House Next to Obamas' Chicago Digs Hits Market

President-elect must adapt to being country's most protected man

(NEWSER) - Barack Obama is learning to live with the fact that his life has changed forever, the New York Times reports. The first president since Nixon to be elected while living in an urban neighborhood is spending some quality time at home while managing the transition, but his Hyde Park neighborhood has been turned into something of an armed fortress. The streets around his home have been closed to traffic, and residents and pre-cleared visitors must show picture ID at checkpoints. More»

Unclear if feds will kick in more than $1.5M

(NEWSER) - The Chicago police have spent at least $2.2 million watching over Barack Obama’s home since his November election, city documents reveal. The federal government will reimburse the $1.5 million racked up from November until the January inauguration, but the city is on its own for the $650,000 it's spent since, the Chicago Tribune reports. The revelation comes as the Police Department struggles with budget woes. More»

Welcome to the capital of Illinois ... doh

(NEWSER) - Chicago hosts a NATO summit later this month, and NATO officials have a handsome new video out trumpeting the choice of the city. The problem, points out the Chicago Tribune , is that said video needed a fact-checker:

• It referred to Chicago as the capital of Illinois. Sorry, Springfield.
• It said President Obama "grew up" in the city. Sorry Honolulu and Jakarta.
• It said the Tribune was founded by Col. Robert McCormick. Sorry James Kelly, John E. Wheeler, and Joseph KC Forest.

Lax rules, shortcuts are rampant

(NEWSER) - Ronald Kessler, the former Washington Post reporter who originally broke the Secret Service sex scandal story to the Post, has news for you: Prostitution is far from the agency's biggest problem. Much worse is its "lax management culture that condones cutting corners, directly endangering the life of the president," Kessler writes in the Post . He offers a variety of examples, many gleaned from his book, In the President’s Secret Service: Behind the Scenes With Agents in the Line of Fire and the Presidents They Protect: More»

3 more agents are out of jobs

(NEWSER) - President Obama tried to defuse the Secret Service scandal a bit during an interview with Jimmy Fallon that airs tonight, reports USA Today . The agents on the whole are "incredible," said Obama. “They protect me, they protect our girls. A couple of knuckleheads shouldn’t detract from what they do. What they were thinking, I don’t know. That’s why they’re not there anymore.” More»