Illinois News Network | Archive | Features

Have a Halal of a time at Pete’s Market, and meet women too

May 5, 2015 Comments Off

Pete’s Fresh Market opened a new store in Bridgeview recently that offers the widest range of fresh deli salads and buffets, the largest I have ever seen. And I love grocery stores. By Ray Hanania I love food, especially from the Middle East. That’s one reason why I spend so much time meandering around grocery stores […]

Fundraiser set May 21, 2015 for Orland Fire Foundation

May 5, 2015 Comments Off

Fundraiser set May 21, 2015 for Orland Fire Protection District Foundation The Orland Fire Protection District Foundation will hold its 3rd annual Fundraiser on Thursday, May 21, to raise monies for a wide range of programs and services for District residents. This year, the OFPD Foundation will award three scholarships to graduating high school seniors […]

Diet Coke and all the lies we’ve been fed

April 5, 2015 Comments Off

Turns out Diet Coke isn’t about dieting at all. We’ve been lied to, like the characters in Soylent Green. This is a topic that I write about in my syndicated Chicago column this week in the Southwest News-Herald, Regional News and Des Plaines Valley Newspaper. By Ray Hanania I’ve been drinking Diet Coke since 1988 when […]

JPAC Presents the Chicago Premiere of Return to the Forbidden Planet

April 2, 2015 Comments Off

Jedlicka Performing Arts Center Presents the Chicago Premiere of Return to the Forbidden Planet Award-Winning Sci-Fi Musical Spoof features classic Rock-n-Roll music and Chicago Media Personalities The Jedlicka Performing Arts Center (JPAC) in Cicero, Ill. closes its season with the hilarious musical spoof Return to the Forbidden Planet. This production marks the Chicago-area premier of […]

Quicksand Documentary explores Huntington’s Disease

April 1, 2015 Comments Off

Quicksand Documentary that aims for new public awareness about the ravages of Huntington’s Disease will be aired on WTTW Channel 11 in Chicago in May WTTW in Chicago will be the first station to broadcast Black Cat Productions’ riveting documentary, “A Mind in Quicksand — A Life with Huntington’s” on Sunday, May 3rd at 2 […]

New movie thriller promises hole-in-one excitement

March 30, 2015 Comments Off

By Ray Hanania New independently-produced movie thriller that brings golf and gambling together and has local Southwest Suburban Chicagoland ties will be released to limited theatrical distribution on April 17 and to Video-on-Demand audiences. Directed and written by Terry Jastrow, the film stars Jeremy Sumpter (“Friday Night Lights”, Peter Pan), Christopher McDonald (Happy Gilmore, Requiem for a Dream, […]

Starbucks and race: Show me the Caffe Mocha Vente

March 26, 2015 2 Comments

The socially conscious owner of Starbucks Howard Schultz wants America to have a conversation about race relations. Not everyone agrees. But I think it’s a great idea. We still have issues but not everyone wants to talk about them By Ray Hanania In one of my favorite movies, Jerry MaGuire, a cutthroat sports agent wakes up […]

The Chicago Tribune and the Mob

March 22, 2015 Comments Off

The Chicago Tribune and other media often reminisce about the past history of the mob and Chicagoland, regaling in stories about mob influence in communities like Melrose Park, Cicero, Oak Brook and so many others. But you rarely read a story in the Tribune about its own ties to the Chicago Outfit. And those ties […]

The Monopoly glue is making me dizzy

March 12, 2015 2 Comments

Like thousands of doofuses who hope to circumvent hard work for fast riches through stupid grocery store games and lotteries, I’m at the table licking stamps in the new Jewel Osco $80 Million (right!) Monopoly Game. I get suckered in every time. By Ray Hanania I promised myself the last time that I wouldn’t do it […]

Travel: Ft. Lauderdale, by Water Taxi

March 5, 2015 Comments Off

Travel: Ft. Lauderdale, by Water Taxi By Ray Hanania On our second cruise on the Norwegian Epic, this time doing the Western Caribbean itinerary (we did the Eastern Caribbean in November 2013), we decided to spend a few days on land before boarding the boat in Miami, Florida. So we booked a two night stay in […]