Where Chicago's Creative Types Live
The Chicagoans who entertain us cluster along the Milwaukee and Lincoln/Clark corridors—along where all the good bars cluster, too, which make our creatives all the more creative.
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Carl Sandburg, Early Wonk Blogger, On Chicago's Race Riot of 1919
The great poet, working as a reporter, completed a sophisticated study of the city’s South Side just as Chicago’s most notorious race riot was about to unfold.
Lunch With Ald. Bob Fioretti
The Second Ward alderman talks mayors, the costs of his cancer treatment, how we have too many aldermen, his biggest mistake on City Council, what the name “Fioretti” means, and more.
Should the Government Respond to Chicago's Murder Problem With a New Kerner Commission?
Newt Gingrich keeps needling Barack Obama and Joe Biden about holding hearings in Chicago on Chicago violence. It might look like a trap. But it’s not necessarily a bad idea.
As a Chicago Judge Goes on Trial, a Proposal to Fix the System that Keeps Bad Judges on the Bench
As Cyntha Brim, poster-judge for the failures of our judicial retention system, goes to trial this week on charges of misdemeanor battery, state rep Kelly Cassidy introduces reforms that would focus voters on the borderline judges.
Where In the World Is Rich Daley?
After leaving office, the former mayor hasn’t followed in the footsteps of big-city mayoral peers like Rudy Giuliani and Ed Koch, choosing to speak softly—or not at all—and build a big resume.
Horse Meat: Good Enough for the Mafia and the Greatest Generation, But Not For Picky Non-Pagan Modern Consumers
For a couple years in the 1950s, the hamburgers many Chicagoans consumed were as much horse as cow—up to 40 percent. The Syndicate worked a rich arbitrage of cultural taboos, at least until they got caught and horse meat dominated the headlines for a year.
Jeanne Gang Will Probably Save the Planet
On January 17, I had the chance to watch the MacArthur “genius” Jeanne Gang flip through a PowerPoint of her recent and forthcoming urban design projects…
Want to Be an Ambassador? Here's Your Bill
It’s well known that a portion of high-profile ambassadorships (around 30 percent, usually) go to big-money donors or powerful friends of the president. And two Penn State profs have calculated, broadly, how much it costs and where each is likely to go. But Chicago’s Louis Susman proves that you can get there by being a bit of both.
Garry McCarthy Edges Back to Old Policing Tactics
The reassignment of desk cops to patrol includes a strengthening of “saturation units,” a compromise strategy between the CPD’s old, controversial gang-strike units and McCarthy’s philosophy of community policing.