Chicago’s eight “selective enrollment” public high schools are fielding some of the city’s top graduates, giving parents an attractive alternative to fleeing for the suburbs. But are these elite institutions draining the brains out of the neighborhoods?
The husband-and-wife team that ran Alberto-Culver announced their separation even as they were negotiating the breakup of the beauty products company. Has an ending been scripted for this colorful, family-run success story?
Ken Dunn embodies an American ideal of intelligence, an extraordinary melding of farmer and philosopher. He just might be the smartest man in the city. And he grows magnificent tomatoes.
In recent years, Chicago has become a tough town in which to get a liquor license. Credit Mayor Daley’s strict policies on booze—and enforcement by a stern and obscure bureaucrat.
With this . . . thing . . . growing in Sarah, keeping the Big Secret means nonstop paranoia. We feel like sophomores who have been smoking pot all afternoon, certain that everyone can tell we’re baked, and that everyone is whispering behind our backs. They’re not, not yet. But it does feel like everyone is talking about babies, which of course isn’t true. It’s just that, for the first time, I’m paying attention.
We had a big deck party and it was babies this and babies that all afternoon. Sarah and I tried hard not to make eye contact in fear that we would be found out. One guy, a creative director at DDB or something, told me he was looking to patent a strap-on vest for fathers filled with milk so they could “breastfeed” their babies when Mom wasn’t around. He called it . . . wait for it . . . “The Milkman.” I thought it was brilliant, until Sarah asked me if I would ever consider wearing one. (Editor’s note: not long after, the writers of Meet the Fockers had the same idea and put Robert DeNiro in one. Coincidence? Editor’s note #2: Boy, DeNiro’s career has really blossomed.) …
Over the years, many of our local public officials have capped off their careers with a stint in the pokey on corruption charges. Here’s how a few of them are faring today as ex-cons
Looking south from my 11th-floor office in the Tribune Tower, I can see Pioneer Court, the Michigan Avenue Bridge, and a string of stylish skyscrapers. But perched above the spot where Chicago began, it’s also easy to pick up intimations of the city’s past.
Finding the right job-or any job at all-can be tough these days. Then there's the falling ax of downsizing. What to do? You might think about joining the growing number of people who are buying franchise businesses. Peter Birkeland, a local consultant and author of Franchising Dreams, sees more and more would-be entrepreneurs and … Read more
UIC economist Deirdre McCloskey talks freely about capitalism, the fallout from Enron, and her sex change.
In the 1969 Days of Rage, antiwar radical Brian Flanagan and city lawyer Richard Elrod, collided, changing their lives and creating an indelible image.
