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By David Bernstein
THE INSIDER: With a background as a Democratic Party boss, a lobbyist, and a powerful commissioner of a property tax appeals board, Joseph Berrios now wants to be Cook County assessor, a role that will give him even more sway in picking winners and losers among local taxpayers. Chicago magazine’s political editor—working with the Better Government Association—argues that Berrios shines as a vivid example of the clout-infested politics for which Illinois is famous Read more
Our top five picks for things to do: Opera and booze on Lake Michigan … films and booze at the Art Institute … Fifth House Ensemble takes a cue from Pink Floyd … and more Read more
WHAT I WAS THINKING: The businessman discusses buying the Sun-Times, the beauty of bankruptcy, and the joy of new kidneys Read more
By Ryan Blitstein
He modernized Chicago’s emergency-response center, served as Mayor Daley’s chief of staff, and led (albeit briefly) the CTA—all before his 38th birthday. Now Ron Huberman, the Israeli-born gay ex-cop, has brought his intensity and his technocratic management style to the city’s public schools. Failure is not an option. Read more
By Bryan Smith
FROM JULY 2009: After launching the Playboy empire here in the 1950s, Hugh Hefner turned Chicago into a frontline of the sexual revolution, acting out his sybaritic fantasy life behind the walls of his mansion on North State Parkway. But as the freewheeling sixties gave way to the decadent seventies, things changed drastically for Hefner and the Gold Coast mansion he called home Read more
By Patricia Schulman
Q. My young son recently put his foot through the seat of a nice old caned chair. Is anyone still fixing these things?
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By Noah Isackson
CM Punk returns to his home turf for a World Wrestling Entertainment smackdown on August 18th. Read more
By Robert Reed and Shane Tritsch
With the economy weakening and the unemployment line growing, we searched for—and found—some good news: local employers who aren't just surviving the current economic malaise but thriving, hiring, and treating their employees right Read more
By Dennis Rodkin
In the mid-1980s, when Melissa and Alan Bean bought their first home, in Elmhurst, they didn’t know until after they had signed all the papers that they had taken out a very risky mortgage, one that included a provision for “negative amortization”—the alluring possibility of paying less per month than the interest accrued. (A loan like that can quickly turn into an upside-down situation, where the homeowner owes more than the house is worth.) It was a mistake the couple corrected as soon as they understood what they had done.
Two decades later, Melissa Bean, now representing Illinois’ 8th District, (Chicago’s northwest and far north suburbs) in the U.S. House of Representatives, is trying to help correct the effects of high-risk...
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