Chicago’s foie gras ban is one year old, but in spite of the law, restaurants are still serving it.

Some get around the ban by “giving it away for free” (with an $18 salad). Other restaurants don’t have it on the menu, but will serve it if you ask (a local French chef calls them “duck-easies” — like speak-easies).

Bank of America Corp. said it’s too early to discuss possible job cuts in Michigan as a result of its acquisition of LaSalle Bank Corp. even as a new study released today predicted massive job losses in Chicago.

“We have indicated there is going to be cost reductions as part of the process and jobs are going to be part of that,” said Bank of America spokesman Lawrence Di Rita. “It would be premature to make speculation about job cuts.”

The study predicts LaSalle’s sale to Bank of America would result in the loss of 10,500 Chicago jobs over two years.

Health officials in Chicago, Illinois, USA, have started a vigorous mosquito eradication campaign following recent rains that brought a surge in the mosquito population, and signs that West Nile Virus (WNV) carrying species are also on the rise, reports the Chicago Tribune.

Trucks spraying mosquito killing insecticide are now making their way around the city’s most likely mosquito infested areas.

The Chicago History Museum is making some history of its own as it offers its first exhibit on a Chicago suburb, picking Schaumburg for the honor. That’s Schaumburg as in Woodfield Mall, IKEA and “autoburb.”

After 150 years of marking such big-city milestones as the Great Fire, Al Capone and the first “L” train, the museum has gone suburban, officials say.

“We finally broke out of the city limits because Chicago extends — it’s not just the city,” said Olivia Mahoney, the museum’s chief curator. “It has a lot of connections outward, and Schaumburg is a quintessential post-World War II American suburb.”

Chicago workers should have more reason to be pleased with their paychecks than their counterparts across the country next year.

The pay of employees in Chicago is expected to rise 3.9 percent in 2008, which means for the second year in a row the increase will beat the national average, according to Hewitt Associates annual survey. The projected rise mirrors this year’s increase, the Lincolnshire-based human resources outsourcing and consulting company said.

CHICAGO, IL Fourteen years after the grisly Browns Chicken massacre, which claimed the lives of two Filipino teenagers and five other victims, justice was served on Juan Luna.

Luna and Degorski killed the two owners and five employees, execution style. Aside from shooting the victims, they also reportedly used a knife from the restaurant to slice the owner’s throats and stab the victims. They also used a mop to clean up the crime scene and poke the victims to make sure they were really dead.

Two of the victims were Filipino teenagers Michael Castro, 16 and Rico Solis, 17, part-time cashiers and schoolmates of the killers. According to investigators both were singled out for particularly brutal treatment. Castro, a sprightly young guy and an honor student was shot seven times in the head, face and chest and stabbed in the abdomen. Solis, who was born in the Philippines, was also shot a number of times.