The Early Results From Chicago's School Closings Are Mixed

By Whet Moser

When Chicago closed 47 schools, it directed kids towards better-performing "welcoming schools"—some with considerably higher ratings, some slightly better. Not all parents took them up on the offer, for a variety of reasons. Read more

How U.S. Attorney Zach Fardon Is Fighting Spoofing

By Noah Isackson

The U.S. attorney for the Northern District of Illinois is cracking down on crimes against investors Read more

Not All the Chicago Crime News Last Year Was Bad

By Whet Moser

The city has found success in reducing violent crime with recent initiatives, which have influenced national ones—and new ones are on the horizon. Read more

Will the ‘Baggy Pants’ Judge Get Retained? Almost Certainly

By Whet Moser

A Cook County judge sent eight men to jail for wearing their pants too low in her courtroom. It's not the first time her temperament has raised eyebrows, but worse behavior hasn't led to consequences from voters. Read more

The Trouble with Robbins

By Bryan Smith

Inept police, backroom deals, rampant blight: how the Chicago area’s most historic black town was laid low—and why it’s so hard to fix Read more

Why Scheduling the Ferguson Grand Jury Announcement for Prime Time Was a Bad Idea

By Whet Moser

The verdict on Darren Wilson was given to the public at 8 p.m, for reasons good or ill. Unfortunately, 8 p.m. is also when riots tend to ramp up to their worst. Read more

How the Chicago Tylenol Poisonings Almost Destroyed Halloween

By Whet Moser

When a still-uncaught perp killed seven Chicagoans with cyanide-laced Tylenol in 1982, Halloween was nearly fear-mongered out of existence. Read more

Want to Help Gary, Indiana? Why Not Just Give Them Money?

By Whet Moser

In the 1970s, an experiment with a negative income tax in the Indiana city led to positive outcomes. It's a policy that's seen renewed interest during the Great Recession. Read more

Q&A: Laurence Ralph on Injury and Resilience in Gangland Chicago

By Whet Moser

The Harvard anthropologist talks about his new book 'Renegade Dreams,' the work of three years observing a West Side Chicago neighborhood. Read more

Plenario, a Powerful City-Data Tool, Debuts

By Whet Moser

Chicago's open-data community takes another step forward with a site that makes working with that data easier, faster, and more comprehensible. Read more

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