Compared to other major cities, Chicago does a pretty good job of attracting college-educated residents. When they get married and have kids, however, the city has a problem keeping them in the school system. Read more
Ten years ago, more children died in Illinois in vehicle crashes than by firearms, according to DCFS reports. With fewer people on the road in the wake of the recession, and more children dying from gunfire, that's no longer the case. Read more
Illinois's often-troubled Department of Children and Family Services has seen its budget decline over the past decade—and a new round of cuts will reduce staffing even further, to 1980s levels. Read more
Using jaywalking arrests to look at police-citizen relations downstate; why Elston doesn't have its own bus and how the CTA decides these things; and a timelapse installation of a huge railroad bridge. Read more
Preventing segregation is one thing; encouraging desegregation is much, much harder, and outside of school policy is historically uncommon. The future might look European, where even conservative governments have addressed the issue through housing policy. Read more
A higher percentage of Chicago Public Schools graduates are enrolling in college—and a high percentage are also filing for financial aid. The two things are very closely related. Read more
The Vice Presidential candidate was heavily criticized for playing fast and loose with the facts, but a moment of dissonant rhetoric revealed a moment of real truth. Read more
New York City has been lauded for its reduction in violent crime in recent years. The NYPD is comparable in size to other police departments in relation to population—but compared to the physical size of the city, it's unusually large. Read more
Paul Ryan blasted Barack Obama over the closing of a GM plant in Janesville that the then-candidate spoke at in 2008, earning Ryan harsh words from fact-checkers. What actually happened to the factory in Ryan's hometown? Read more
A lot of cyclists run red lights—if not constantly, at least a high percentage are willing to admit that they have and do sometimes. Drivers hate it, and a lot of other cyclists do too, but how do you stop it when it's tough to catch them in the act? Read more
