1. Chicago Faces a Defining Moment in Police Reform and Civil Order
The city’s police department, which has long been resistent to outside reform efforts, is at a critical juncture. The outcome of the Chicago’s looming consent decree with the state, which would legally bind CPD to certain reforms, will have major implications on the city’s future. Chicago’s Invisible Institute, in partnership with The Intercept dives deep with the first installment of a new five-part series.
2. The End of an Epidemic
The days of food allergies could be numbered thanks to a “dream team” of Chicago researchers and scientists behind some game-changing new therapies. Chicago explores the exciting possibility.
3. How Michael Avenatti Got His Start in Political Dark Arts Under Rahm Emanuel
Most Americans know Avenatti as the lawyer to Stormy Daniels who more recently has espoused presidential ambitions. But he’s an old name to certain Democratic insiders, including Chicago’s mayor. BuzzFeed brings the history.
4. What It Was Like in the Nightclubs of Chicago’s South Side in the 1970s
A current exihibit of photographer Michael Abramson’s work prompts a quick look back at a particularly stylish time in Chicago’s nightlife history. The Washington Post revisits the scene.
5. A Nonprofit Got Special Loans and Tax Breaks for Low-Income Housing. Dealmakers Collected Millions in Fees. And Buildings Deteriorated.
An effort to create more affordable housing spiraled into a disaster for residents, and now the agencies involved are all pointing fingers at each other. The Chicago Tribune reveals how it all went wrong.
6. Historic Preservation Battles in Chicagoland Turn to Trumpian Tactics
The ongoing fights over historic preservation and development in Chicago’s South Side neighborhood of Pullman and suburban Evanston may provide clues to how similar battles will be fought and won in our current era of supercharged — and super-divisive — politics. The Architects Newspaper examines the issue.
7. Elon Musk’s ‘Electric Skates’ to O’Hare Mired in Secrecy, Skepticism
A billion dollars, futuristic tunneling technology and a fantastical promise to zip passengers from downtown to O’Hare in 15 minutes or less. Elon Musk is big on promises but thin on plans, and neither he nor city officials are willing to answer the urgent questions. The Better Government Association investigates.
8. The Whole World Is Watching
The police riots during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago cracked open political and cultural fault lines that Americans still feel 50 years later. The Guardian reevaluates that pivotal summer.
9. Minding the Gap Is an Extraordinary Feat of Filmmaking
The latest gem from Chicago’s Kartemquin Films was recently released on Hulu and to theaters. Don’t sleep on filmmaker Bing Liu’s soaring documentary, which examines modern masculinity through a trio of young Illinois skateboarders — it’ll be on everyone’s lips again come awards season. The Atlantic reviews the new film.
10. 12 Things We Should Have Known About Illinois’s New Private School Scholarships
Thousands of Illinois students are heading back to school this fall using state taxpayer money to attend private schools. But when the program was passed last year, it sailed though with virtually no public vetting or debate, leaving plenty of questions unanswered. WBEZ gets to the bottom of the issue.