New daddy Colin Farrell certainly takes his parenting duties seriously. Next month, he'll personally support the Foundation for Angelman Syndrome (which his six-year-old son has) Therapeutics (FAST) by appearing at the organization’s fundraising gala in Chicago.

Travel to Ireland is on a downward curve this year. Tourism Ireland reports that “the first 10 months of 2009 have proven to be a very tough period for tourism to the island of Ireland, and for tourism worldwide.”

Actor John Cusack says he’s proud of his Irish roots. The Illinois native was asked about his background, and he replied that he always “felt” Irish.

Bill Murray is making the media rounds promoting the new animation film “Fantastic Mr. Fox,” and last week he made his way to Ireland.

No Irish need a-fly under new regulations as tough new airport rules means passengers will be denied boarding if their names don't match on their boarding pass and ID. Most airline systems can't handle apostrophes which means O'Reilly, O'Donnell and O'Hara are set for trouble!

An Irish child is fighting for her life in Chicago this week. Two-year-old Katie Maguire from Magherafelt in County Derry is in the intensive care unit in Chicago's Children's Memorial Hospital after catching pneumonia.

Daniel Day-Lewis looks like he’s enjoying his leading male role in the upcoming film “Nine,” and what red-blooded male could blame him?

Chef Michael Foley, an internationally renowned chef from Chicago, suggests for your Irish breakfast a light and airy oatmeal, bacon and cheddar soufflé.

I can’t say I wasn’t warned about the rain in Ireland. Whenever I complained about the rain before I left America friends and family told me to “Get used to it.” My aunt even bought me a new raincoat as a going away present.

During his visit to the U.S. last week, Minister for Foreign Affairs Micheal Martin announced the allocation of $2.68 million in grants for Irish organizations throughout the U.S. The Emigrant Support Program, managed by the Department of Foreign Affairs, provides the grants.

South Bend, Indiana -- Notre Dame is about much more than a football team. That can be hard to understand on a glorious fall weekend when this beautiful campus is garbed in autumn shades, and tens of thousands of fans as well as national television are on hand for the annual smackdown with

Irish American activists are seeking to make the Irish government responsible for the maltreatment of young Irish women forced to work in Laundries. According to Mari Steed, spokeswoman of the group Justice for Magdalenes, the Irish government was complicit in the abuse the women suffered and owes them an apology and compensation.

New York City Schools Chancellor Joel Klein announced his proposal to create a high school named in honor of the late Pulitzer Prize winning author Frank McCourt at a memorial service to celebrate McCourt’s life and work held at Symphony Space in upper Manhattan last week.

This year marks the Irish Voice's first ever Education 100 list, the inaugural effort to begin to quantify the Irish commitment to excellence in education in the United States.

An unmistakably Irish memorial service was held in upper Manhattan on Tuesday night when the life and work of the incomparable Frank McCourt, the Pulitzer Prize-winning Irish-American writer, was commemorated in story and song.

The death of Ted Kennedy precedes by three weeks the end of John Sweeney’s 14-year tenure as president of the AFL-CIO. Together, these events signal the end of an epoch in American political history: that of Irish American leadership of the nation’s liberal institutions and Democratic organizations.

Big-hearted Irish actor Colin Farrell will headline an event in Chicago this weekend to help raise money for children with Angelman Syndrome. Farrell's son James, who celebrated his sixth birthday in September, was born with Angelman Syndrome and will need lifelong care. Farrell has said he is honored to be helping out the gala event which will take place at the Hyatt Regency Chicago.

Chicago lost out in its bid to host the 2016 Olympic Games after the city was eliminated after the first round of voting.

U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald could take it when he was demonized as a heartless Southern prosecutor in the movie that fictionalizes his real-life jailing of New York Times reporter Judith Miller. What he objected to — he quipped last Saturday during our “debate” over a proposed reporters’ shield law at the American Bar Association convention — was the prissy name they gave his character, played by Matt Dillon.

It is fitting that the 1969 Nobel Prize for literature went to the Irish playwright and novelist Samuel Beckett. After all, in works such as "Waiting for Godot" and "Endgame," Beckett alternated between tragedy and comedy, drama and farce. The same could be said about 1969.

Kevin Sinnott, son of former Irish Member of the European Parliament (MEP) Cathy Sinnott, drowned in a lake in the Gold Creek Golf Course area of Dawsonville, Georgia.

U2 stars Bono and The Edge turned out for Colin Farrell Monday night in Toronto as the father-to-be launched his new fantasy movie "Ondine."

The Moran clan have produced some very interesting folk. The anglicized "Moran" can be traced to multiple distinct Irish names, and though commonly linked to County Mayo, forms of the name originated throughout middle Ireland in Counties Leitrim, Galway, Kildare, Offaly, and more. Moran is so heavily anglicized - from the French "Morrin" to the Irish "Moran" - that exact knowledge of each Moran's lineage may be hard to trace.

The name Dunne is derived a color - donn, the Gaelic word for brown. This is relatively unusual since the vast majority of Gaelic names are based on relationships, i.e.

