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September 2012

	09/28/12 The First Aerial Footage of Chicago Harold McCormick Jr., of the famous Chicago McCormicks (grandson of both Cyrus and John D. Rockefeller) took flight in 1926 to document the city for the Army Air Corps, the first time it had ever been done. Plus: a million Chicagoans watch Italo Balbo arrive in the city. Posted at 4:33 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	09/28/12 Economic Indicators to Watch Out For The effect of incarceration on unemployment rates; regular folks are more confident about the future than CEOs, perhaps because they don't have to sell stuff to Europeans; more news from the low-wage recovery; and more Posted at 11:06 AM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	09/27/12 The Low-Wage Recovery in Chicago A new report shows that Chicago has followed national trends in low-wage jobs, as an increasing number of well-educated breadwinners make up the proportion of workers below the line of self-sufficiency. Posted at 3:45 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	09/27/12 The White Sox Struggle, Adam Greenberg Returns to the Majors September's the first month that the White Sox have been giving up more runs than they've allowed, and as a result they've fallen behind the Tigers with less than a week remaining. Is it just bad luck? Posted at 2:30 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	09/26/12 Chicago's Poor Neighborhoods: Everything Deserts In many cities, poor neighborhoods have a high concentration of stores, services, and other organizations, often higher than in wealthier neighborhoods. Not in Chicago. Posted at 6:21 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (3)
	09/26/12 Betty Caywood and Mary Shane: Baseball's First Female Announcers Baseball's first female announcer was a Chicago weather anchor hired away by the infamous Charlie Finley to do color for his terrible Athletics team. It was a stunt, but Mary Shane, the White Sox announcer who followed her, brought a deep love of the game to her brief stint in the booth. Posted at 3:14 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	09/26/12 Sports Films to Watch Out For: 'Benji', 'Head Games' Steve James's new documentary about sports head injuries screens at the Gene Siskel Film Center, and a new film about Chicago basketball legend Ben Wilson and his 1984 murder is part of ESPN's 30 for 30 series. Posted at 11:52 AM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	09/25/12 The Bloomingdale Trail Takes Shape, and More Infrastructure News More answers from the final meeting on the rail-bed park, and a sense of how it will change the landscape. Plus: the feds and community policing, tracking down Chicago's roaming statues, and more Posted at 5:48 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	09/25/12 Northerly Island Appears on the Horizon The Studio Gang plan for the former home of Meigs Field gets its green light and a start date. It's a hugely ambitious plan that could take years and many millions of yet-to-come dollars to complete, but on paper it's a groundbreaking park. Posted at 4:43 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (1)
	09/25/12 Could the Long Strange Story of the Tylenol Murders Be Drawing to a Close? The city's most notorious unsolved murders—the killing of seven people with cyanide-laced Tylenols in 1982—is back in the news, as the seating of a grand jury is "possible." It's another vague turn in a legendarily opaque case. Posted at 1:10 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	09/24/12 Why Are Lifespans Among Low-Education Whites Declining? A study led by a UIC epidemiologist finds tremendous gaps in life expectancy for groups with the least and most education—and that life expectancy for whites without a high-school diploma have actually declined over the past couple decades. Posted at 2:49 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (2)
	09/24/12 Chicago Gang Slang, Circa 1927 It's dated, but not as dated as you'd think—the already anachronistic "gat" was in use. But don't go around saying "bullshiner," "hook 'em," or "tipper-tapper"; that'd just be embarrassing. Posted at 11:08 AM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	09/20/12 The 47 Percent, the Middle Class, and Statistics of Hopelessness New census data shows that poverty has increased in Chicago, and that middle-class jobs are being replaced with low-wage jobs. It's a pattern found throughout the country, as income-based poverty continues to increase. But other measures of poverty, that take into account tax subsidies and government programs, hold steady. The social implications are as important as the economic ones. Posted at 5:12 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	09/20/12 Chicagoland Schools: For Blacks, the Most Segregated in the Country Chicago-area schools, compared to their metro peers, are some of the most segregated in the country. By some measures, they're the most segregated. This has broad implications for policy, but no one really has a good sense of what those implications are, or should be. Posted at 2:22 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (1)
	09/19/12 The Chicago Teachers' Pension Mess: Then, Now, and in the Near Future Not that long ago—less time than it takes for a CPS student to get a full K-12 education—the Chicago teachers' pension fund was in fine shape. Now it's a mess. What happened? It takes a village, or at least a city and state. Posted at 5:00 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	09/19/12 On the 'Winners' and 'Losers' in the Chicago Teachers Strike Rahm Emanuel and Karen Lewis went head to head in labor negotiations unlike any the city had seen in years—because of changes within the union, in the economy, and City Hall. It's a bit too early to fill out the scorecard. Posted at 2:04 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (1)
