Play CTA Conductor on 'Railfan,' and Other Train Marginalia

By Whet Moser

There is a game that allows you to play a CTA conductor, fulfilling a dream I barely knew I had (though they chose the Brown Line, which is less than optimal). Plus: the history of Chicago's Belt Railway and a trip through the North Shore in the 1920s. Read more

Report on Illinois's Budget Crisis: You Spend Too Much, You Don't Spend Enough

By Whet Moser

A report on our state's finances from the bureaucratic dream team of Richard Ravitch and Paul Volker is a lengthy yet concise description of its many problems, but doesn't provide many ideas for addressing them. Read more

The Rise of Baseball Ticket Prices and a Modest Proposal to Save American Soccer

By Whet Moser

Cubs' ticket prices have gone up 265 percent in two decades; the White Sox have had one of the largest price increases in the past few years, to the extent that they can't fill a stadium with a competitive team. Tax subsides are in part to blame, but there's a better way. Read more

Illinois Taxes: The High, the Low, and the Unequal

By Whet Moser

Illinois has a rep as a high tax state, and by some measures it's true—a high nominal corporate income tax rate to go along with high property and sales taxes. Our income tax is low, but it's not low for everyone. Read more

How the AMA Scared Us Away From 'Socialized Medicine' and Prepared Us For Obamacare

By Whet Moser

In the 1950s, the American Medical Association—with the help of the first political PR firm—launched a full-on assault against Harry Truman's national health care plan, connecting it (and all sorts of other subsidies) to the specter of socialism. But it backed an approach not unlike the ACA. Read more

Why Congestion Pricing Works, and Why People Don't Like It

By Whet Moser

CMAP is pushing for variable congestion pricing for express lanes on Chicago interstates. Turning your commute into arbitrage is rarely popular, but it has to be at least a bit unpopular to work—otherwise, it's hard to keep people off the roads. Read more

Barbara Byrd-Bennett Replaces Jean-Claude Brizard as Head of Chicago Public Schools

By Whet Moser

After 17 tumultuous months running CPS, the current head announced his surprising—or not—departure yesterday. His replacement, a veteran of the Cleveland, Detroit, and New York public schools, has experience in the political tensions of a Midwestern big-city school district. Read more

School Testing and the Burden of Childhood Lead Exposure

By Whet Moser

Studies of Massachusetts and Milwaukee school kids suggest that one straightforward way to improve school performance, even on standardized tests alone, is to reduce lead exposure. Read more

Why They Ran: Three Stories from the 2012 Chicago Marathon

By Chris Silva

A 72-year-old on his 35th marathon, a novice wheelchair racer, and a young man with an epiphany Read more

Rahm Emanuel, Trade-Union Racism, and the Burden of History

By Whet Moser

In response to a South Side labor protest, the mayor off-handedly mentioned the history of racial segregation in the "building trades." It's a long and ugly one, and even though private-sector unions have worked for years to undo the damage, we're still living with it. Read more

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