One reason frequently given for the substantial drop in America’s violent crime rate is lead abatement—a couple decades after it was removed from paint and gas, crime started downwards. But it’s still out there, in houses and the soil of big cities, and the more we know about it, the lower the acceptable limits of lead get.
Chicago did pretty well in a ranking of cities and fatal crashes over the past decade, coming in 20th out of the 25 largest per thousand people. But a high percentage of those involved intoxication: third worst among America’s biggest cities.
The Williams Institute took a look at the economic benefits of Iowa’s decision to legalize gay marriage, which attracted some couples who presumably would have gotten married here in Illinois. They estimate a modest drain on our coffers, but it added up for our neighbors.
Opponents of gay marriage often resort to slippery-slope hypotheticals along the lines of: “but what about polygamy?” It’s not out of context, but it is pretty much the opposite. Anyone actually worried about gay marriage leading to polygamy shouldn’t be.
What does climate science tell us about the possibility of future droughts in the Midwest? Year to year it will remain unpredictable, but we should be concerned about our luck, and the odds of drought, getting worse.
From homicide and heat waves in Chicago to New York’s recovery from Sandy Hook: the importance of “neighborhood effects” and “collective efficacy” on crime and other critical issues of public health.
The career curator and executive director of the Renaissance Society on silver Converse sneakers, a Le Creuset doufeu, and more
The total comes to 506, an increase of 71 over 2011 and 2010. The conventional wisdom is looking towards weather and the disbanding of specialized gang units as the causes. Can Garry McCarthy keep up his long game on crime through 2013?
Peter Roskam votes no, along with Tea Partiers Joe Walsh and Bobby Schilling. Plus: another, more serious, fiscal cliff coming in March.
In a couple days, the Mississippi River may shut down shipping traffic in the next couple days, due to low water levels on the Illinois-Missouri border; in a couple weeks, the river could be lower at St. Louis than it’s ever been.
