Lincoln's Patent drawings for Patent No. 6,469

Abraham Lincoln's patent was an invention to buoy and lift boats over shoals and obstructions in a river. Abraham Lincoln conceived the invention when on two occasions the boat on which he traveled got hung up on obstructions. Lincoln's device was composed of large bellows attached to the sides of a boat that were expandable due to air chambers. Filed on March 10, 1849, Lincoln's patent was issued as Patent No. 6,469 later that year, on May 22. His successful patent application led to his drafting and delivering two lectures on the subject of patents while he was president.

Lincoln was at times a patent attorney and was familiar with the patent application process as well as patent lawsuit proceedings. Among his notable patent law experiences as a result of his patent was litigation over the mechanical reaper; both he and his future Secretary of War, Edwin Stanton, provided counsel for John Henry Manny, an inventor. The original documentation of Lincoln's patent was rediscovered in 1997.

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Banks receiving the Presidential Medal of Freedom, 2013

Ernie Banks (January 31, 1931 – January 23, 2015), nicknamed "Mr. Cub" and "Mr. Sunshine", was an American professional baseball player who starred in Major League Baseball (MLB) as a shortstop and first baseman for the Chicago Cubs between 1953 and 1971. He was inducted into the National Baseball Hall of Fame in 1977 and was named to the Major League Baseball All-Century Team in 1999.

Banks began playing professional baseball in 1950 with the Kansas City Monarchs in the Negro leagues. He served in the U.S. military, returned to the Monarchs, and began his major league career in September 1953. The following year, Banks was the Rookie of the Year runner-up. From 1955, Banks was a National League (NL) All-Star for 11 seasons, playing in 13 of the 15 All-Star Games held during those years. He was named the National League Most Valuable Player in 1958 and 1959, and the Cubs' first Gold Glove winner in 1960.

Banks retired from playing in 1971, was a coach for the Cubs in 1972, and in 1982 was the team's first player to have his uniform number retired. Banks was active in the Chicago community during and after his tenure with the Cubs. He founded a charitable organization, became the first black Ford Motor Company dealer in the United States, and made an unsuccessful bid for a local political office. In 2013, Banks was awarded the Presidential Medal of Freedom for his contribution to sports. Banks lived in the Los Angeles and Chicago areas. (Read more...)

• ... that a mock funeral was held outside company headquarters during the 1986–1987 John Deere strike in which 700 union workers ceremoniously burned a coffin and a Christmas tree covered in company hats?
• ... that landscape architect Harriet Pattison collaborated with her lover Louis Kahn on the design of Four Freedoms Park and the grounds of the Kimbell Art Museum?
• ... that according to campus legend, the English Building at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign is haunted by the ghost of a female student who drowned in the building's pool?
• ... that 1980's Space Encounters video game was the first that Midway Games offered in their "mini myte" arcade game cabinet?
• ... that astronaut James McDivitt saw a UFO during his first spaceflight?
• 
  ... that distance education in Chicago Public Schools in 1937 took place via radio broadcasts (pictured) during school closures that were spurred by a polio outbreak?

• November 17, 2021:
  
  The John Deere strike (pictured) ends after more than a month when workers approve a third contract offer.
• November 14, 2021: The last department store in Illinois belonging to Hoffman Estates-based Sears closes in Woodfield Mall.
• November 4, 2021: J. B. Pritzker speaks alongside Governors David Ige, Kate Brown, and Jay Inslee at the 2021 United Nations Climate Change Conference.
• October 26, 2021: Workers for Chicago-based McDonald's in ten cities go on strike to protest the company's handling of sexual harassment in the workplace.
• October 18, 2021: The Chicago Police Department reports that more than a third of its officers have failed to meet a deadline for reporting whether they have received a COVID-19 vaccine.
• October 17, 2021: The Chicago Sky win the 2021 WNBA Finals, defeating the Phoenix Mercury in four games to win the team's first-ever championship.
• October 14, 2021: 10,000 UAW workers go on strike (pictured) in Midwestern plants of Moline-based John Deere.
• October 12, 2021: The Chicago White Sox lose the American League Division Series to Houston in four games.
• October 11, 2021: David Card, former professor at the University of Chicago Booth School of Business, is awarded the Nobel Prize in Economics.