Features

The Killing Fields
by Rick Soll
An ace West Side homicide squad copes with Chicago’s soaring murder rate – a firsthand report from the streets

Triple Exposure
by Mark Jannot
This May, two uspstart fairs will compete with Art Expo for the hearts, minds, and dollars of the international art world.

Scouting the Sports Guys
by Shane Tritsch
Their analyses. Their opinions. Their shticks. Which of the city’s writers and broadcasters call the shots?

Freedom and Equality
by John Updike
In a speech delivered at the Humanities Festival, a distinguished novelist explores the perils and possibilities of being an American.

Spring, Over Easy
by Ron Laxamana
The season’s soft new looks drift into view on the gentlest of breezes.

Return to Glory
by Leah Eskin
Millwork, decorative plaster and hardware, light fixtures, mantels, porcelain sinks – the best sources for rehabbers

Departments

Letters

Frontlines
A piano man, a taco belle, a spring fling, and a little schwiing!

Metro
by Greg Hinz
Newspapers play politics in Jim Squires’s new Book; Paul Simon’s bright young things make it big; cable clout at City Hall
Prime Time
Hot dates around town this month

Chicago Woman
by Marcia Froelke Coburn
John and Jim Belushi became stars; their psychic sister lives by the stars.

Media
by Greg Hinz
Local TV news outlets are scrambling to find a niche that fits.

Stage & Screen
by Penelope Mesic
The New Criminals take their breakneck action all the way to L.A.

Real Estate

by Dennis Rodkin
The ABCs of student-built houses; plus, recent sales

Going Places
by Anne Spiselman and David Novick
Mall-to-mall Schaumburg

Dining
by Dennis Ray Wheaton
Rooms with new views: ups and downs in hotel dining

Back Talk
by Henry Hanson
Gina Keys, Jerry Garcia, Frank Gehry, Hanna Gray, Stanley Paul, Robbin Lockett, Man Ray