News in Brief  is a summer blog run by the news editors, updated every Tuesday until the actual presses resume.

Gossip Gargoyle

• UChicago placed 14th this year on Forbes’ annual list of “America’s Top Colleges. Last year, the University didn’t medal either but grabbed a fourth place finish, only behind Princeton, Williams, and Stanford. The Silicon Valley university claimed the top spot this year. Meanwhile, that place up North climbed five notches to No. 17.

• Reva Logan died last Monday at the age of 91 after a long struggle with Alzheimer’s Disease. Reva and David Logan (A.B ’39, J.D. ’41) met on the steps of the Law School and seven decades later founded their eponymous Logan Center for the Arts. The pair donated a total of $135 million to the Center in 2007. David Logan died two years ago.

• (Former) New York Times stats guru and FiveThirtyEight author Nate Silver (A.B ’00) has jumped ship. At ESPN and ABC News, Silver will expand his data crunching to the Oscars and maybe tackle the biggest challenge of all: the weather. Silver came to fame for his 49 out of 50 correctly predicted states in the 2008 Presidential Election, a score he perfected four years later. What are the chances that Silver will nab Ben Bernanke’s job?

• In professor news, Law School lecturer and federal judge Richard Posner’s byline appeared in the New Republic. His piece on the judicial history of gay marriage came days after a previous literary dabble. The man of letters, while speaking to 80 chinese legal scholars, wrote and recited an impromptu poem, “Ode to Dick Posner”:

                             Oh to be a federal judge,

                            Treated like royalty and Justin Bieber.

                            Sought after by all, he floats across the ether.

Around the Block

• Hyde Park is hot these days—NBC’s “Chicago Fire” is filming a portion of its second season premiere on the 1300 block of Hyde Park Boulevard. Actual fire will be used (and may cause alarm to a certain editor living on the block)

• Watch out Akira (and Walgreen’s Aisle of Seasonal Retail)! A women’s clothing boutique is opening a pop-up shop on Friday. Lincoln Park’s Comfort Me will be temporarily located on East 52nd Street and South Harper Avenue and may become a permanent fixture if successful.

• Former Mayor Richard Daley is (probably) dating a Hyde Parker, rounding up the total number of neighborhood celebrity couples to three. Adele Joy Cobbs, 41, of Rush Medical Center is on the Chicago Board of Health, an appointment courtesy of her older beau.The two were photographed at George Lucas’s Promontory Point wedding.

• Kenwood Academy alumnus and 10-time Grammy Award winner Chaka Khan got a slice of Hyde Park named in her honor on Saturday, when the city unveiled “Chaka Khan Way” on South Blackstone Avenue between East Hyde Park Boulevard and South 50th Street at a ceremony attended by several elected officials and civil rights activist Jesse Jackson, Jr. On Sunday, Khan helped celebrate Chicago’s first annual “Chaka Khan” day with a free outdoor concert in Millenium Park.

On Second (City) Thought

• As protests against Chicago Public Schools closings wage on across the city, a human rights group penned a letter to the United Nations. The group warns that the closings may warrant “potential domestic and international human rights violations” when school starts.

• Adieu to magnetic-stripe fare cards! Ventra—Latin for “wind”—will drift into the city September 9th. Under the new system, commuters can opt to use a prepaid Ventra card similar to Chicago Cards, a personal credit card, Ventra <number>-day passes, or cash to ride the CTA. If you have a registered Chicago Card or a U-PASS (cue collective UChicago eyeroll) or if you are a CPS student, you’ll get a jump start on the new fare system next month.

And check out this blast from the past of former Maroon football players at a Class of 1920 reunion, when we could still remember being in the Big Ten.