By Whet Moser
Two mixes, one by Derrick Carter and the other by u-ziq, show how the city took overblown dance music, stripped it down, and made it party music... twice, over the course of three decades. Read more
Whet Moser
By Whet Moser
Chicago's legendary Essanay Studios, a pioneer that employed Charlie Chaplin and discovered Gloria Swanson, was also responsible for one of film's earliest cartoon characters, the work of a newspaper cartoon prodigy. Read more
By Whet Moser
Journalists want gaffes; politicians want to avoid them; which makes journalists want them all the more. It's a vicious cycle, but one that long predates 24/7 coverage and social media... as Mitt Romney's dad could have told you. Read more
By Whet Moser
In an extraordinary two years, a young Chicago volunteer fireman became a national drill-team star, a friend and employee of Abraham Lincoln, a sex symbol, and finally the first officer killed in the Civil War. Read more
By Whet Moser
Chicago's infrastructure trust gets off to a quiet start, while New York City launches an experiment with social-impact bonds, a similar concept recently imported from England. Read more
By Whet Moser
How segregated is Chicago by wealth? Chicagoland is actually not very segregated compared to other metros, but if you zoom in and take a different look, other patterns emerge that parallel those across the country. Read more
By Whet Moser
Mostly from Illinois and Indiana—and a surprising percentage come north from Mississippi. As far as how people get them, straw buyers are frequent, but friends, family members, addicts, and burglaries are all available means of illegally obtaining a weapon. Read more
By Whet Moser
A new study looks at life expectancy, poverty, population density, and food deserts in Chicago—and finds evidence that, even controlling for many factors, access to grocery stores has an impact on expected lifespan. Read more
By Whet Moser
Chicago is unusual among school districts nationwide for its appointed school board, but less so among urban districts, where school board elections can be expensive and politicized. After an experiment with a hybrid model led to full mayoral control in 1995, there's increased interest, including from some aldermen, in trying again. Read more
By Whet Moser
Illinois has long been a key battleground in the debate over the Second Amendment, from the banning of labor militias in the 1870s, to the tommy guns that curtailed Americans' rights to certain types of guns, to Morton Grove's handgun ban, the first in the nation. And that past history, stretching back to the Civil War, determines what the state can and can't do. Read more