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SPRINGFIELD -- The state's money problems are so bad that lawmakers are getting eviction notices and calls from collection agencies about their offices back home.

At least five state senators say they've piled up so much unpaid rent, sheepish landlords are asking them when the government plans to make good on its bills.

"He said, 'Ira, I'm sorry,'" said Sen. Ira Silverstein, D-Chicago, recalling a visit from his landlord delivering an eviction notice. "And what am I going to do? I can't argue with the man."

While none of the lawmakers has actually gotten the boot yet, they are getting a taste of the frustratingly slow pace at which the state pays bills as it careens toward a $13 billion budget hole. It's a pain that's magnified exponentially for school districts, drug rehabilitation counselors and businesses awaiting tax refunds.

"It certainly puts us in a position of looking like deadbeats," said Sen. Mike Jacobs, an East Moline Democrat who got an evicti...

Metroid: Other M is an interesting test in game design. The title uses only the Wii Remote, held sideways like a NES controller, to control Samus in third-person. This is mixed with a first-person aiming mechanic using the Remote's infrared sensor.

As such, the level design is largely presented as 2D, despite being a 3D space. There is a large amount of auto-aim, putting the focus on dodging and firing back at enemies. Ninja Gaiden series veteran Team Ninja, co-developing the title with Nintendo, is the driving force behind the combat. Players will be able to dodge attacks as well as initiate flashy cinematic finishing moves on certain enemies.

I was ...

Preliminary information through February shows overall crime has dropped 10.3 percent compared to the first two months of last year, Chicago police officials said today.

The information shows a decrease in violent crime of 15.1 percent and property crime of 9 percent, marking the 14th consecutive month that overall, violent and property crime categories have fallen in the city, according to a news release quoting Supt. Jody P. Weis.

Eight fewer homicides over the first two months of 2010 shows a 16 percent while the greatest reduction in violent crime was shown in criminal sexual assault incidents, which fell 30 percent at the end of February compared to last year. police said.

--Staff report

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Looking to "breathe new life" into Chess, TopWare and Zuxxez today unveiled a "progressive title [aimed] at developing a unique fusion between vivid 3D environments & characters, professional chess software and upbeat combat visuals & mechanics." The cleverly-named "Battle vs. Chess" is based upon ChessBase's "world renowned Fritz! chess algorithm software" and due out in May 2010 at an unknown price-point.

As for plaforms, TopWare only made a vague mention of "multiple" in its announcement, though the official site sports PC,...

A co-owner of the Boston Blackie's restaurants bonded out of Cook County Jail today after he, his co-owner father and a restaurant manager were charged in connection with what prosecutors called a nearly $1.9 million check-kiting scheme.

As he left the jail, Chris Giannis made a brief statement, saying "I still don't know what I'm charged with."

He then said after suffering through jail meals, he was looking forward to a cheeseburger at Boston Blackie's.

Chris Giannis (left) walks out of the Cook County Jail in Chicago on Friday after posting bond. (Tribune / David Pierini)

Chris Giannis, 38, Nick Giannis, 62, and restaurant manager Andy Bakopoulos, 38, were charged with defrauding Charter One and Washington Mutual banks. Chris Giannis also was charged with two counts of being an organizer of a continuing f...

Firefighters from several area departments responded to a small fire that erupted in a hangar at the Chicago/Aurora Municipal Airport this evening.

No one was injured in the blaze, which started about 6:30 p.m., and no airplanes were damaged, according to the Sugar Grove Fire Department, one of the departments that responded to the scene.

The cause of the fire was under investigation this evening.

--Staff report

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Speaking at Game Developers Conference on The Crystal Mythos, Final Fantasy 13 director and scenario writer Motomu Toriyama offered some insight into how the current game came to be and where the future of the series is headed.

Dipping back in their history for a moment, he pointed to Final Fantasy 10-2 as the point where Square Enix started thinking about multiple games in the same universe--i.e. expanding the overall mythology of one particular entry, such as Final Fantasy 10.

And while Final Fantasy 10-2 basically inherited the qualities of the one prior, that approach toward multiple entries has now widened to crafting games with very different sorts of play mechanics within the same mythology. One such example, Dirge of Cerberus: Final Fantasy 7, abandoned RPG elemen...

The role-playing series that launched a million bad attempts at cosplay is back, with a new group of colorful characters carrying the fate of the world on their shoulders in Final Fantasy XIII.

Hovering above the surface of the planet Pulse, the shell-like city of Cocoon was once a haven for humanity, but fear of powerful ancient beings known as the fal'Cie has stirred fear and unrest among the people, causing the military to respond by "quarantining" anyone who comes in contact with fal'Cie. It's during these tumultuous times that our heroes - Snow, Lightning, Sazh, Hope, Fang, and Vanille - find themselves on the wrong side of the human-fal'Cie conflict, united by a task that could mean the end of the world as they know it.

It's a familiar tale, but Square Enix wouldn't fall b...