Whet Moser

The top cop turns heads with a statement that CPD officers sometimes cannot respond to shots-fired 911 calls because they are "tied up on a lower-level priority." But it's an old problem that ties into the city's somewhat inexplicable method of 911 response. Read more

Dr. Jason Steffens, a postdoc at the Fermilab Center for Particle Astrophysics, develops an efficient method for boarding a plane, and finds that the block-boarding method has serious flaws. Read more

Is Chicago ready for TIF reform? Perhaps it's ready for some reasonable changes to the internal workings of the special taxing scheme, but who knows about the future of the city's structural tax and budget problems. Read more

The mayor's Tax Increment Financing Task Force issues its final report just before the new mayor holds two budget townhalls. There's actually some straight talk in it, but no calls for radical change. Read more

An 88 percent hike in tollway fares opens up the inevitable frustration. If these sorts of fares rose with inflation like most other things we pay for, politicians could rest a little easier. Read more