Chicago’s double-deck Michigan Avenue bridge turned 94 years old this week. The bridge is one of the most revered and celebrated landmarks in the Second City. When the movable bridge […]
Category: Illinois / regional
Getting a start on Fixing Illinois
Fixing the problems in Illinois will be no easy task. But the authors of Fixing Illinois: Politics and Policy in the Prairie State want to get the wheels in motion. […]
Mushroom Monday: Morchella esculentioides
Morchella esculentioides (M. Kuo, Dewsbury, Moncalvo, & S.L. Stephenson) Edible and very good. Previously known as Morchella esculenta, which recent studies have determined to be strictly European. DNA reveals Morchella […]
Mushroom Monday: Coprinus comatus
Coprinus comatus (O.F. Müller) Persoon Often called the “shaggy mane.” Edible and good when collected in the button stage (when the gills are still white), but compare it carefully with Amanita […]
Mushroom season! Get up, get into it, get your Morganella pyriformis
Morganella pyriformis (Schaeffer) Kreisel & D. Kruger The habitat on wood and the abundant white rhizomorphs make this puffball easy to identify. Morganella versus Lycoperdon. It’s the mycologist’s version of pepperoni or […]
Exploring Illinois photos on exhibit
Michael Jeffords and Susan Post, authors of Exploring Nature in Illinois, are celebrating both the release of their new book and an exhibit of nature photography in May and June. […]
Mushroom Monday: Amanita jacksonii
Amanita jacksonii (Pomerleau) No Amanita should be eaten. This is the most widespread midwestern version of the well-known European species Amanita caesarea. An unnamed yellow version with larger spores is […]
A video preview of Exploring Nature in Illinois
With Exploring Nature in Illinois: A Field Guide to the Prairie State, naturalists Michael Jeffords and Susan Post provide a panorama of the natural diversity found in Illinois. The book […]
How the Michigan Avenue bridge changed Chicago
It would be hard for any visitors or residents of modern-day Chicago to think of Michigan Avenue as a “quiet, tree-lined residential street.” Yet, Patrick T. McBriarty, author of Chicago […]
The Architecture of Barry Byrne a Printers Row favorite
The Architecture of Barry Byrne by Vincent L. Michael was named one of the top books of 2013 by the Chicago Tribune Printer’s Row. As the subtitle of the book, […]
Happy Holidays from the UIP
Hope your celebrations are as joyful as ours… […]
Happy birthday to Chicago’s Grand Avenue bridge
On December 13 Chicago’s Grand Avenue Bridge turned 100 years old. The bridge opened on in 1913 on what was once called Indiana Avenue—which makes sense as it is just […]