL) and the Minneapolis Lakers of the NBL, the Basketball Association of America (BAA) and the National Basketball Association (NBA). Invariably playing with thick, round spectacles, the 6 ft 10 in 245 lb. Mikan is seen as one of the pioneers of professional basketball, redefining it as a game of so-called big men. Mikan had a successful player career, winning seven NBL, BAA and NBA championships, an All-Star MVP trophy, three scoring titles and being member of the first four NBA All-Star and the first six All-BAA and All-NBA Teams. Mikan was so dominant that he caused several rule changes in the NBA, among them widening the foul lane and introducing the shot clock. After his player career, Mikan became one of the founding fathers of the American Basketball Association (ABA), and was also vital for the forming of the Minnesota Timberwolves. In his later years, Mikan fought against the meager pensions for players who had retired before the league became lucrative. Mikan was inducted into the Basketball Hall of Fame in 1959, made the 25th and 35th NBA Anniversary Teams of 1970 and 1980 and was elected one of the NBA 50 Greatest Players in 1996.

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Marshall Field and Company Building
The Marshall Field and Company Building is a National Historic Landmark retail building on State Street in Chicago, Illinois. Now housing Macy's State Street, the Beaux-Arts and Commercial style complex was designed by architect Daniel Burnham and built in two stages—north end in 1901–02 (including columned entrance) and south end in 1905–06. It was the flagship location of the Marshall Field and Company and headquarters Marshall Field's chain of department stores. Since 2006, it is the main Chicago and midwestern location of the Macy's department stores. The building is located in the Chicago Loop area of the downtown central business district and it takes up the entire city block bounded clockwise from the west by North State Street, East Randolph Street, North Wabash Avenue, and East Washington Street. Field and partners founded their Chicago store in 1852, and first built an expansive shopping emporium on this site in 1868. The 1901 building was the fourth for the department store at this site.

Marshall Field's established numerous important business "firsts" in this building and in the series of previous elaborate decorative structures on this site for the last century and a half, and it is regarded as one of the three most influential establishments in the nationwide development of the department store and in the commercial business economic history of the United States. The name of the stores formerly headquartered at this building changed on September 9, 2006, as a result of the merger that produced Macy's, Inc. and led to the integration of the Marshall Field's stores into the Macy's now-nationwide retailing network.

The building, which is the third largest store in the world, was both declared a National Historic Landmark and listed on the National Register of Historic Places on June 2, 1978, and it was designated a Chicago Landmark on November 1, 2005. The building architecture is known for its multiple atria (several balconied atrium - "Great Hall") and for having been built in stages over the course of more than two decades. Its ornamentation includes a mosaic vaulted ceiling designed by Louis Comfort Tiffany and a pair of well-known outdoor street-corner clocks at State and Washington, and later at State and Randolph Streets, which serve as symbols of the store since 1897. (Full article...)

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Nelson Algren
"Once you've come to be a part of this particular patch, you'll never love another. Like loving a woman with a broken nose, you may well find lovelier lovelies. But never a lovely so real." — Nelson Algren

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Wikinews Chicago, Illinois portal
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December 2, 2024 –
Three people are killed and eight others are injured after a mass shooting at a gathering in Gage Park, Chicago, Illinois, United States. (NBC News)

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