	09/18/12 More Chicago Public Schools Demographics The patterns should be familiar if you've been following the city's changes over the past decade: Hispanic students are now a (very slight) majority, African-American students have declined as both a percentage of enrollment and overall. Posted at 5:55 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (1)
	09/18/12 Inside Chicago's Tech Startup Scene, and Its Tubes The Atlantic's Alexis Madrigal ventures into the local tech community and comes back with praise for the Midwest Mentality, and a look at the physical infrastructure that makes it possible. Posted at 4:33 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	09/18/12 The Secret Big Issue of the Chicago Teachers Strike and CPS Demographics The strike isn't about school closings, but it's about school closings; changes in the enrollment and racial composition of Chicago Public Schools in the past decade; and more Posted at 12:53 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	09/17/12 Poll Shows Substantial CPS Parent, Racial Divide on Chicago Teachers Strike Another poll, conducted three days into the strike, again finds a majority in favor of the teachers—and substantial divides between CPS and non-CPS parents, which parallel the demographics of CPS students. Posted at 6:39 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	09/17/12 NAEP Scores Suggest Some Progress in Chicago Public Schools Performance On the National Assessment of Educational Progress, Chicago—like other major school districts—has made progress over the past decade. And compared to the city's peers, that progress has been above average. Posted at 4:54 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	09/17/12 'Paraiso': Up In the Air With Chicago Window Washers A short documentary film by Nadav Kurtz follows Jaime Polanco, Sergio Polanco, and Cruz Guzman as they rappel down the city's buildings, keeping the skyline shimmering. Posted at 2:20 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	09/17/12 Poverty and Graduation Rates in Chicago and the U.S. Looking at Chicago Public Schools in the context of other large urban school districts: how we compare in terms of poverty, and high school graduation rates, to our peers. Posted at 2:04 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	09/14/12 Chicago Schools Salary Statistics, Double-Shift Schools, and More Why do Chicago school teachers make more than the average Chicagoan? Years on the job and advanced degrees are a big part of it. They do make more than they used to in the 1960s, but much of that gain came in a few short years. Posted at 4:53 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	09/14/12 The Chicago Cubs: Not The Worst Franchise in Baseball, But Close Franchise rankings from ESPN and Bloomberg Businessweek both rate the Cubs in the cellar of all MLB and all four major-sports franchises—but no matter how you cut it, they're not the worst. Posted at 1:09 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	09/14/12 Argonne Scientists Float Drugs In Sound Using a speaker setup that mimics microgravity with standing waves, Argonne scientists hope to create more efficient pharmaceuticals by studying them while suspended in sound waves. Posted at 11:42 AM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	09/13/12 Chicago Teachers Strike Roundup, Pt. 6 The negotiations over teacher evaluations are a game of inches; Chicago teachers do better than their suburban counterparts early on, but top out lower; plenty of blame going to both Rahm Emanuel and Karen Lewis; and the labor rift within the Democratic party. Posted at 5:37 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	09/13/12 Chicago Teachers Strike Roundup, Pt. 5 The end is nigh, but not soon enough to have class this week; how far and which way each side has moved during the negotiations; the specter of vouchers; the balance of teacher negotiations; and more Posted at 3:04 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	09/12/12 Chicago Public School Teacher Salaries in Context How much CPS teachers make, compared to the average Chicagoan, Chicagoans with college and graduate degrees, big-city teachers, and suburban teachers. Posted at 6:07 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	09/12/12 Chicago Teachers Strike Roundup, Pt. 4 Very little of the negotiations that led to Chicago Teachers Union strike have to do with pay, and teachers on the front lines don't seem concerned about it. The issues are larger and less concrete, which makes negotiations difficult. Posted at 3:14 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	09/12/12 Four Free Things For Kids to Do During the Teachers Strike Wondering how to pass the time, but don't want to spend too much? Check out these free downtown activities at the Children's Museum, Court Theater, MSI, and the Brookfield Zoo. Posted at 2:40 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	09/11/12 Chicago Teachers Strike Roundup, Pt. 3 Rahm Emanuel and CTU head Karen Lewis are both addressing the legacies of their predecessors; the physical residue of reform; teacher-on-the-street takes; the national significance for politics and labor; and more Posted at 4:55 