America as 'Kludgeocracy'
It’s not just Illinois that has a problem with lots of confusing, overlapping, expensive governmental structures; the federal government has built a lot of kludges to get across roadblocks and competing ideologies.
Ad Categories: City Life
Lack of Snow Another Sign of Chicago's Long, Hot, Dry Year
If no snow accumulates in Chicago today, it will set a record for the longest stretch in city history without any snow. The Midwest’s dry, drought-ridden year might be good for getting outside, but it’s crippling Mississippi barge traffic.
The Best Survey Question Ever
“People picture life after death in many different ways. We’d like to know how you think of life after death. Here is a card with sets of contrasting images. On a scale of 1-7, where would you place your image of life after death. d. 1. A pale, shadowy form of life, hardly life at all. 2. A life of complete fulfillment, spiritual and physical.” Survey says….
Chicago: 'The False Confession Capital of the United States'
Byron Pitts of 60 Minutes looks at the high number of false confessions in the city, and puts Anita Alvarez on the spot for her office’s handling of two cases the program investigated.
Chicago’s Best and Worst Politicians of 2012
ANGELS AND DEMONS: The political heroes and zeros of 2012
Chicago: City of Sin and Working Men
Maps of casinos, bars, and brothels in the old Levee and Cheyenne Districts show just how dense the sin was in turn-of-the-century-Chicago. And where there’s sin, there’s good government in its path, trying to nudge the urban hellmouth on the road to righteousness.
Chicagoland Sees Modest Growth, Thanks to Babies and Immigrants
The Chicago area saw substantial domestic out-migration during the past decade—as did all but one major metro that’s not in the South, Southwest, or West. The sole exception? Minneapolis.
Arrests, Juvenile Detention, and High School Dropouts in Chicago
A new study by two former U. of C. sociologists attempts to find out how much a juvenile arrest affects the chances that a teen in Chicago will graduate from high school. Among comparable peers, a kid who gets arrested is less than half as likely to graduate.
A Brief, Expensive History of City Hall: History Never Changes, But Inflation Does
No, the renovation of City Hall will not cost more than twice what the building originally cost. The current one was expensive enough that the state had to raise its debt limit—in order to replace a terrible building that cost just as much and lasted less than 30 years until it blew up.
Watch the Entire CTA Over 24 Hours
A software company used data feeds from public-transit systems around the world to create visualizations of their systems—and all their routes—over a 24 hour period. Chicago, the great grid city, is a lot more comprehensible than its peers.