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August 2012

	08/31/12 This Week in Transportation: Jaywalking While Black in Champaign Using jaywalking arrests to look at police-citizen relations downstate; why Elston doesn't have its own bus and how the CTA decides these things; and a timelapse installation of a huge railroad bridge. Posted at 4:57 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/31/12 What Can Actually Be Done About City Segregation? Preventing segregation is one thing; encouraging desegregation is much, much harder, and outside of school policy is historically uncommon. The future might look European, where even conservative governments have addressed the issue through housing policy. Posted at 2:51 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/31/12 Amidst Talk of a Strike, Some Good News at CPS on College Enrollment A higher percentage of Chicago Public Schools graduates are enrolling in college—and a high percentage are also filing for financial aid. The two things are very closely related. Posted at 1:16 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (1)
	08/31/12 Our North Coast Music Fest Playlist The annual Union Park electronic/hip-hop/jam band extravaganza will feature these artists you can download right now Posted at 10:57 AM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/30/12 Paul Ryan's Rugged Paternalism on Poverty and Bureaucracy The Vice Presidential candidate was heavily criticized for playing fast and loose with the facts, but a moment of dissonant rhetoric revealed a moment of real truth. Posted at 6:29 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/30/12 City Size and Police Presence New York City has been lauded for its reduction in violent crime in recent years. The NYPD is comparable in size to other police departments in relation to population—but compared to the physical size of the city, it's unusually large. Posted at 3:32 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/30/12 Paul Ryan's 'Deception' on the Janesville GM Plant Closing: Actually, It's Complicated Paul Ryan blasted Barack Obama over the closing of a GM plant in Janesville that the then-candidate spoke at in 2008, earning Ryan harsh words from fact-checkers. What actually happened to the factory in Ryan's hometown? Posted at 1:24 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (4)
	08/29/12 Cyclists, Red Lights, and Legitimacy A lot of cyclists run red lights—if not constantly, at least a high percentage are willing to admit that they have and do sometimes. Drivers hate it, and a lot of other cyclists do too, but how do you stop it when it's tough to catch them in the act? Posted at 4:56 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (5)
	08/29/12 Garry McCarthy: Playing the Long Game Against Chicago Crime? Chicago's top cop has cited the work of former University of Chicago law prof Tracey Meares as an influence, in particular her concept of legitimacy, as an influence on his thinking. It might help explain a lot about the latest news in Chicago crime. Posted at 4:09 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (2)
	08/29/12 More Reads on Chicago Crime: What Works? Philadelphia adopts CeaseFire in order to combat that city's higher murder rate (which, like Chicago, is up this year), and the University of Chicago's Crime Lab looks at a program that combines sports and cognitive behavioral therapy. Plus: Al Jazeera examines Chicago crime. Posted at 1:22 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/28/12 White Sox Revisionism: Hawk Harrelson and A.J. Pierzynski The White Sox's longtime broadcaster and catcher are the most hated men at what they do, or at least the most divisive. They're also arguably two of the best. Posted at 6:42 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/28/12 This Week in Econ: The Chicago Fed Chair Sees Our Shadow The country's going to take its time crawling out of recession, the dovish chair tells an international audience; Chicago's in the middle of the pack in e-books; and more Posted at 2:48 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/28/12 Chicago Crime: Putting the Pieces Together The latest on where guns in Chicago come from; a look into straw purchasers and the Mississippi connection; the dilemmas of snitching; and how to categorize "gang violence." Posted at 12:36 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (2)
	08/24/12 Chicago Gangs in the 1950s James F. Short, Jr., one of the many sociologists in the University of Chicago's tradition of gang research, did the first major work of his career as the Black P Stones and Vice Lords were born. Posted at 6:58 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (1)
