The Huffington Post's Chicago page is up and running as of today.

I've talked with a ton of people over the past few weeks about what this might mean for Chicago, us, and HuffPo.

The answer is: Who knows?

In the short term, they'll be linking to our stories, along with those of lots of other Chicago independent media organizations. We're all likely to see a traffic bump, and a bunch of new readers can easily find our stories. It's a win for everyone.

In the long term, it's possible they could hire some reporters and compete against us.

But running an online local news operation is, frankly, a pain in the ass, and one that doesn't pay very well. You have to love local news and love Chicago to pull it off.

Only time will tell if that's an attractive proposition for a millionaire from New York.