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Tag: Politics & City Life
Testing, Graduation, and the Numbers Behind Charter Schools in Chicago
By Whet Moser
Far from the heated rhetoric of the charters-versus-public schools debate, a 2009 paper looking at a decade of charter schools in Chicago suggests that they don't necessarily improve test scores all that much, but that charter high schools are good at sending kids to college, in ways traditional schools might learn from. Read more
Karen Lewis, Street Fighter
By Ben Goldberger
Obstreperous, loud, and unscripted, the Chicago Teachers Union president led the city's public school teachers to strike against Rahm Emanuel’s reform agenda—and became a national figure overnight. Who is this person? Read more
Economic Indicators to Watch Out For
By Whet Moser
The effect of incarceration on unemployment rates; regular folks are more confident about the future than CEOs, perhaps because they don't have to sell stuff to Europeans; more news from the low-wage recovery; and more Read more
Betty Caywood and Mary Shane: Baseball's First Female Announcers
By Whet Moser
Baseball's first female announcer was a Chicago weather anchor hired away by the infamous Charlie Finley to do color for his terrible Athletics team. It was a stunt, but Mary Shane, the White Sox announcer who followed her, brought a deep love of the game to her brief stint in the booth. Read more
The Chicago Tylenol Murders: An Oral History
By David Zivan
TERROR IN A PILL: In 1982, seven Chicago-area residents were killed after taking cyanide-laced Tylenol capsules. Three decades later, in exclusives interview, the principal players in that drama relive what some consider the first act of domestic terrorism. Read more