	08/24/12 CNN Goes Inside Cook County's Trauma Unit A short but detailed look at trauma care during Chicago's violent summer, where the number of patients has risen and the difference between a shooting and a homicide can be a matter of time and luck. Posted at 4:46 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/24/12 Spike Lee on 'Red Hook Summer,' Storytelling, and Shooting in Chicago The director talks to Kartemquin Films's Justine Nagan about the new movie, his infamous "dolly shot," Muhammad Ali, his teenage children, and more. Listen to our podcast and read the highlights. Posted at 4:05 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/24/12 Welcome to 'The Jungle': From Stockyard to Beef in Turn-of-the-Century Chicago In 1907, Chicago's meatpacking industry was infamous after Upton Sinclair's muckraking masterpiece. And the panoramic photographers of Geo. Lawrence and Co. were there to capture the process. Posted at 3:17 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (1)
	08/24/12 Last Night's Mass Shootings and Chicago Gang Territory A study of gang violence in Los Angeles finds a fascinating if obvious pattern: gang territory mirrors species territory in competing for resources, and violence is most common along the boundaries. Last night's shootings—six incidents, 19 victims—appear to follow that pattern. Posted at 1:19 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (2)
	08/23/12 The Difficulties of Measuring Education and Happiness Economically The significance of a liberal-arts education, the distinction between pleasure and happiness, and other things that confuse the practitioners of the dismal science. Posted at 6:31 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/23/12 The Early History and Politics of Chicago Bike Culture In the 1960s, bicycle commuters were considered to be weird freaks; by 1970, the city had a vibrant bike movement, even before OPEC blew gas prices up. What happened over those short years might explain a lot why some writers get so angry about the idea of bicycle infrastructure. Posted at 5:01 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/23/12 Race, Poverty, and Sleep A new study of Chicagoans finds substantial racial disparities in sleep quality and sleep patterns... which researchers suggest could be tied to the city's intense segregation. Posted at 2:20 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/22/12 More Reads on Poverty and Segregation Measuring the toll of homicide not just in numbers, but in years of life lost in some of Chicago's most violent neighborhoods; George Romney's history of desegregation; and more Posted at 6:36 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/22/12 Angry at Hipster Cyclists, Chicago Journalists Plea for Layers of Bureaucracy Should cyclists pay for bike lanes and other infrastructure through stickers and licenses, like drivers do? It's been tried, and it doesn't work very well—but there are intriguing alternatives that could generate modest revenue and give them important, if symbolic, skin in the game. Posted at 4:24 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (4)
	08/22/12 Wussy, 'the Best Band in America,' Plays the Bucktown Arts Festival The brilliant Cincinnati group—a little bit Flying Burrito Brothers, a little bit Velvet Underground, a lot Ohio–plays a must-see Chicago show this weekend. Posted at 11:32 AM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (3)
	08/21/12 The Prentice Hospital Debate Heats Up Again Bertrand Goldberg's brutalist hospital was a technical masterpiece of its time, from its innovative structure to the technology used in designing it. Can preservationists link its inner beauty to its future? Posted at 6:11 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (3)
	08/21/12 Did the Financial Crisis Make Partisan Gridlock Inevitable? After Barack Obama was elected, chief of staff Rahm Emanuel told an audience of execs that "you never want a serious crisis go to waste." New research suggests, however, that financial crises usually go to waste, resulting in polarized gridlock and a host of minor reforms instead of total reinvention. Posted at 2:18 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/21/12 The Mississippi River: A Victim Not Just of the Drought, But the Economy Well before the drought brought down the water on the Mississippi to historically low levels, boats on the Mississippi were already operating under restrictions—not because of a lack of rain, but of money. Posted at 11:29 AM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/20/12 'Chicago 2-1-2': The Proto-'Chicago Fire' An old Chicago TV pilot celebrates a time when men were men, public-safety officials were stiff bureaucrats in gray suits, and propaganda was really boring. Posted at 6:02 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/20/12 Do Foreclosures Actually Increase Crime? High levels of foreclosures are often found in neighborhoods with substantial crime problems, but do empty homes encourage or increase crime, or just follow in its path? Posted at 4:59 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/20/12 How the GOP Ended Up with Todd Akin The GOP is looking to take a majority in the Senate, and Claire McCaskill was seen as a vulnerable Democratic incumbent. So how did they end up with a loose cannon like Todd Akin? With a lot of help from McCaskill. Posted at 2:48 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (1)