This is the last of three tournaments in a row for me; after this week the top thirty get in to the Tour Championship in Atlanta for the final of the playoffs. This week in Chicago there are seventy players, everyone has a chance of getting into the final event and winning the Fed Ex cup.

Rumor has it that Bono might just be one of the surprise guests at Oprah’s Chicago shindig on Tuesday, given that the two humanitarians have worked together before.

It may be true that houses of worship are having trouble recruiting younger people to attend Sunday services, but one Methodist church in Florida is doing something rather novel to turn the tide thanks to U2.

Senator Edward Kennedy - who freely acknowledged that his own family would not be allowed to immigrate to the U.S. now - was a real champion for the undocumented Irish.

An Irishman living in Chicago was killed on Tuesday afternoon after a car struck the bicycle he was riding.

Chicago-based Merchandise Mart mogul and political heir Chris Kennedy has told supporters he will not run for the Senate seat in Illinois left vacant by Roland Burris.

Stella O'Leary: Recently in The Irish Times, writer Niall Stanage declared the demise of the Irish vote in America. Stanage, from a Unionist background, may be working with an image of an earlier time, when all Irish American political needs were met by political dynasties, the Kennedys, the O'Neills, the Dodds, and in Chicago, the Daleys.

U2 broke another record on Friday night when they played in front of 88,000 people at Wembey stadium, breaking the record attendance at the venue, previously held by U.S. rockers The Foo Fighters, by 5,000.

Did you know "Ulysses," the literary masterpiece by James Joyce, might never have appeared on American bookshelves. The court case to get the book published in the U.S. involved one passionate Irishman, challenged the censorship of perhaps the greatest novel ever written, and changed the way Americans read.

The Bank of America has initiated court proceeding against Shelbourne Development and it’s Irish owner Garrett Kelleher because it alleges that the development company has breached a loan agreement.

Middleweight Andy Lee (18-1) has a new opponent for his August 21 fight at the Horseshoe Casino in Hammond, Indiana. Out is Jose Humberto Corral (18-13), and the man stepping into the breach is Anthony Shuler (20-6-1).

Lindsay Lohan flew into Chicago over the weekend to help Samantha Ronson celebrate her 32nd birthday, fueling rumors that the two are back together.

President John F. Kennedy's sister Eunice Kennedy Shriver, who carried on the family's public service tradition by founding the Special Olympics and championing the rights of the mentally disabled, died Tuesday morning, her family said in a statement. She was 88.

U2 may have pumped $70 million into the Irish economy with their three Dublin shows in July, but the Irish have returned the favor by helping the band to rake in over $100 million in just its first 13 shows.

This year, over a century and a half past the end of An Ghorta Mór (the great starvation) that claimed over one million lives between 1845 and 1851, Ireland at long last declared May 17, 2009 the first National Famine Memorial Day.

Eugene Kyne gives his predictions to this upcoming weekend's hurling and football fixtures from the Bronx, as well as outlining upcoming schedule changes made by the NY GAA.

Niall Burgess: Writing about his father’s death in 1985, Frank McCourt recalled a line by Emily Dickinson: “after great pain, a formal feeling comes.” It is a measure of the man that Frank’s memorial in New York last week was marked by no formality, but by music and celebration of his life.

U2's packed concert schedule has been thrown into chaos after a protest by residents outside Croke Park in Dublin where the Irish band played their three homecoming gigs. Angry residents blocked access to the team of trucks waiting to ferry 56 tonnes of sound and video gear to the group's next two dates in the Swedish city of Gothenburg.

Thomas Cahill’s most recent book, A Saint on Death Row: The Story of Dominique Green (March 2009), is a departure from the Hinges of History series. Or is it?

U2 have boosted the Irish economy by a whopping $70m with their three shows in Dublin this weekend. Experts say the band's three sell-out shows at Croke Park pumped $50m into Ireland's faltering economy. Restuarants, bars and hotels reported bumper earningas as fans flocked to the Irish capital to see the boys from Northside.

A 22-year-old Irish J1 student has died two days after diving from a pier in Chicago. Keith O’Reilly, believed to be from Galway city, was pronounced dead at Northwestern Memorial Hospital at 6:22

Hard-hearted thieves made off with a safe containing $9,000 from the Irish American Heritage Center in Chicago. The center was hosting its annual festival when the thieves struck at the

I am concerned about my Irish wife's status when we return to the U.S., and also that of my two Irish-born children. What would be the best way to proceed with moving back to the U.S. -- this time for good!

Massachusetts tourism officials have won the bid for their capital city to host the 2013 World Irish Dancing Championships.

These celebs weren't born in Ireland, but that doesn't mean they can't call it home! From Jeremy Irons somewhat infamous pink castle, to Sarah Jessica Parker's Donegal cottage, these stars lay their heads in the Emerald Isle as often as they can.

U2 kicked off their new 360 Tour in front of 90,000 screaming fans in Barcelona last night from a spaceship. Well, it's not really a spaceship but it sure looks like one! The band walked on to the stage at 10 p.m. to the sounds of David Bowie’s “Space Oddity.” It was a fitting choice for an intro, being that the band’s stage, The Claw, resembles a spaceship on legs.