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	09/11/12 Chicago Teachers Strike Roundup, Pt. 2 Is the teachers strike legal, and if not, what's Rahm going to do about it?; Chicago teachers answer your questions on Reddit; skepticism about value-added modeling; and more Posted at 1:53 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	09/11/12 Chicago Teachers Strike Roundup, Pt. 1 With all eyes on Chicago and the dispute between the Chicago Teachers Union and Chicago Public Schools, a lot of good stuff is being written on teacher evaluations, testing, and other issues crucial to the strike. Posted at 11:30 AM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	09/10/12 A Primer on the Chicago Teachers Strike The CTU strike represents an important battle not just with the Chicago Public Schools and City Hall, but between unions and the school-reform movement as well. It's trench warfare fought bullet-point by bullet-point. Posted at 6:02 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	09/10/12 Vice TV Looks at CeaseFire During Chicago's Violent Summer A new web documentary delves anew into the city's violence-prevention organization, following Ameena Matthews as a dispute over money turns ugly, then violent. Posted at 4:02 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (3)
	09/07/12 Illinois: Land of 7,000 Governments The Land of Lincoln has a long-held reputation for big government and big patronage in its biggest city. But the data is clear on one thing: we're far and away number one in the nation in little governments. Posted at 6:55 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	09/07/12 Welcome to 'The Jungle' Pt. 2: From Stockyard to Sausage From mile-long pig viaducts, to the shackling pen, to the pig wheel, and on to the scraper and the hog barbers: on the pork production line in Chicago's turn-of-the-century stockyards. Posted at 4:48 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	09/07/12 The DNC: Barack Obama in an Age of Modest Expectations Bill Clinton puts on a master class in public speaking, Joe Biden is ice cold, and the president echoes his 2008 acceptance speech, only his inspiration is Lincoln instead of MLK. Posted at 12:14 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	09/06/12 Chicago's Pedestrian Plan: A Glance at the Future of the City's Streets Road diets, leading pedestrian intervals, the relationship between crime and crashes, cyclist education, and more: the city's first "pedestrian plan" details the many plans for Chicago's streets and sidewalks. Posted at 6:20 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	09/06/12 Coming to Terms With Chief Keef The 17-year-old rapper went from mixtapes and house arrest to a Kanye remix and a major-label deal in the course of a few months. How? Through a CPS fan base, a viral video, and unremitting coldness that brought fear back to a genre that had grown numb to it. Posted at 4:45 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (1)
	09/06/12 The Chicago Teachers Union Strike Has Been Building For Awhile A crucial negotiating point between the CTU and CPS involves teacher rehiring and tenure. In the abstract, loosening restrictions might sound appealing, but a series of controversies over the firing of seemingly effective teachers has made negotiations much harder than they might look. Posted at 12:42 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (2)
	09/05/12 A Bleak Portrait of Racial Economic Mobility As DNC speakers celebrate the economic mobility that brought them to the political stage, middle-class jobs are eroding during the recession, and are being replaced by low-wage jobs. The implications for the economic mobility of the next generation are worrisome. Posted at 4:40 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	09/05/12 Chicago-Style Politics Night at the Democratic National Convention Chicago pols—and expat Deval Patrick—dominated the second night of the DNC. Pat Quinn and Rahm Emanuel got the undercard, while Patrick and Michelle Obama stole the show. Posted at 12:03 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)
	09/04/12 Chicago's Parent-Flight Problem Compared to other major cities, Chicago does a pretty good job of attracting college-educated residents. When they get married and have kids, however, the city has a problem keeping them in the school system. Posted at 6:29 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (1)
	09/04/12 In Illinois, Child Deaths By Firearms Exceed Those In Car Crashes Ten years ago, more children died in Illinois in vehicle crashes than by firearms, according to DCFS reports. With fewer people on the road in the wake of the recession, and more children dying from gunfire, that's no longer the case. Posted at 3:49 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (2)
	09/04/12 Ira Glass on 'Sleepwalk with Me,' Moviemaking, and Chicago v. New York The popular host of "This American Life" was in town last week to promote the new movie he helped produce and write with Mike Birbiglia. We sat down with him for a Q&A, in which he weighs in on his latest project, working with Birbiglia, and the Chicago Cubs. Posted at 3:00 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (1)
	09/04/12 More Problems, More Cuts at Illinois DCFS Illinois's often-troubled Department of Children and Family Services has seen its budget decline over the past decade—and a new round of cuts will reduce staffing even further, to 1980s levels. Posted at 1:43 PM in The 312 | Permalink | Comments (0)

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