	08/20/12 The Chicago Dancing Festival Boogies All Over Town This Week The Midwest’s most prestigious dance festival, now in its sixth year, kicks off Monday night and culminates with a whopping outdoor performance on Saturday evening at Millennium Park... Posted at 1:19 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/17/12 Why the White Sox Are So Good This Year Despite watching the Tigers get all the headlines in the offseason, the Sox remain above them in the standings thanks to two strong Comeback Player of the Year candidates in Adam Dunn and Alex Rios. Plus: in praise of Dewayne Wise. Posted at 5:40 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/17/12 Garry McCarthy Talks I-Bond and the CPD's Own New Violence Interruption On Chicago Tonight, the CPD head lays out his rationale for no longer offering individual-recognizance bonds to gang members for misdemeanor offenses. Posted at 3:28 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/17/12 Paul Ryan, Ayn Rand, and the Power of Fiction Thanks to Mitt Romney's choice of running mate, the Objectivist author is back in the political spotlight again, emphasizing the influence fiction can have on the realities of governance. Posted at 11:35 AM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/16/12 Long Reads on Poverty, Housing, and Financial Not-Crime The great Paul Tough goes from Roseland to Washington to figure out what Barack Obama has done about poverty; a fine-grained look at a bureaucratic housing nightmare; and the latest on the MF Global debacle. Posted at 6:34 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/16/12 Baseball Shorts: Adam Dunn's TTO Triple Crown/Why Can't the Cubs Do It On the Road? Adam Dunn is in the running for a very rare feat, reserved for only those who walk, strike out, and hit home runs a lot; as bad as the Cubs have been this season, they're actually a decent team in the Friendly Confines. Posted at 4:48 PM in Culture The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/16/12 Chicago: More Deadly Than Kabul, Or Not? An attempt to put some real numbers behind a fake stat that compares violence in Chicago unfavorably to that in Afghanistan's war zones offers mixed results. Posted at 2:25 PM in Mobile apps The 312 | Permalink | Comments (2)
	08/16/12 City Winery Chicago Opens What wowed—and what didn't—at the opening party of the city's newest winery and performance venue Posted at 10:29 AM in The 312 Dining | Permalink | Comments (1)
	08/15/12 The 200th Anniversary of the Battle/Massacre of Fort Dearborn Two centuries after the incident, which took place around what's now Roosevelt and 18th Street, we're now fighting over whether it was a "battle" or "massacre" and what that means. Posted at 4:09 PM in The 312 News & Politics | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/15/12 Don't Get Too Excited (or Worried) About the 'Coming Obama Landslide' Barack Obama has been polling well recently, with just a couple months to go until the election. Will Paul Ryan push him over the edge? Or will voter turnout, and new voting laws, pull him back? Posted at 2:08 PM in The 312 Front page featured story News & Politics News & Politics: Featured story | Permalink | Comments (1)
	08/15/12 Why Is Chris Volstad So Bad This Year? When the Cubs picked up Chris Volstad, he looked like an unlucky pitcher with some talent. This year, he's just been awful, 0-9 in 12 starts. His biggest problem? The better he needs to pitch, the worse he gets. Posted at 11:51 AM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/14/12 Gawker Glosses Chicago's Murder Problem The blog and snarkshop gets serious, for a moment at least, and suggests that Americans don't really care about the city's ongoing problems with homicide. But it sort of depends on how you define caring. Posted at 7:19 PM in The 312 News & Politics | Permalink | Comments (3)
	08/14/12 John Cusack Brings Star Power to Sexy Eminent-Domain-for-Mortgages Hearing in Chicago Why was Lloyd Dobler at City Hall to sit through a wonky meeting about using eminent domain to seize underwater houses and refinance them for owners? He's a fan. Posted at 3:34 PM in Culture The 312 Culture: Featured story | Permalink | Comments (1)
