1. Chicago’s 50 Best Bars

And it starts with the idealized version of everything we look for in a bar. Chicago magazine makes its picks.

2. Chicago Homeless Encampment Creates, Enforces Its Own Rules

On Wilson Avenue beneath Lake Shore Drive, they’re creating a community, with meetings and details for cleaning and security. WBEZ visits.

3. Inside the Life of John Prine, the Mark Twain of American Songwriting

His story begins in Maywood, a blue-collar burb—and Kentucky, the coal-mining town where his dad was from. Rolling Stone profiles the folk-music great.

4. Check the Facts Before Buying Into the King Madigan Storyline

He has a lot of power, but it’s taken a bipartisan village to create the state’s mess. NPR Illinois looks at the record.

5. A 1927 Map Reveals the Hide-Outs of Chicago’s Most Notorious Gangsters

The legendary sociologist Frederic Thrasher pinpointed their whereabouts, dot by painstaking dot. Atlas Obscura looks at Chicago’s Gangland.

6. Why Chicago’s Thompson Center Is Worth Saving

The notorious postmodern blue-and-salmon whale might make a poor office building, but creative reuse could preserve its architectural value. Curbed Chicago makes the case.

7. How Tall Will New Buildings in My Chicago Neighborhood Be?

The city’s growing up, literally—adding tall, dense buildings throughout the central core. DNAinfo maps the growth.

8. Critics: CPS Special Ed Policy Is ‘Delay and Deny’

The district says it’s trying to combat an overdiagnosis of black and Hispanic students with disabilities, but the data calls that into question. The Better Government Association runs the numbers.

9. Can Cubs Avoid a World Series-Induced Hangover?

Winning it all is hard, even for the best team in baseball. But the stats (and a sixth starter) suggest they’re well-positioned for the near-impossible goal of a repeat. The Athletic examines the evidence.

10. Why They Marched

Ten of the 250,000 people at Chicago’s Women’s March tell their stories. Chicago magazine listens.