(www.blog.pricegrabber.co.uk)

BY JOSEPH FREEMAN-MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

On Monday night before falling asleep I was about 200 pages into Ron Chernow’s 818-page wonderfully written biography of Alexander Hamilton (the revolution had ended and the future Treasury secretary was humiliating other lawyers in court with his oratory while somehow finding time to scribble [...]

BY J.H. FREEMAN- MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

In times of crisis, we look for lessons from history, or on the rare occasion, in literature. Published in 1957, Ayn Rand’s “Atlas Shrugged,” a novel about industries and businesses boycotting a fiscally manipulating government, has been seized upon mostly by free market trumpeters as the encapsulation [...]

Chicago fashion designer Anna Fong said marketing is crucial to succeed in the current economic climate. Tian Huang/Medill

BY TIAN HUANG - MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

Sketch, sew, sell. That formula may have been enough for fashion designers in the past, but now, with even established fashion labels feeling the [...]

BY KAREN LEIGH AND HOLLIS TEMPLETON – MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

The Chicago Flower and Garden Show is in full bloom at Navy Pier, and vendors said the recession, though impacting sales of luxury flowers, has actually triggered a boom in sales of cheaper stems – an unexpected surprise in [...]

Sarah Marie Young performs at the Morse Theatre, a jazz venue in Chicago's Rogers Park neighborhood. (Photo: Hollis Templeton/Medill)

BY HOLLIS TEMPLETON – MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

An ordinance that would limit music venues from hosting events by independent promoters is making the rounds again at Chicago’s City Hall.

The so-called promoters ordinance was [...]

This photograph of a shop window in San Francisco was submitted into Slate's Flickr photo pool. (Source: balmes on Flickr)

BY: INYOUNG HWANG – MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

Slate is turning to its readers for photographs that capture the current recession.

The online magazine has created a picture group called “Slate’s Shoot the Recession [...]

"Dirijir las nubes" by Luis Saldaña, 2008.

BY HOLLIS TEMPLETON – MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

While many Chicago art galleries are exercising caution during the recession, Lincoln Park’s Havana Gallery (1139 W. Webster Ave.) is taking a different tack that it [...]

Free February at the Art Institute. Tian Huang/Medill

BY TIAN HUANG - MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

February has been a particularly busy month for me, so it only was this week that I was able to take advantage of the Art Institute’s Free February. I’ve been to the Art [...]

Photo courtesy of the Mary and Leigh Block Museum

BY HOLLIS TEMPLETON – MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

Universities across the country are feeling the effects of the recession and doing whatever it takes to cope with financial challenges.

At Brandeis University in Waltham, Mass., where the institution’s endowment

Mary Hall, the Recessionista

CLAUDIA-TERESA POU - MEDILL NEWS SERVICE

When life gives you lemons, make lemonade.  I’m sure many of you have heard of that saying, advising us to make the best of what we’re given.  Given our current economic situation, we should probably be changing our spending habits and do our best with a recessionary budget.  So, start [...]