	08/14/12 Chicago's Establishment Gets Behind Paul Ryan, Mitt Romney, Republicans Four years ago, Barack Obama was the toast of the town and the target of some of the city's biggest political donors. Now many of them have switched over to Mitt Romney and his new running mate, Paul Ryan. Posted at 12:25 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/13/12 RIP Von Freeman, a Very Chicago Jazz Great Von Freeman could have been a household name in jazz, if he'd followed one of the many bandleaders who courted him on the road. But he stayed in Chicago, where he remained a cult favorite well into his 50s, while playing a vital role in the city's jazz scene. Posted at 5:26 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/13/12 Could Paul Ryan Make Poverty an Issue in 2012? In his introductory speech after being named Romney's running mate, Paul Ryan broached the subject of poverty, something the Obama campaign has avoided as it focuses on the middle class. Posted at 4:15 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/13/12 Paul Ryan: The VP Pick Everybody Loves The Wisconsin representative from Janesville, and former Wienermobile driver, has been embraced by Mitt Romney... and his opponents. Far from contradictory, it's a perfect representation of the political scene in 2012. Posted at 2:30 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/10/12 Friday Digestif: The Chicago Indie Music Scene, Just Before It Was Cool Before the Wicker Park scene was all over MTV, there was The Pulse, a public-access show that captured Chicago indie music just as indie music was coming into existence. Posted at 6:40 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (1)
	08/10/12 Rip Currents Cause More Deaths on Lake Michigan The eastern shore of Lake Michigan, from northwest Indiana up through western Michigan, is historically one of the most dangerous spots for rip currents in America, and not just because a lot of Chicagoans vacation there. Posted at 4:47 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/10/12 What Is Happening With Welfare Spending in Illinois and America? Far from an increased culture of dependency, federal welfare spending has been in decline since the passage of welfare reform—and it's put a squeeze on the Illinois budget, as it's scrambled to keep up while state block grants aren't adjusted for inflation. Posted at 2:34 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/10/12 Backtalk: A Conversation about Steppenwolf's 'Three Sisters' Tracy Letts’s version of the Anton Chekhov play struggles to connect with the audience, according to our two editors who saw the show on separate nights... Posted at 2:07 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/09/12 Long Reads on Softball, Pot, School Violence, and Lynch Law 16-inch softball's aristocratic roots; investigative journalism from Ida B. Wells; a teacher and a librarian get busted for a Bridgeport grow-house; and a violent year at Harper High. Posted at 6:35 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/09/12 Obama Campaign Tweaks Romney on Free Cars for Welfare Recipients After being accused of trying to end welfare reform as we know it, the Obama camp responds by bringing up the Massachusetts welfare-to-drive-to-work program, itself a descendent of the 1996 welfare-reform law. Posted at 2:31 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (1)
	08/09/12 Vote Ferris 2012? Bueller is one of 12 fictional campaigns cooked up by nextmovie.com to coincide with The Campaign, the new political comedy starring Will Ferrell and Zach Galifianakis... Posted at 2:18 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/09/12 Mitt Romney, Waivers, and the End of Welfare In Elk Grove Village this week, Mitt Romney accused the president of destroying welfare-to-work and bringing about a new culture of dependency. Here's how a bit of bureaucratese turned into the latest front in the culture war. Posted at 11:57 AM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/08/12 Walks In the Park With the Cubs The Cubs have a problem: they're the least patient team in baseball, and among the least patient teams in recent history. And while recent roster moves might improve the offense overall, it looks like an even less patient team will finish the season. Posted at 3:22 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/08/12 The Hottest July Ever, By the Numbers Last month was the second-hottest July in recorded Illinois history, and the nation's hottest in 118 years of records. And that heat, and the dryness that came with it, hit the state and its neighbors the hardest. Posted at 12:19 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/08/12 The Astros: The Best Thing to Happen to the Cubs in 2012 Walks are killing the Cubs—as on offense they walk less, and on defense they walk more batters, than any team in baseball. Fortunately, they're paired with one of the worst teams of all time in the NL Central. Plus: the best player on the 2012 Cubs is... something of a surprise. Posted at 10:57 AM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/07/12 Robert Hughes in Chicago The brilliant art critic, who died yesterday at the age of 74, took on the immense legacy of Ludwig Mies van der Rohe in a 2003 documentary that's an engaging, thoughtfully critical look at Chicago architecture in the master's wake. Posted at 5:10 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (1)
