The Watch List is a weekly list of all those things we're watching, things we're loving, things we're talking about in the newsroom this week, in general.

Trending this week on Katie's desk... Bigelow brand Vanilla Chai tea! With the blustery weather we had last week I nestled into my desk and downed about 4 mugs of chai tea a day. Specifically, BIGELOW Vanilla Chai. I think part of the reason I've been particularly drawn to these tea bags is (a) they are free (well, Emily bought them, but they've been sitting in the communal drink area for about a year, so I figured they were fair game), and (b) I love reading the box the tea comes in. More products should have evocative descriptions like this: "Explore the mystery of Chai. India is a land shrouded in mystery. From the beauty of the Taj Mahal to the markets of New Delhi, it is a country unlike any other in the world. For centuries, the drink of the Maharajas has been equally mysterious -- an ambrosia called Chai ... A sure way to please your senses and enchant your taste buds." -- Katie Anderson, Staff Writer

We want to hear what you're watching too! Share a few of your favorite things here, or send them throughout the week to Between the Bylines editor Emily McFarlan at emcfarlan@stmedianetwork.com.

-- The Courier-News Staff

NOTE: Freelance writer Jason Duarte books shows in Elgin and Chicago, is part of a band and blogs about the local music scene (usually Wednesdays) exclusively on Between the Bylines.

One of my favorite times of the year is creeping up quickly.

Like Christmas music, there are Halloween tunes we know and recognize like the "Monster Mash" or even Michael Jackson's "Thriller." But if you're looking for something new or maybe just different, I have compiled a list of chilling tunes perfect for the occult occasion...

Jason's complete track list, including some tracks we couldn't find on Playlist.com, after the jump.

NOTE: In a revival of this "classic" Friday feature, Courier-News reporter Mike Danahey guesses how much beer (or other beverage of choice) it might take him to pay money to see a recently-released movie. His opinions are based on trailers, ads and advance hype.

Here are some movies playing this weekend...

SAW 3D

An obligatory Halloween-time franchise release filmed in the requisite fad technology. Because who wouldn't want to see people getting sawed apart in three dimensions? I haven't seen any of these movies. Why start now? And, gee, it's the only wide-release film coming out this week. Go figure.

Beer rating: Something unimaginative. Maybe Coors Light?

Monsters, after the jump.

We asked to see the jack-o-lanterns you've carved this year. You responded. And y'all are a talented (read: also kind of sick and twisted) bunch.

Here's one last jack-o-lantern, carved by Susanne Anderson of Elgin. This one reminds me of an angsty adolescent. See it?

Today The Courier-News has rounded up area "Halloween happenings to fill a treat bag." And you'll find a list of trick-or-treat hours in all our towns in today's newspaper.

Happy Halloween!

-- Emily McFarlan, Readers' Reporter

Like the rest of you, we're sick of getting our mailboxes stuffed with annoying cardboard campaign literature.

Honestly, a pox on all their houses for this kind of crap. Not only are the politicians killing perfectly good trees to make these cheesy mailings, they also are telling half-truths or outright lies about each other. Of course, politicians can't help the latter. They're genetically programmed to do so.

Which is to say, they all should be ashamed of themselves. But they aren't. It's the American way of getting elected.

But these things are hard to get out of the mailbox and into the recycle bin where they belong.

We have fun with a few campaign mailers, after the jump.

Today's Courier-News cover story "Campaign mail buries Elgin-area homes" takes a look at some of the reasons why we've been inundated with campaign mail this election season.

To help you figure out how to tell fact from fiction on all that political propaganda landing in your mail box, we offer up the following: Each is a link that will lead you to a non-partisan website. There you can search and find out exactly how each local candidate voted on issues that are important to you.

• Project Vote Smart


• FactCheck.org


• Illinois General Assembly


• U.S. Senate


• United States House of Representatives

More resources from Sun-Times Media West, after the jump.

It's being called the "Great Lakes Cyclone," but if you were following updates about yesterday's storm on social media yesterday, you probably know it better as the Chiclone. Or maybe #Chiclone.

While were posting those updates throughout Tuesday morning (Tornado warning on. Tornado warning off. Schools open. Schools closed.), we also were asking you for your storm stories and photos via e-mail, Twitter, Facebook and this blog. And you answered.

Kathy Wiercinski of Elgin sent us this incredible photo of a downed tree that "landed so perfectly it was not to be believed" between her house and a neighbor's...

"I'm so grateful to God He landed it so perfectly between our houses," Wiercinski said.

Your storm stories from Twitter, after the jump.

Last Wednesday, I had the pleasure of attending the
Northern Illinois Newspaper Association Fall Conference and awards dinner.

