1. If These Men Aren’t Guilty, Why Can’t They Go Free?

A city investigation suggests that four men were framed by a notorious former cop. But the county won’t reopen their cases. BuzzFeed investigates the investigation.

2. How Does Racial Inequality Thrive in Good Schools?

Problems persist even in diverse, desegregated schools within similar communities. Why does this still happen? WGN’s "The Download" talks with UIC professor Amanda Lewis.

3. Watching a Friend Lead the Cubs to the Playoffs

Adrian Cardenas is a former teammate and neighbor of Anthony Rizzo. Now he’s a writer who watches the Cubs on TV. He reflects for the New Yorker.

4. Illinois Businesses Get Lucrative EDGE Tax Breaks, Fall Short of Job Goals

Over 16 years, what was supposed to be a small program expanded without much oversight or success. The Tribune follows its path.

5. The Importance of LaToya Ruby Frazier, Chicago "Genius Grant" Winner

The photographer and SAIC professor got a MacArthur award for her photography of a small Rust Belt city, her lifelong project. Chicago magazine delves into her new book.

6. Rizzo’s Revenge: A New, Clutch-Driven Way to Look at Baseball’s MVP Debate

Bryce Harper is the expected NL Most Valuable Player. But by one way of looking at it, the Cubs’ star has been the most “valuable.” Grantland breaks it down.

7. Legal Marijuana Stirs Hope in Illinois Town

The state’s first medical-marijuana crop is growing in Albion, but with only 3,000 approved patients, it can’t expand. The AP visits the farm.

8. CPS Lowers Graduation Rate After Errors Found

WBEZ and the Better Government Association sniffed the problem out and forced the schools’ hand. WBEZ follows up.

9. Chicago: The Place Between

Mies’s Crown Hall at IIT might be “a serene temple of the present,” but it also represents a battle. Historian Thomas Dyja recounts it for Architectural Record.

10. The Hot Dog Whisperer

How to garnish a Chicago hot dog, and other lessons from Hot Dog University. Chicago magazine learns from the master.