	08/07/12 Odds N' Friends Show Spoofs 'Total Recall' at Hungry Brain Seen Monday night at the Hungry Brain: a bare ass, a life-size Arnold Schwarzenegger puppet, and a video montage set to Drowning Pool's "Bodies" (in which "let the bodies hit the floor" loops endlessly). These elements were all part of Totally Recalled, a comedy show performed by Odds N’ Friends... Posted at 4:26 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (2)
	08/07/12 Chicago 1857 Mapped Onto Chicago 2012 Much of Ukrainian Village was once farmland owned by a prominent member of New York society; cab fares in Chicago have really declined since the 1850s; and other explorations in an old map. Posted at 3:10 PM in The 312 Real Estate Real Estate: Featured story | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/07/12 Shakespeare in the Parks: Six Reasons to See It Now Chicago Shakespeare Theatre's "Taming of the Shrew" brings the Bard to the city's parks. Here's why you should check out the show before it's too late Posted at 1:29 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/07/12 Fast and Furious, False Flags, and the Second Amendment Tracing mass-shooting conspiracy theories back to their source in the lush garden of irrational explanation that the Web plays host to, but one that rarely surfaces aboveground. Posted at 12:31 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (1)
	08/07/12 A Primer on Chicago's Infrastructure Trust Mayor Emanuel, Mick Dumke, and others talk about the city's experiment in public-private investment, the concerns about profit motive, the national infrastructure stalemate, and other facets of the debate. Posted at 10:02 AM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/06/12 Richard Speck, the Sikh Temple Shooting, and Measures of Mass Murder Mass public shootings, like all forms of violent crime in America, rose during the end of the 20th century, peaked in the 1990s, and have been in decline since. Posted at 6:13 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/06/12 Lollapalooza 2012: Best and Worst of the Festival From the tunes to the tazoyaki, check out the highlights (and lowlights) of this year's music fest Posted at 2:20 PM in Culture The 312 Culture: Featured story | Permalink | Comments (1)
	08/06/12 The Illinois Drought Plateaus, But the Forecast Isn't Good Drought conditions didn't worsen much in the last period, but the outlook for August is scary, and for the next three months as well, as drought and heat push a vicious cycle. Posted at 12:43 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/06/12 Overheard at Lollapalooza 2012 "I found a beer in the bathroom. Taking it!" and other quoteworthy gems from the weekend Posted at 10:43 AM in Culture The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/03/12 Chicago Dance Mixes, Then and Now Two mixes, one by Derrick Carter and the other by u-ziq, show how the city took overblown dance music, stripped it down, and made it party music... twice, over the course of three decades. Posted at 6:16 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/03/12 Wallace Carlson, Essanay Studios, and the Invention of the Cartoon Character Chicago's legendary Essanay Studios, a pioneer that employed Charlie Chaplin and discovered Gloria Swanson, was also responsible for one of film's earliest cartoon characters, the work of a newspaper cartoon prodigy. Posted at 4:59 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/03/12 The Story Behind Lollapalooza's Strongman/Dancing Hot Dogs Poster Chicago designer Billy Baumann, one half of the printmaker duo Delicious Design League, talks about the inspiration for his festival poster Posted at 2:09 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/03/12 The Crouton Theory of Political Gaffes Journalists want gaffes; politicians want to avoid them; which makes journalists want them all the more. It's a vicious cycle, but one that long predates 24/7 coverage and social media... as Mitt Romney's dad could have told you. Posted at 1:19 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/03/12 On the Agenda: Lollapalooza 2012 Two Chicago magazine editors list their top five acts to see at this weekend's massive music festival Posted at 11:41 AM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	08/02/12 Elmer Ellsworth: America's First Pin-Up and the First Martyr of the Civil War In an extraordinary two years, a young Chicago volunteer fireman became a national drill-team star, a friend and employee of Abraham Lincoln, a sex symbol, and finally the first officer killed in the Civil War. Posted at 6:36 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (2)

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