Chicago NATO Summit: Bill Ayers, Bernadine Dohrn, and Mark Jacobson

Chicago's most famous activist couple talks about the "military arm of the one percent" with Amy Goodman; plus, a handy rundown of what's important inside McCormick Place this weekend.

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Joe Ricketts, His Children, and Their Political Ties

Good thing President Obama is a White Sox fan. This morning’s New York Times carries a front-page story about Omaha billionaire and TD Ameritrade founder Joe Ricketts, whose money bought his family the Cubs in 2009, allegedly funding a new advertising campaign aimed at defeating Obama...

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Occupy and Public-Private Space

Memories of 1968 give protesting an association with speaking, writing, performance, and rhetoric. Occupy concerns itself with something less ephemeral: space, and things.

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Chicago NATO Summit: How to Participate, Or Just Follow Along From Your Computer

A roundup of guides, events, people to follow on Twitter, livestreams to watch, and more for NATO weekend, whether you want to participate, follow from a safe distance, or just figure out what's going on

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On the Market

Crate & Barrel’s Carole Segal Flips a Winnetka Mansion—Literally

List Price: $6.499 million
The Property: Most people who talk about flipping a house don’t mean it quite as literally as Carole Segal does. At a Winnetka mansion she set out to restore and resell, Segal, who launched Crate & Barrel nearly 50 years ago with her husband, Gordon, flipped the front and back of the house...

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In 'The Amateur,' Ed Klein Talks to Jeremiah Wright, Unloads on Obama

In The Amateur, a decidedly anti-Obama book released this week by conservative publisher Regnery, author Ed Klein claims to have conducted more than 200 interviews. Barack, Michelle, and the people closest to them in and out of the White House would not talk, but Klein’s interviews with the Obamas’ former pastor, the Reverend Jeremiah Wright, and with the Reverend Jesse Jackson were on the record, and they emerge as two of the more interesting figures in the book...

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Five Things to Do This Week

On your agenda: A Lichtenstein retrospective pops up at the Art Institute … Craft Beer Week kicks off … Brookfield Zoo bugs out … plus, what the cartoonist Paul Hornschemeier is doing this weekend

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Massive, Labyrinthine Restaurant, Bar, and Live-Music Venue Called Untitled to Open in River North

Partner Marc Bushala describes the many different parts of Untitled and its speakeasy concept...

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How Studs Terkel Wanted to Be Remembered

"Is it important to leave an impact? Yeah, of course it is, otherwise what's the point? I think the point is to delight in life."

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Chicago NATO Summit: Unilateralism, Protests, Media Coverage

What people are protesting—it's not just NATO by a long shot; concerns about NATO and unilateralism; local vs. international coverage; and more

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The Loop: Is the El a 'Universal Principle of Human Organization'?

A new paper suggests that big-city subway systems around the world are all converging towards one mathematically modeled shape: a core-and-branch structure that will look familiar to Chicagoans. And it looks an awful lot like what some early Chicago sociologists thought, too.

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Housing Bulletin

Pangea Is Reviving Neighborhoods, Building by Building

“We don’t want to fix up just a building,” says Al Goldstein of Pangea Properties. “We’re fixing neighborhoods, bringing them back...”

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Chicago NATO Summit Agenda: 'Smart Defense' for an Austere West

NATO responds to its ongoing existential crisis by offering "Smart Defense": inexpensive military services for the new austerity. Did they mention their lubrication and fuel nozzle services?

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Chicago NATO Summit Agenda: The Beginning of the End of the Afghan War

On the agenda at NATO: getting out of Afghanistan and turning it over to the Afghan security forces; getting Pakistan to let us get out through their country; making sure Russia doesn't shoot missiles at the European missile shield, at least before it's done; giving North Atlantic countries something to do besides world war.

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A Brazil-Themed Shopping Event Takes Over Macy’s on State

This week at Macy’s (macys.com for locations), Calvin Klein launches a special-edition capsule collection featuring Brazil-inspired dresses ($135 to $180) designed by Francisco Costa, the label’s women’s creative director—who also happens to be Brazilian...

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Rodkin on Selling When Your Mortgage is Underwater

Readers ask questions, and our real estate expert answers. This week, a reader named Larry asks for advice on selling his home even though his mortgage is underwater.

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