The Chicago developer Calvin Boender transformed the former disco at 940 N. Rush St with over $2.5 million dollars in renovations, converting the iconic dance venue into 6,000 square feet of upscale retail space, reflecting a shift towards boutique shopping and capitalizing on the foot traffic generated by the nearby Bloomingdale's.

The North Side's DePaul neigh­borhood is gearing up for another boom. Already the city's hottest residential area for rehab and re­novation, it is now ripe for office redevelopment.

I think we Americans, for the most part take a lot for granted in our everyday lives. When I wake up, I assume the hot water will come out the shower head, the car will start and aside from the usual traffic, I will arrive at my office where the lights will come on at a flip of the switch, my inbox will be full and my Clif Bar will be tasty.

Since I mentioned the issue of the massive hypoxia, or “dead zone” in the Gulf of Mexico, I’ve started to dig around into some various solutions to this problem.

Americans were against foreign wars prior to World War II and I think “we the people” still are. We just have this super sexy military-industrial complex, which President Eisenhower warned us against, that keeps inventing drones and other toys that are too cool to not use.

In a previous post I detailed how intensive corn stover utilization for livestock feed replacement and cellulosic ethanol production causes soil degradation through nutrient removal, erosion, runoff and minimizes the soil’s water holding capacity.