In November, city officials announced that the popular Chicago Gospel Music Festival was returning after a not so well thought out move of combining it into the general entertainment at the Taste of Chicago in 2011. Now more details regarding dates and locations have been released.

Instead of holding the festival in one central location in Grant Park as has been done in the past, the Chicago Gospel Music Festival will be branching out in 2012 to various locations on the city's South Side. Running from July 11-15, free entertainment will take place in different spots such as the city's Bronzeville neighborhood before spending the weekend at a former public housing site at 37th Street and South Martin Luther King Drive, which the city says will be transformed into a "Gospel Music haven."

More Chicago outdoor festivals

After seeing declining attendance numbers -- likely due in part to the axing of the annual fireworks and a lesser focus on attracting A-list entertainment -- the city of Chicago has taken back control of the annual Taste of Chicago from the Chicago Park District and has decided to cut what was once the nation's largest food festival from ten days down to five. Not only that, but the city is ending the tradition of having ToC run over the Fourth of July weekend and is moving it to later (and hotter) dates in July this year, and the festival will run from July 11 through July 15, 2012.

According to the Chicago Tribune, officials from the city's Department of Cultural Affairs and Special Events released a statement about the new truncated Taste, saying, "Taste will emphasize Chicago's status as a 'foodie' destination and feature classic Chicago favorites as well as offerings from Chicago's new and emerging culinary scene. This free admission festival will highlight entertainment such as cooking demonstrations from noted chefs, and local and national musical acts."

Riding Chicago public transportation is an effective means of getting around town, but let's face it -- it's often a pretty drab affair.

But that's not the case for select dates between Thanksgiving and Christmas, when the Holiday Train takes to the rails of the Chicago Transit Authority. The six car train has its halls decked to the brim with lights, bows, wrapping paper, candy cane hand poles, and holiday songs playing over the intercom system. Even Santa Claus makes an appearance, riding on an open flatcar with reindeer and Christmas trees.

Best of all, the Holiday Train goes along the same lines as normal trains, and simply costs the normal CTA rate -- so not only can you muster up some Christmas cheer, you can also get to where you need to go.

The full detailed schedule of the CTA Holiday Train is available online.

While Chicago's O'Hare airport is the third busiest airport in the world, it still struggles with flight delays and other problems, and it's often a dreaded departure and arrival point. In fact, the Daily Beast recently named it the worst airport in America.

Using statistics from the Airports Council International, the site analyzed the percentage of on-time arrivals and departures, average security wait time during peak travel hours, average percentage of on-time departures on holidays, and airport comfort and amenities. After crunching the numbers, O'Hare made the top of the dubious list, with only 67.6% of on-time arrivals, 70.3% of on-time departures, and a measly 639 out of 1000 for its amenities score. Coming in second was Newark Liberty International, which handles only half the total passengers that O'Hare does in a single year.

Travelers to Chicago might want to consider the alternative, the Midway International airport, but it didn't do much better -- it comes in at number 7 on the list.