An Occupy Chicago protester sent in these photos of some ominous-looking equipment installed recently at the top of a street lamp across the street from Occupy Chicago HQ, at the corners of Jackson and LaSalle in Chicago's financial district. They write:

In an incident similar to the Great Roommate Buttering Caper of May 2011 in terms of messiness, domestic disruption, and—perhaps most remarkably—the involvement of a woman named Dawn, a Chicago wife has been arrested for hurling cupcakes at her husband during an argument. How sweet it isn't! ("It" being a difficult-sounding marriage.)

Here's a look at the windows of the Chicago Board of Trade, in which a daring band of the nation's money people have fought back against the Occupy Chicago protest onslaught by declaring, "We are the 1%," with some signs in the windows. Stay strong, Producers! Keep on tradin', tradin' futures, tradin' the night away... [Occupy Chicago]

Meet Larry Dominick, Town President of Cicero, Ill., former home of Al Capone. (That's Larry in the striped shirt above.) Larry—like several of his predecessors—is in some trouble with the law. The woman who used to run the town's animal shelter has accused him of sexual harassment.

After closing the original Playboy Club two decades ago in Chicago, the Windy City will be home to a Playboy Club once again. It's like the second coming of Hooters, except the wings aren't as good.

Earlier this week we learned that dogs are good for your respiratory system because they can smell your lung cancer. But are dogs also maybe bad for your lungs, because they manufacture poop that's loaded with airborne bacteria?

After a drive-by shooting involving two teens, Chicago CBS affiliate WBBM interviewed a few preschool-aged criminologists who happened to witness the incident—including a four-year-old boy who had some pretty "scary" things to say completely misrepresent!

Short-fused Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has formally decreed that all children below the age of 12 must be off the streets by 8:30 p.m. on school nights, and 9 p.m. on Fridays and Saturdays, saying, "It brings a level of responsibility and accountability to our streets and in our homes."

If you spent yesterday huddled in a corner with a bottle of vodka, crying and depressed about all of the massacre and death news that this weekend has brought us so far, well ... you might want to get a refill on that drink.

It seems like we're zeroing in on a surefire way to get notoriously angry politicians to do their anger routines on camera, for the fans: ask them about sending their kids to private school!

President Obama will become a Man, finally, when he turns 50 on August 4 — the same day our first post-debt ceiling deadline interest payment is due! Yikes, let's forget about that. Because Obama will have some other priorities on this day of days: raking in as much money as possible for his campaign. You can't turn him down on his birthday, either; it would be against the Geneva Conventions, maybe.

Did you know Chicago has an architectural boat tour that sends visitors around—and through—the city? You don't need to make a trip to the Windy City to experience it. Just watch this time-lapse video that Philip Bloom made, who whittled the nearly four-hour adventure down to a cool three minutes. [via Doobybrain]

The verdict is out in the second federal corruption trial of former Illinois Governor Rod Blagojevich. His fortune wasn't as good this time around. The jury found him guilty on 17 of the 18 counts that it could reach an agreement on, including but not limited to his attempt to sell President Obama's old Senate seat.

Chet Haze, Northwestern University's best and worst rapping son of Tom Hanks, had only performed on campus—until last weekend, when he ventured out to Enclave, a club in Chicago where joke rappers play, for his first real world concert.

The jury in the corruption (re-)trial of Illinois ex-Gov. Rod Blagojevich has reached a verdict on 18 of 20 counts. It will be read around 2pm. Get on a plane to Mexico hella fast, Blags. (Too late now.)

Paige Wiser was the TV critic at the Chicago Sun-Times. She was fired yesterday for fabricating part of a review. But she might still have a job if it wasn't for her damn kids.

The lawyers for former Illinois Gov. Rod Blagojevich in his ongoing corruption retrial are already hated by the judge for wasting time with useless questions. But now they've found a new way to waste time and annoy the judge: By tattling on the prosecutors for "making faces" during the defense's question time. It's really mean!

Willard "Mittens" Romney is nothing if not America's most generous and dedicated philanthropist, always searching for the newest health research institutes, arts centers, and presidential campaigns for himself to dump all of his old Pratt-Romney family fortune into. Actually, we have no idea if he's a philanthropist. But he did send some leftover pizza to the Obama Campaign yesterday, so that's something, right?

In your odd Thursday media column: an old reporter goes on a Facebook-shaming rampage, the Boston Globe is suddenly "not for sale," Dick Ebersol retires, Bill Keller is still talking, and Al Gore says News Corp's censoring his network.

Daryl Hawks, the 38-year-old sports anchor for NBC's Chicago affiliate, was found dead in an Atlanta hotel room today. Hotel employees reportedly found his body after he missed his wake-up call. Police say there's "no reason to believe foul play was involved." Hawks was in Atlanta to cover the Chicago Bulls' NBA playoff game tonight. [Sun-Times]