Roger Ebert, one of the city's most powerful people and a former Chicagoan of the Year, announced a “leave of presence” on his blog last night as he receives treatment for new cancer. “My intent is to continue to write selected reviews but to leave the rest to a talented team of writers handpicked and greatly admired by me.”

He’s slowing down but not stopping. The man regularly writes 200 reviews each year for the Chicago Sun-Times—he wrote 306 last year. Next week, he plans to relaunch rogerebert.com, an archive site of his reviews for Sun-Times.