1. The Price of Pork: Cheap Meat Comes at High Cost in Illinois
Industrial hog confinements are on the rise, but the state is behind on regulation, as water and air pollution follow in their wake. The Tribune devotes a three-part series to the issue.
2. Jamila Woods: The Soul of a Protester
The 26-year-old is the associate artistic director of Young Chicago Authors—and a young R&B sage. Pitchfork profiles the artist after her solo debut HEAVN.
3. Integration of Gold Coast, Cabrini-Green Schools Thwarted by City Leaders
Merging Ogden and Jenner would fix overcrowding at the former, low enrollment at the latter, and create an integrated school. So what happened? WBEZ tells the story.
4. Michael Sacks Is the Rahm Whisperer
The chair of GCM Grosvenor is a jack-of-all-trades—and someone who can be utterly candid to the famously candid mayor. Chicago teases out his role.
5. Mark Prior: I Have No Regrets, No One to Blame
What happened to the Cubs’ former future? A collision and a line-drive into his elbow. (Not Dusty.) But he’s in baseball, and he’s happy. He looks back for Sports Illustrated.
6. Welcome to America’s Unsung Barbecue City: Chicago
Our traditions are the result of the Great Migration and the cheap off-cuts from the slaughterhouses. And they’re disappearing. Saveur tracks down some of the best.
7. CPS Sports Teams Forced to Use GoFundMe to Pay Basic Costs, Coaches Say
Very basic costs: uniforms, equipment, transportation to games, and paying referees. DNAinfo visits Wendell Phillips Academy, the city’s first state champion.
8. They Might Be Giant: Rob Levitt Talks to Jason Vincent and Ben Lustbader
The Butcher & Larder vet talks shop with the guys behind the new Logan Square restaurant Giant. Fooditor sits in for the conversation.
9. Former LeClaire Courts Residents Are Still Fighting to Go Home
The empty 44 acres were once low-rise, integrated public housing. Its former residents have a “right to return,” but when will they have something to return to? The Reader investigates.
10. Uncovering the Chicago Police Cover-Up
It’s been two years since the shooting of Laquan McDonald. A new special prosecutor needs to find out what happened during the long delay between the shooting and the release of the video. The New York Times editorial board lays out her assignment.