Chicago gets sliced and diced again, especially the Second Ward, where Alderman Fioretti is a "remamp victim of Euclidean geometry as much as politics." Read more
In advance of this spring's summits, the city moves to close holes in its regulation of public protest. The process hasn't always been so fine-tuned, one legal scholar argues: the intensive regulation of assembly arose in the second half of the nation's history. Read more
Is Mitt Romney "authentic"? Does it hurt him? Does it even matter? Perhaps the authenticity problem lies not with Mitt, but with his culture, and ours. Read more
An upcoming report from Aon Hewitt identifies recent growth in Americans borrowing from their own retirement accounts, and the Chicago Fed president cools talk of a strengthening economy. Read more
The U.S. homicide rate hit a 50-year low last year and violent crime hit a 40-year low in 2010, despite the terrible economy. Lead abatement may offer a substantial explanation—and a challenge to utilitarian theories of crime. Read more
In the postwar years, the mass migration of Southerners to Chicago caused substantial cultural tensions in the city—and of great official concern were the Appalachians who settled in Uptown and their "primitive jungle tactics." Read more
The man who is recognized every year with a national holiday is a secular saint, but it wasn't always so. In Chicago, King battled not only a wily mayor but an unfriendly press and decades of history... but not a history that was well known. Read more
If you happen to be off today and not leaving the house, here are some good reads on funeral directors, Michael Jordan's high school coach, and Shel Silverstein's personal archive. Read more
After Cyrus McCormick and other prominent Chicagoans moved out, Rush Street became Deadfall Lane. Now the home of the Viagra Triangle is a blend of the old and the new. Read more
Increasingly, "private equity" means public money buying public infrastructure—and you'll probably remember a good example literally from the streets of Chicago. In some ways, the vulture capitalists are ourselves. Read more
