Walter Jacobson Tells All, and It's Almost All Worth Reading
The veteran Chicago newsman looks back on interviewing John Wayne Gacy, not interviewing the Pope, being paired with Bill Kurtis, in his new autobiography.
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Creatures of the Wind’s Designers on Their Favorite Things
MIX MASTERS: Tastemakers Shane Gabier and Chris Peters pick Comme des Garçons sneakers, Jun Takahashi hats, and more
Pat Crowley Takes on the Vatican
SISTER ACT: The prioress of the Benedictine Sisters of Chicago stands up to a Vatican rebuke of U.S. nuns
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.
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.
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
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.
Rita Crundwell and the Dixon Embezzlement
THE $53 MILLION BAMBOOZLE: How the trusted comptroller of a small Illinois town became the biggest municipal embezzler in U.S. history, according to the feds—and no one noticed
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.
Q & A With Brad Schneider, a First-Time Candidate in Illinois's 10th District
The management consultant is in a dead heat with freshman congressman Robert Dold for Mark Kirk’s old North Shore district—which, after redistricting, is even more Democratic.