1. The Power 50

Rahm falls to second. There’s a new boss in town. Chicago magazine ranks the players.

2. Data Mining for Deadly Drug Combinations

Can patient records find harmful interactions before patients report them? The Tribune teams up with Columbia University scientists to find out.

3. How CPS Failed Laquan McDonald

“He was ruined at a very young age.” The Better Government Association digs through the late teen’s history.

4. Why We Can’t Tell “Incomplete Stories”: Meet Black Youth Project 100’s Charlene Carruthers

Growing up on the South Side in a largely Mexican-American neighborhood, she first got interested in politics through immigration. Refinery29 talks to the activist.

5. Emails Raise New Questions About Handling of Rekia Boyd Shooting

Why was CPD officer Dante Servin never deposed? The Sun-Times investigates.

6. Emmett Till and Tamir Rice, Sons of the Great Migration

How history connects the two young men over the generations. Isabel Wilkerson explains in the New York Times.

7. Icebreakers of the Chicago River: How Bubblers, Boats and Brawn Keep the City Safe Each Winter

How (and why) the ice on the river gets broken up, for safety’s sake. WBEZ explore the mystery.

8. The Mythical Idea of the Heartland Shouldn’t Define the Midwest

The conflict between the two has shaped its history, and how insiders and outsiders define our region. The Reader tackles the category.

9. School of Debt: How to Bankrupt Public Education, Chicago-Style

It takes a village (and many, many years). BloombergBusiness follows the money.

10. The Incredible Shrinking Illinois

The state is losing population, but where are people leaving from, and why? Chicago magazine runs the numbers.