This question will soon be a frequent fixture in GYA. It first ran a little more than a month ago and keeps coming in.

Obama is not Muslim and did not accept his oath of office for the Illinois senate on the Quran.

The urban legend Web site http://www.snopes.com features an extensive page on this very topic. Check it out at

http://www.snopes.com/politics/obama/muslim.asp

A page at Sen. Obama's Web site also addresses this issue:

http://obama.senate.gov/press/070123-debunked_insigh/index.php

The page debunks recent news reports on Sen. Obama. He is Christian and has been involved in the United Church of Christ since the mid-1980s.

U.S. Rep. Keith Ellison, D-Minn., is Muslim and did take his oath of office on the Quran in 2007 when elected to the House of Representatives from Minnesota's 5th Congressional District.

The confusion might come from Obama's upbringing.

Barack Hussein Obama, Sen. Obama's father, was raised a Muslim. He was no longer a practicing Muslim when he met Ann Dunham, Sen. Obama's mother. The two met at the University of Hawaii while attending medical school.

Dunham and the elder Obama divorced when Sen. Obama was 2 years old. Sen. Obama had very little contact after that with his father.

Dunham married again when Obama was 6. She married Indonesian oil manager Lolo Soetoro, and she and her son moved to Jakarta, Indonesia. While in Indonesia, Obama attended both Catholic and Muslim schools, but was raised by his parents in a secular household.

What happened to Chi-Chi's? Why did they close?

Jonesing for some Mexican fried ice cream? This question comes in quite a bit.

A combination of bankruptcy and hepatitis drove the chain out of business.

Chi-Chi's was founded in 1975 by restaurateur Marno McDermott and a former Green Bay Packers player, the late Max McGee.

Chi-Chi's was named "America's Favorite Mexican Restaurant" eight years in a row in an independent consumer study conducted by Restaurants and Institutions, an industry magazine.

The Louisville, Ky.-based chain, which employed 7,000 people, eventually ended up bankrupt. In August 2004, a $42.5 million bid by Tampa Bay, Fla.-based Outback Steakhouse was accepted in U.S. Bankruptcy Court.

The publicly traded Outback purchased the designation rights for 76 Chi-Chi's properties, including furniture, fixtures, equipment and liquor licenses.

As a result, Racine's Chi-Chi's Mexican Restaurant served its last meals on Sept. 18, 2004.

The sale followed one of the worse

hepatitis A outbreaks in American restaurant history in November 2003 at a Chi-Chi's in the Pittsburgh area. Four died and 660 others contracted the illness, eventually traced to green onions at the Chi-Chi's at Beaver Valley Mall in Monaca, Pa.

Outback sold many of the former Chi-Chi's properties to Kimco Realty Corp., a real estate investment trust company in New York. Many of the former Chi-Chi's properties sit vacant, including the one at Regency Mall. The building was demolished in the fall of 2006.

Products such as salsa and drink mixes are still being marketed with the Chi-Chi's name.

Some dude is running a blog featuring creepy abandoned Chi-Chi's buildings:

http://creepyabandonedchichis.blogspot.com. It hasn't been updated since May.

What is Glad You Asked?

Christopher Bennett compiles GYA, a column which seeks answers to your questions. Have a question? Call us at (262) 631-1758 or send us an e-mail at

ask@journaltimes.com