1. Chicago’s Best Public Schools
Taking a thorough and fair approach to school evaluation yields some surprising results. Chicago magazine runs the numbers.
2. One Block, Zero Shootings: How One Mom Is Building Community in Englewood
It seems to work, yet she’s facing surprising resistance. WBEZ visits Tamar Manasseh in Englewood.
3. Charged with Murder, But They Didn’t Kill Anyone—Police Did
Ten times in the past five years, the felony murder rule has been used against people who were part of a chain of events that led to the police fatally shooting someone else. The Reader investigates.
4. The Man Who Saved the Skyscraper
35-year-old structural engineer Fazlur Khan, a University of Illinois grad and SOM employee, changed architecture with his design for the John Hancock Center. Mental Floss profiles the legend.
5. Trump’s Chicago Real Estate Flop
Why can’t the businessman put businesses in Trump Tower’s riverfront retail space? The Sun-Times looks inside.
6. Grand Plans to Revive Chicago’s Stock Exchange—from China
Chinese investors launching a takeover want it to be a bridge to their country’s markets, but legislators are worried. The Wall Street Journal explains.
7. Can Big Data Stop Bad Cops?
South-suburban Harvey is an example of how oversight itself needs oversight. The Washington Post surveys the evidence.
8. Chicago’s Inescapable Segregation
Is the problem too big to tackle? Or is that a cop-out? The Atlantic talks to WBEZ reporter Natalie Moore.
9. Study Casts Doubt on Chicago Police’s Secretive “Heat List”
It’s supposed to predict who’s likely to be involved in shootings. But is it actually predictive? Chicago magazine looks at the results.
10. KFC Recipe Revealed? Tribune Shown Family Scrapbook with 11 Herbs and Spices
Colonel Sanders’s nephew thinks he has it, and that the secret is the white pepper. The Tribune gives the recipe a try.