1. What if the Great Chicago Fire of 1871 Never Happened?
Would the city's skyline be less spectacular? Would we have a more "humane" metropolis? WBEZ's Curious City explores an alternate history.
2. Thanks, Doug: Your Legacy Will Live on Long After the Last Hot Dog is Served
For 13 years, Doug Sohn served simple but amazing food at a good price—greeting every customer along the way. Crain's pays tribute to the man behind Hot Doug's.
3. Contact Lost With Planes One by One as FAA Fire Spread
What happened in the air as the Aurora air traffic control center burned. Bloomberg gives a moment-by-moment account of the disaster.
4. Vietnam's Neuroscientific Legacy
The Vietnam Head Injury Study has taught us immense lessons about what war does to the brain, and how the brain can heal itself in the years afterwards. The New Yorker talks with researchers in Chicago and Champaign-Urbana about its importance.
5. White Woman Who Sued Sperm Bank Over Black Baby Says It's Not About Race
An Ohio woman is suing a Chicago sperm bank, saying that its mix-up is forcing her to leave her "white, conservative, and too racially intolerant" town. Huffington Post Chicago gets her side of the story.
6. Building Wind Power Superhighways
Illinois actually isn't an ideal state for wind power, so one man wants to bring it to us from out west—on 150-foot-tall transmission lines. The Tribune explains where our energy might come from in the future.
7. In Chicago, a Tasting Tour of Barrel-Aged Beer
Why does the city like this intense method? Start with our proximity to bourbon country. The New York Times gives our obesssion a try.
8. The Properties Are Distressed, and This Buyer Is Too
Want to buy a house in Chicago? Be prepared for scenes out of The Shining. Chicago goes househunting.
9. Can Chicago's Taxi Industry Survive the Rideshare Revolution?
Right now it's "in shambles," "f**ked up," and "going extinct." Some of that is of the industry's—and the city's—own making. The Reader takes the temperature of the city's hacks.
10. What Happened on the Last Day at Hot Doug's
The small-scale sausage giant closed his doors Friday as hundreds of guests bid him farewell. Chicago was there.