By Whet Moser
While the Chicago Police Department insists it doesn't need to expand the ranks as the new budget comes down the pike, the Chicago Fire Department wants to buttress its ranks against the greatest threat of all—old age. Read more
Whet Moser
By Whet Moser
An audit finds that the cost of the state's All Kids program is going up, and that errors in the system are causing the state to miss out on federal funding; Michael Madigan is ready to take on pension reform; and more Read more
By Whet Moser
There is a game that allows you to play a CTA conductor, fulfilling a dream I barely knew I had (though they chose the Brown Line, which is less than optimal). Plus: the history of Chicago's Belt Railway and a trip through the North Shore in the 1920s. Read more
By Whet Moser
A highly-touted report on the state's awful financial situation rubs in the many errors the state's made over the past couple decades, but is circumspect about solutions. Read between the lines, though, and there ideas. Read more
By Whet Moser
A report on our state's finances from the bureaucratic dream team of Richard Ravitch and Paul Volker is a lengthy yet concise description of its many problems, but doesn't provide many ideas for addressing them. Read more
By Whet Moser
Richard Mourdock defeated eternal GOP stalwart Richard Lugar with a hard Tea Party economic line, putting the Indiana seat at risk—with the reward of a conservative replacing a conciliator. As the most recent major candidate to draw nationwide attention for his comments on abortion, it's a test to see how far economic conservatives are willing to go for their social counterparts. Read more
By Whet Moser
Cubs' ticket prices have gone up 265 percent in two decades; the White Sox have had one of the largest price increases in the past few years, to the extent that they can't fill a stadium with a competitive team. Tax subsides are in part to blame, but there's a better way. Read more
By Whet Moser
The Empty Bottle's new 20th-century classical/new music series welcomes its first guest artists, the woodwind quintet City of Tomorrow, for a program that features the works of David Lang, Esa-Pekka Salonen, Luciano Berio, and David Maslanka. Read more
By Whet Moser
Willard Motley came up with one of the most famous lines in American literature for his popular debut novel—which was turned into a movie starring Humphrey Bogart—but has since faded into obscurity. Nelson Algren was a fan, but not of his writing. Read more
By Whet Moser
A new study finds that the intuitive logic about protected bicycle lanes and bicycle tracks outweighs the received wisdom: the better defined the infrastructure, the safer it is. Plus: a look at Sao Paulo's bicycle schools. Read more