The Chicago Pension Paradox

A new report from the Civic Federation finds that the gap between city employees paying into their pension funds and former employees receiving pension funds has sharply decreased over the past decade. In the wake of changes to pensions for future employees, legislators are looking into options for current employees.

Slower, Elvis . . . Kiss . . . Kiss!

How Chicago’s Tura Satana, the outrageously buxom movie star who won pop-cult enshrinement as the badass girl-gang leader Varla in Russ Meyer’s 1965 movie “Faster, Pussycat! Kill! Kill!,” put the “zing” in the King of Rock’n’ Roll.

Rahm Emanuel, Chicago Progressives, and the Unions

A new poll indicates that Rahm Emanuel has widened his lead in the mayoral race. There are many ways in which the former White House chief of staff looks like a successor to Mayor Daley, and now it’s starting to seem like the votes may be there as well.

Taste of Chicago: Forever Free, Clear, and Musical?

Taste of Chicago, in recent years, has been free to attend and has featured a deep lineup of prominent pop musicians. But that hasn’t always been the case. Here’s a brief history of the Taste, including its relationship to the big ChicagoFest musical extravaganza.

David Brooks Sends Rahm Emanuel an Early Valentine—Again

Days after Rahm Emanuel left his job as chief of staff on October 1st to return here to run for mayor, New York Times columnist David Brooks wrote the “The Soft Side.” The column was weirdly worded—“Flawed like all of us, [Rahm] is a full human being, rich and fertile from the inside out”—and provided plenty of easy laughs for Brooks/Rahm detractors. Today, Brooks did it again…