This week has brought several excellent pieces in the papers and on the radio about mental illness and community services in a time of fiscal austerity. Here's a browse through it, and some context. Read more
Cook County sheriff Tom Dart has put out an open call for people who believe they may be related to Gacy's eight unidentified victims. A look back at what we used to assume, and now know, about serial killers, and how we got there. Read more
Lincolnwood's old Hyatt has long since fallen into disrepair and exists mostly as a cult kitsch memory. But the Chicago firm behind it is responsible for more of the local skyline than you might realize. Read more
Low-level marijuana arrests cost the city and county $78 million a year, according to research by Mick Dumke and Ben Joravsky, about the same as New York City spends on enforcement. It's a lot of money, but does it actually make us safer? There's research to suggest the opposite. Read more
Mayor Emanuel proposed doubling water rates over the next five years as part of his first budget. It's a big increase, but are we being squeezed or just catching up to our civic peers? Read more
A plea for more parks; the historical and political reasons why the West Side is a park desert; why Daniel Burnham is overrated; and a brilliant plan for dock, alley, and railyard parks. Plus: an unsung hero of Chicago landscape design. Read more
Tonight Susanna Mälkki leads the CSO in Charles Ives's "The Unanswered Question," a short, funny, eerie little piece that's either about the cosmos or tonality. Read more
This week in Mayor Emanuel: from the light load of big ideas with Michael Bloomberg, Kasim Reed, and Thomas Friedman at Ideas Week... to the heavy lifting of little governing ones with City Council. Read more
A study looks at Seattle's bus-tracker system, and finds nothing but love. The biggest benefit? Eliminating the mystery of the next bus's arrival. Read more
