A mile of cycle track downtown might not seem like that much, but it’s the first time in awhile bike-friendly cities like Portland and Seattle have envied a piece of Chicago infrastructure. You can thank the warm weather for it going in so quickly.
INSIDER’S GUIDE: From bars to boutiques, a flurry of recent additions keeps this hood feeling as new as ever
Thanks to reporting by Rob Wildeboer, the county is set to reduce the high fees jail inmates are charged to make phone calls. It sounds very Chicago, but we’re hardly alone: the FCC might tackle the cost of prison phone calls in coming months.
The number one reason people go to jail in Cook County? If you guessed drug possession, you’re right. But violent crimes actually make up a bigger proportion than drug charges, and the number one violent crime—and the second-most likely charge for people who go to jail in Cook County—is domestic battery.
Cook County’s court system has long lagged behind the city in its use of data, frustrating journalists and open-data advocates. It’s finally adopting an electronic case-management system, which may help with the court’s problem with timely dispositions.
Was it arranged by God, as Reynolds claimed at the time? Not quite, though a Reverend was involved: Jesse Jackson urged Clinton to do it, with the support of Richard Durbin, Bobby Rush, and Danny Davis.
A look at segregation patterns in Chicago in recent years actually suggests some good news, as cultural and legal barriers to desegregation have fallen. Plus: Cook County wetlands in hyperspectral glory.
Chicago, like the national government and governments throughout the country, has been cutting back on headcount throughout the Great Recession. Which neighborhoods is that hitting the hardest?
What did Illinois’s senator and the Senate Majority Whip say about Social Security, Medicare, and entitlement cuts with regards to a grand bargain? It depends on who you ask.
“I personally think that in terms of hands-on work, dealing with everyday people, nothing beats being an alderman. It’s close up and personal. But the Congress lets you shape the national discourse, have a say in where we’re headed as a country. John Stuart Mill called legislatures, ‘national talking houses.’ The Congress is a forum for moving the country forward.”