Highlights of the evening included a presentation by Pulitzer Prize winner Deborah Nelson and accepting four NINA awards on behalf of The Courier-News.

(That's my smiling mug in the picture below.)

This year The Courier-News earned honors including...

• First place for column writing: Julia Doyle
• Second place for headline writing: Julia Doyle
• Third place for a religion story, a.k.a. the Owen Phelps Award: Katie Anderson (me)
• Third place for sports column writing: Erik Jacobsen

Click the blue text for a full winners list, which includes accolades for reporters and photographers from our sister publications including The Beacon News in Aurora.

More about NINA and the keynote speaker after the jump.

UPDATE: Follow us on The Courier-News Twitter page for all our live "Chiclone" updates and your stories and photos. And check out our complete coverage on The Courier-News website!

They're already calling it the "Great Lakes Cyclone."

A high wind warning is in effect for Northern Illinois, with gusts expected to surpass 55 mph today and sustained winds coming in between 35 and 40 mph.

Already yesterday National Weather Service meteorologists said it will rank among the most powerful cyclones in the past hundred years. It was compared to "The Wizard of Oz." And the "Edmund Fitzgerald."

But we're more interested in your original stories.

How to share them with us, after the jump.

Introducing... The Watch List! A list of all those things we're watching, things we're loving, things we're talking about in the newsroom this week, in general.

It can be things in the Elgin area, things in the newspaper, things that aren't necessarily local enough to be in the newspaper but we know you're talking about them too. It can be events, people, books, movies, music... you name it!

This week, it's...

• Burgers. My roommates took me to try on wedding dresses for the first time this weekend. Afterward, we felt so girly, we had to grab the biggest, greasiest burgers we could find at the legendary Kuma's Corner (2900 W. Belmont Ave., Chicago). There are even more opportunities for big, greasy -- not to mention imaginative -- burgers at the second annual The ECC-Prime BurgerHouse Burger Competition 2 p.m. Thursday, Oct. 28, in the Fox River Room at the Grand Victoria Casino (250 S. Grove Ave., Elgin). Stop by for FREE SAMPLES! And if you see me there, remind me I've got to fit in a white dress in a few months. -- Emily McFarlan, Readers' Reporter

Campaign mailers and Svengoolie at The Hemmens, after the jump.

(Insert your own punchline here.)

Actually, I guess it's not.

According to reporter Mike Danahey's cover story in today's Courier-News (@&%# TRAFFIC! Metra repairs tie up downtown Elgin roads), by Thursday evening, much of the mess was cleaned up that had been caused Wednesday by...

• A semi-truck that pulled down electrical wires at Jackson Street and West Highland Avenue


• A car that broke down on National Street


• Metra tracks being closed on McLean Boulevard and Kimball Street


• Roadwork at Big Timber Road and Highland Avenue


• And the ongoing downtown Elgin street improvement project.

And yesterday, when we asked you for your downtown traffic horror stories, we only got two responses.

Your traffic stories, after the jump.

NOTE: In a revival of this "classic" Friday feature, Courier-News reporter Mike Danahey guesses how much beer (or other beverage of choice) it might take him to pay money to see a recently-released movie. His opinions are based on trailers, ads and advance hype.

Here are some movies playing this weekend...

Paranormal Activity 2

So if ghastly, ghostly weird stuff keeps happening, wouldn't you just move, ASAP? Oh yeah, there's a housing crisis and it's hard to unload a place these days. If I want scary I know a few bars in Chicago I could visit on any given weekend.

Beer rating: I'm saving my beer money for a Halloween costume. I'm making a meat kilt, sort of a Braveheart meets Lady Gaga ensemble.

Hereafter, after the jump.

What's scarier than the pictures of your jack-o-lanterns you've sent us? Scarier than the Haunted Turner Hall in Elgin? Scarier than almost any Halloween-related thing imaginable?

Probably the traffic in downtown Elgin.

The Metra commuter train crossings at North McLean Boulevard and Kimball Street have been closed. Elgin police are recommending drivers use Route 20 or Interstate 90 to get around the Fox River, according to the city's website. And Reporter Mike Danahey is writing about that mess for Friday's Courier-News.

We want to hear your downtown Elgin traffic horror stories! Get them to us today, and we'll include them in Danahey's article. You can do that...

• Here in the comments
• Through Facebook
• Through Twitter
• Or by e-mailing Danahey directly at mdanahey@stmedianetwork.com.

-- Emily McFarlan, Readers' Reporter

Here is a follow-up of sorts to my outsider's impressions of Drum Corps International's live simulcast of its championships last August.

It turns out, there's even more fabulousness in store for Drum Corps International fans next summer.

