The Magnificent Mile is about to become $1 million more magnificent. The city began repaving and repairing potholes on a mile-long stretch of road last Wednesday. Construction will last until mid-November. A majority of the project covers North Michigan Avenue from Illinois Street to Oak Street, which costs about $900,000 and is paid for with state funding.

Anyone out for a jog in the past few months has likely noticed the new trash cans that now line the walkways of Chicago's green spaces. With a pyramid-like tip that seems to anticipate the inevitable attempts at garbage-stacking, the four-sided cans offer a place for trash and recyclable materials in the same receptacle. Steve Holland, CEO of Sugar Grove-based Free Green Can, prefers to call his product a "recycling kiosk."

There are so many endearing stories out there about entertainer Jimmy Damon. There's the one about how he receives countless requests for charity events, and when he receives these calls he never asks "How much are they paying?" and instead asks, "What can I do?" or "What do you need?"

There’s a revolution going on in the Chicago-area rental apartment market. A few decades ago, a graduate fresh out of college was shopping the walk-up apartment market in Chicago’s Old Town or Lake View neighborhoods hoping to find an affordable studio or one-bedroom with heat included and location near the lake, the El or an express bus.

Faculty and students at George Manierre Elementary, a kindergarten through eighth-grade public school on the Near North Side, recently cut the ribbon at their newly renovated library. The overhaul - which included interior improvements such as new furniture, carpeting and bookshelves, as well as the addition of 2,000 new books - was funded by the Minneapolis-based Target Corp., in conjunction with the Heart of America Foundation, as part of the store's School Library Makeover grant program.

Last week, the Franciscan Sisters of Chicago, a Roman Catholic charitable institution that provides funding and management services for senior living communities across the country, announced that in early September it had defaulted on bonds issued to finance the Clare at Water Tower, a high-end retirement community located in the city’s affluent Gold Coast neighborhood.

If you’re looking to partake in a bit of horseplay this weekend, hoof it over to North Avenue Beach for the Grey Goose Chicago Beach Polo World Cup on Saturday and Sunday. And while there, be sure to check out Ben Rosenfield.

The Chicago area's bruised and battered housing market is beginning to inch its way off life support and may soon move to the recovery room. According to the Illinois Association of Realtors (IAR) latest report, 7,187 single-family home and condominiums were sold in August in the nine-county Chicago area. That’s a 27.6 percent gain from August of 2010 when 5,632 units were sold.

The city of Chicago's new plans for a vast bike-sharing program is aiming to make thousands of bikes available for rental around the city by next summer, and the neighborhoods in and around downtown are likely to get a big chunk of the investment.

With a nod from Ald. Michele Smith (43rd) and a nudge from Mayor Rahm Emanuel, the Chicago Plan Commission on Thursday signed off on what is expected to be the final proposal for the long-debated Webster Square project. Designs for the project envision a residential, retail and commercial redevelopment of the three-acre Lincoln Park Hospital campus.