The Evening Rush for Wednesday, Oct. 9, 2013

Rich Hein/Sun-Times

Misad-Ventras in Transit

To hear the reports, you’d think the CTA customer service for the recent Ventra transition was a smoking crater. In reality, well, it seems not that far off, actually. So in an effort to make it smoother than the turbulent ride its been thus far, the CTA is rolling back changes — adding back the choice to add money to magnet-stripe cards, for instance — and making sure customer service is increased. None of these actions, however, will explain why Ventra was *really* necessary in the first place. But ours is not to ask, dear reader, ours is just to suffer. [Sun-Times]

Dissed by Girardi

Joe Girardi has chosen to re-up with the Yankees rather than sign on as the Cubs’ skipper, meaning, well, welcome to the Manny Acta Era, I guess. [Sun-Times]

Yellin’ ’bout Yellen

President Obama officially nominated Janet Yellen as his choice for Federal Reserve chief. [N.Y. Times]

Shutdown blah blah blah

And, thus, the government shutdown continues with neither side really showing flexibility, but there does seem to be a sliver of possible hope, maybe, and Obama is due to meet with Congressional Republicans this afternoon. [Sun-Times, Voices]

Manhunt

The search is on for a serial rapist who attacked three women on the South Side early this morning. [CBS 2]

Big gang bust

Nearly three dozen men have been charged in a sprawling conspiracy case against a West Side gang. [Sun-Times]

Traffic jam

Between tomorrow night’s Bears game and the Marathon this Sunday, commuting to downtown is gonna be a drag for a few days. [DNA Info]

Capping it

So it seems building a park on top of parts of the Kennedy is pretty expensive. [Sun-Times]

Historical research

The history of the hamburger in Chicago. [Food Republic]

The “Snyder Defense”

Washington NFL team owner Daniel Snyder is an idiot. [WaPo]

The Bright One

Be sure to check the growing list of Ebooks in our archives, including a new Greatest Bulls edition that’s coming later today. [Sun-Times]

Commute

Sudoku; Weather; Traffic; CTA; Metra; Flight delays

And finally

Derrick Rose dressed up as one of the Duck Dynasty guys for his toddler son’s costume birthday party. Cuteness ensued. [Deadspin]