According to George Hopkins, "Seven corps had some ideas for a new format for corps events. We met over the summer and fall, and recently in Indy we agreed that within DCI there would be placed some special events for the top eight corps to try out some different formats and plans. The formats were voted by the board. All was agreed to in a very supportive process."

Hopkins oversees the Cadets of Allentown, Pa.

What could this possibly mean?! after the jump.

Five things I noticed at the Chicago Cyclocross Cup bike races Sunday in Carpenter Park...

1. No one really looks that sexy in stretch material bike outfits. In fact, after a long race, some guys looked like they pooped their pants.

2. Wipeouts are cool.

3. Bike people can be rowdy. There was a part of the course set up in a field where riders had to go through soft, black dirt before navigating a series of moguls. Anyone who decided to lift a bike and run instead of attempting the bumpy ride was booed. One spectator dude held out dollar bills to tempt pedaling passers-by to snatch. Another had one of those annoying plastic horns, and another pounded on a plastic block with a drumstick.

More of Danahey's observations, after the jump.

That chill finally is in the air.

Which means finally it's safe to stick a knife in your gourd without it molding or disintegrating within the week. Which means we've been getting in some awesome pictures of your jack-o-lanterns.

Possibly the Best. Pumpkin. EVER?! This shish kabob-crunching cannibal by reader Cathy Hemmings of Gilberts...

"The pumpkin is eating the veggie characters and the characters are screaming," Cathy described.

More pictures, send us yours, after the jump.

NOTE: In a revival of this "classic" Friday feature, Courier-News reporter Mike Danahey guesses how much beer (or other beverage of choice) it might take him to pay money to see a recently-released movie. His opinions are based on trailers, ads and advance hype.

Here are some movies playing this weekend...

Jackass 3-D

If ever there was a movie series that NEEDS to be in 3-D, it's the adventures of these clowns. Imagine human waste of all sorts, vomit, stapled body parts, hits to the groin of all sorts and middle-aged male nudity in this format. To be honest, sometimes this stuff is so stupid it's funny. But not $12 worth of stupid.

Brew review: I'm saving my beer money for the DVD.

Conviction, Red, after the jump.

For more than 100 years, glowing jack-o-lanterns carved from turnips or gourds have been used to welcome deceased loved ones as well as act as protection against malevolent spirits as All Hallow's Eve approaches.

It's only this October it's been so warm my pumpkins molded within a week of carving them.

Here they are in better days...

Show us your pumpkins, after the jump!

NOTE: Freelance writer Jason Duarte books shows in Elgin and Chicago, is part of a band and blogs about the local music scene Wednesdays exclusively on Between the Bylines.

I got really excited this morning when I read that WCIU's seven-time Emmy-award winning Svengoolie is coming to Elgin.

Legally known as Rich Koz, Svengoolie will be signing autographs and gracing Elgin with his presence from 6:30 to 8 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 30, at The Hemmens Cultural Center, 200 N. Spring St. Svengoolie introduced me not only to the bizarre town of Berwyn, Ill., via television, but also cult classics like "The Car" (1977) and movies I later bought on DVD such as "Santa Claus Conquers the Martians" and "Attack of the Killer Shrews."

That's not all! What else is coming to Elgin, after the jump.

It was a Tuesday in early May. I, along with several other reporters from competing news outlets, were lead into a meeting room in the Kane County State's Attorney's Office.

Once seated, we each were handed a single sheet of white typing paper with the following announcement printed on it: Kane County Coroner Charles West had been indicted on felony charges.

Every reporter's eyes immediately went down to scan the press release. After a quick skim, I whipped out my phone, opened the camera application and took a photograph of the press release. I then e-mailed the image to my editors and a fellow reporter who wrote up the news and posted it to The Courier-News website and its affiliates a full 45 minutes before any other news outlet uttered a word about the indictment.

It took me about two minutes in total to take the photograph, log in to my e-mail, attach the image and send the message with photo attached to my newsroom. While my phone did the work transmitting the news, I was free to ask questions and take part in the remainder of the press conference.

As a reporter, my cell phone is as indispensable to me as my notebook and pen. Using my phone, I call and text sources and send e-mails while I'm away from my desk. I even check Facebook and Twitter updates for news tips and scoops. With regards to my work however, the most useful part of my phone is quickly becoming the built-in camera.

More about how Katie uses her cameraphone, what others think of 'cameraphone journalism,' tips on how to take better phone photos, all after the jump!

Is the recession really over?

