SOX CLINCH + Carjacking Ring + Chicago Dog Bloodys + Sex Shop

Happy Friday! It's a great day on the South Side! The White Sox are playoff-bound after clinching the American League Central Division for the first time since 2008. Click this link to get official AL Central Champs gear, perfect for visiting your Cubs-fan friends.

Before we get to the rundown of today's news and fun, let's take a moment to be thankful Sox manager Tony La Russa's haters were wrong.

JEFF ARNOLD COMMENTARY: 'The Right Guy' La Russa Proves To Be The Right Choice For Sox

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Friday's forecast:

Sox-y with a chance of rain overnight. High: 76 Low: 51

Today's Top 5

• The White Sox won the American League Central Thursday afternoon in a 7-2 victory over the Cleveland Indians in the first game of a doubleheader. "I'm just glad we took care of business," All-Star shortstop Tim Anderson said, wearing a Central Division champs T-shirt. (Patch)

• You might want to consider celebrating a White Sox clinching a playoff spot by fixing yourself a Chicago Hot Dog Bloody Mary for brunch this weekend. For $54.95, you can buy a do-it-yourself kit with almost all the fixings — Zing Zang Bloody Mary Mix, smoked beef sticks, sport peppers and celery salt and custom Mason jars on the Vienna Beef website. Sorry, vodka not included. (Patch)
• Almost 10 percent of Chicago Public School students didn't show up for the first day of class this year. Students stranded due to bus driver shortages may have contributed to an enrollment decline on Day 1. Attendance rebounded some during the second week of school, but a more complete picture of the state of CPS enrollment won't be available until next week. (Chalkbeat)
• A carjacking in Old Town near the prestigious (and outrageously expensive) Latin School is connected to a citywide carjacking squad. CWB Chicago reported the man who had his $75,000 Audi SUV ripped off by a bandit refused to press felony charges because he couldn't pick the man who was arrested from a police lineup. The man caught in the stolen car got charged with misdemeanors. (CWB)
• An Andersonville sex shop still turning folks on after 20 years. “I keep thinking we’ll become irrelevant because of the internet,” Early To Bed owner Searah Deysach said. “Twenty years in, we’re still answering the same questions about sex and people’s bodies." (Block Club)

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Friday is for Fun in Chicago:

• Rufus Wainwright and Jose Gonzalez at Chicago Theater (8 p.m.)
• West Town Art Walk starts Friday afternoon and lasts the weekend. (5 p.m.)
• Rebirth Brass Band at Martyr's (8 p.m.)
• She The People at Second City (8 p.m.)
• Heartless Bastards at Lincoln Hall (8 p.m.)

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City Notebook:

• City Hall is making a new push to get 77 percent of Chicagoans jabbed. (Block Club)
• President Joe Biden is set to visit Chicago next week to encourage vaccine mandates by private businesses. (Patch)
• Check out these views from the bench on Day 1 of Blackhawks training camp. (Facebook)
• Contrary to what you overheard in Bridgeport, some Cubs fans have class. (Twitter)
• Meet Kennedi, the Lincoln Park Zoo's snow leopard. Photo by #FromAKeeper, Jill Dignan (Facebook)
• 75 Afghan children arrived in Chicago to be reunited with family. (Patch)

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— Mark Konkol

Twitter: @Konkolskorner