Thieves of Hearts Uphold Medieval Traditions in Chicago

“Weird, but mostly harmless,” reads the sub-line of the F.B.I.’s file on the Thieves of Hearts. Considered to be the largest standing militia in Illinois, the Thieves are an armed organization that congregates regularly, but the probability of a militia attack from this group, at least by modern account, is highly unlikely.

The Society for Creative Anachronisms, the overarching organization responsible for the Thieves’ activities states their mission as “Creative anachronism takes the best qualities of the middle ages and recreates them in the modern world.”

These two foot soldiers look out of their element in a gymnasium.

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Last Summer’s Chain Muggings in Chicago’s Lincoln Park Remain Unsolved

Last summer, a series of muggings happened in Lincoln Park.  Five of the seven muggings where linked and Chicago police believe the other two muggings where related. All four of the linked victims were males in their early to mid -20′s and were walking alone. They were confronted by foot and from behind by at least four men, also in their 20′s.

In one of the linked attacks, Chicago police say the alleged attacker was identified in a physical lineup but was later released on lack of evidence.

This is an ongoing investigation and the information is subject to change.

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Source: Chicago Police Department Records.

Andrew Huff, Co-founder of GapersBlock.com, speaks about the Chicago site

Andrew Huff speaks about Gapers Block at DePaul University (Photo by M. Reilley)

Andrew Huff, Co-founder of Chicago based Web site Gapersblock.com, was a guest speaker at a DePaul University Online Journalism class in downtown Chicago on Wednesday.

Huff, who has a Bachelors degree in Journalism from The Ohio State University, spoke about how Gapers Block began as a project evolving from blogging experiences.

Gapers Block was established in April 2003 and it provides a Chicago based information source regarding the who, what, where, and how of the city.

Gapers Block is listed as one of the “best city blogs” in Forbes’ Best of the Web.

The site, initially, was supported by the sales of T-shirt and other novelty items but today, is mostly ad-supported.

But in November 2009, Gapers Block won a grant from the Chicago Community Trust for $35,000 that funded original open reporting.   Gapers Block was one of 12 organizations to be awarded the grant.

Although the site has only a handful of paid employees, most writers contribute voluntarily, according to Huff.