Kane County's unadjusted jobless rates have dropped recently, and national economists say the great recession actually ended last year. But this weekend's Courier-News featured three area residents' stories that would suggest otherwise:

• Recession is still very real in building trades by Katie Anderson: Pat Hudgens of Elgin Sheet Metal Co. said he'd like to be hiring. His business usually employs about 20 tradesmen. But with new construction at a halt, he said he's struggling to find work for 12.
• Back to school by Emily McFarlan: When Streamwood resident Ruth Eckler's job went overseas, she said she thought, no big deal, she'd get a new job. No such luck. A year later, Eckler still is unemployed, though she's making the best of it.
• Unconventionally unemployed by Mike Danahey: Elgin resident Chuck Keysor has been unemployed for FOUR years. He's not only making the best of being unemployed, he said he's planning to stay that way. He shares his tips for living frugally.

Now it's your turn to share your story.

How has the recession impacted you and your family? Or hasn't it? Comment with your thoughts here on Between the Bylines!

-- Emily McFarlan, Readers' Reporter

NOTE: In a revival of this "classic" Friday feature, Courier-News reporter Mike Danahey guesses how much beer (or other beverage of choice) it might take him to pay money to see a recently-released movie. His opinions are based on trailers, ads and advance hype.

Here are some movies playing this weekend...

Life As We Know It

Katherine Heigl and Josh Duhamel wind up falling in love after they are forced to become the legal guardians of their goddaughter. Even for a chick flick, this seems contrived beyond hope.

Beer rating: Something weak and bland, say a case of Coors Light.

My Soul to Take, Secretariat, after the jump.

Speaking of fresh fruits and vegetables... Thinking about going apple-picking yet this fall?

So was I. That's how I ended up in Michigan this past weekend.

It was a warm September in the area. There was a late frost in May. That means there was an early start and an early end to a "you-pick" apple-picking season that should have ended with the month of October, or even early November. And what wasn't killed in the frost, already has been picked over or rotted on the trees.

But fear not! That glorious bounty above was picked by yours truly just last weekend!

Where to pick, what's picked over, after the jump.

NOTE: Freelance writer Jason Duarte books shows in Elgin and Chicago, is part of a band and blogs about the local music scene Wednesdays exclusively on Between the Bylines.

At 3:30 p.m. Saturday, Oct. 30, the Elgin Symphony Orchestra will present a Halloween "Spook-tacular," the first part of the ESO Family Fun Series.

The orchestra will perform John Williams' music for the Harry Potter films. Tickets to each show in the Family Fun Series are $45 per adult and $30 per child.

More about the conductor, upcoming ESO Family Fun Series shows, after the jump.

Today is the last day to register to vote in the general elections in November. But just who is up for election, come November?

School boards are not. Library boards are not. Village boards are not. You also may have heard some rumblings in The Courier-News and on the street about the Elgin mayoral race, but that's not up for election in November either.

Those positions all will come up for vote in April.

Petitions for candidates interested in those elected positions now are available. Some organizations already are holding forums for candidates who have announced their intentions to run early. So it seems like everybody and his brother are up for election right now.

Who actually is up for election, after the jump.

Yes, that tomato is mooning you.

More importantly, I grew that delectable red Plantae in my very own garden right here in Elgin.

Spurred by an appetite for fresh veggies, a tight budget and a general love of being outside and in the dirt, I dug my own little backyard food patch this summer. This is the second year in a row I have flexed my green thumb and I'm proud to report that it produced several dozen healthy tomatoes, sweet dumpling squash and peppers as a result. My herb garden, on the other hand, petered out pretty early in the summer.

Where you can find fresh fruits and veggies this fall, besides Katie's backyard, after the jump.

NOTE: In a revival of this "classic" Friday feature, Courier-News reporter Mike Danahey guesses how much beer (or other beverage of choice) it might take him to pay money to see a recently-released movie. His opinions are based on trailers, ads and advance hype.

Here are some movies playing this weekend...

The Social Network

A movie about the smarmy, cocky brainiac nerd-punks who started Facebook. In a perfect world, you would just download the Bit Torrent instead of forking out the $10 to see this. One one hand, I want to go because it looks like it makes fun of these jerks for launching the biggest waste of time since Jay Leno got his own show. On the other, it's the work of David Fincher, the director behind the slumber inducing "Curious Case of Brad Pitt Aging Backwards" and the overblown "Fight Club" and written by recovering drug addict and "West Wing" blowhard Aaron Sorkin. I just convinced myself to wait for the DVD, so I can have a viewing party with online pals where we post stuff about it on Facebook as we simultaneously watch it. Cripes. That's what will be going on in the cineplexes -- with Twitter.

Beer rating: What do the kids drink? Bud Light and Jaeger Bombs? Then I get into a fight at a frat party and post pictures of it.


Let Me In, after the jump.