The Bench is now "Chicago News Bench"

That's pretty straightforward, right? New name, new look, same great taste. After 26 months, "The Bench" is now "Chicago News Bench" (CNB). Chicago is the best mega city in the United States, and is known internationally. So, while "Chicago" in our name may seem to be a localization of sorts, it's really not, any more than "New York Times" or "Times of London" restricts geographically. "Rogers Park," on the other hand, is a bit obscure. When we started in October, 2006 (more than 3,800 posts ago), we were the "Rogers Park Bench." But we were always aware of a whole world outside of the surreal confines of Rogers Park, and we felt restricted by the name. Rogers Park, you see, is two square miles surrounded by reality, and the name made us too local. There are several communities in the US called "Rogers Park," while there is but one "Chicago" on the entire planet. Eventually, we will purge "rogerspark" from our URL, too. One step at a time, however. For now, the new sign is good enough. The new building will have to wait. Meanwhile, we'll continue to refer to ourselves as "The Bench," but formally speaking, we're "Chicago News Bench" or "CNB." "Chicago News Bench" will still include some coverage of Rogers Park. It is, after all, part of Chicago and has Alderman Joe Moore, one of the most bizarre public officials ever. He provides such a wealth of material that he's hard to ignore. As a member of the Democrat National Committee, Joe Moore's buffoonery is important to document. CNB will continue to monitor Joe, but more in a "weird news" fashion. If, by some incredible lapse of judgment and taste, Barack Obama appoints Joe Moore to some post outside of Chicago, CNB will relocate in order to better follow his antics. (Hitler was once considered a buffoon, too, and people ignored him until it was too late. We don't want that mistake made twice.) So, Happy New Year from the entire staff of CNB.