Chicagoland: Bleader, Chicago Reader

My bedbug encounter

Kate Schmidt — Wed, 01 Feb 2012 08:00:00 -0600

Two summers ago I was sitting on my couch one weekend morning, reading. I'd noticed that I was itching a bit, but didn't think much of it until my hippie-chick upstairs neighbor came down and knocked on my back door.…

Good old Joe

Kate Schmidt — Tue, 24 Jan 2012 08:00:00 -0600

The first lesson I learned about Chicago politics after moving here in 2000: a prerequisite for running for office is to be able to go gloveless while shaking hands at an el stop in the bitter cold of winter. Never having lived in a place with aldermen before and curious about the whole thing, I'd volunteered for Joe Moore up in the 49th Ward and was freezing my ass off at the Morse Red Line stop, handing out leaflets in ridiculous fishnet stockings and a faux leather coat.…

In this week's Reader: Our fifth annual Photo Issue

Tal Rosenberg — Thu, 05 Jan 2012 09:00:00 -0600

This week we present our photo issue. For our fifth edition, we've selected money as the theme (not like it's a big topic of discussion these days or anything).…

Tortas Frontera: the only place to eat at O'Hare

Mike Sula — Wed, 28 Dec 2011 08:00:00 -0600

If you took a quick gander at the sheeple herded in front of McDonald's in O'Hare's Terminal One, you couldn't guess Rick Bayless was doing God's work right next door. I showed up for a flight early last week, expecting Xoco-length lines at Tortas Frontera, his first quick-serve sandwich joint in the airport (the second recently opened in Terminal Three), but I breezed in and bellied up to the small bar in the rear for a couple tortas and some preflight medicative margaritas.…

Testament in Rogers Park

Kate Schmidt — Thu, 22 Dec 2011 08:07:22 -0600

Last Friday night while running a few errands, I was surprised to find carolers standing in front of Morse "L" Liquors, a corner right by the el stop where you're far more likely to encounter panhandlers or crazy people. "Would you like some hot chocolate?" a young man asked, pointing to a large orange thermos.…

Shameless Joe

Kate Schmidt — Fri, 16 Dec 2011 16:30:00 -0600

I find it kind of funny that the Bleader’s Gift Week should coincide with what might be called Money Week—but aren't those two almost always connected?

Not in the view of Cook County assessor and Cook County Democrats chair Joe Berrios. As the Sun-Times’s Lisa Donovan reported today, the Cook County ethics board has dropped an investigation into thousands of dollars Berrios “accepted from attorneys whose bread and butter is representing clients seeking lower tax bills.” Of this, Berrios said, “I think what’s ridiculous about this whole thing is no one is going to be influenced by someone who gives you a check to run for office.”

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In Cook County, one in six is "food insecure"

Deanna Isaacs — Wed, 23 Nov 2011 17:00:00 -0600

Here's a statistic Mayor Emanuel probably won't cite when he's promoting Chicago: according to his announcement today of a "One City, One Food Drive" campaign, "one in six Cook County residents is food insecure, or uncertain of where their next meal will come from."

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Why I love my hood

Kate Schmidt — Wed, 16 Nov 2011 16:25:00 -0600

I got home on Monday night to find a voice mail from my landlord, Rudy (he’s of eastern European descent). “Kate, I don’t have your rent check, and I’m worried I lost it—you’re always early.…

Rogers Park food & drink events: typically quirky

Kate Schmidt — Fri, 11 Nov 2011 13:53:00 -0600

I've lived in Rogers Park since moving here more than a decade ago. And I have to say, despite the Cheetos plague, the theft of both a bike and a beater car, and the hideous street art (one result of the ward's participatory budgeting effort), I love the place.…

Chicago Urban Art Society is making a quick move

Deanna Isaacs — Thu, 10 Nov 2011 17:12:03 -0600

The Chicago Urban Art Society is getting pushed out of its spacious quarters at 2229 S. Halsted Street, where, as we noted, it was the pioneering tenant just 18 months ago. Immediately after the Handmade Holidays Craft Fair this Saturday, CUAS (site of the Reader's recent 40th anniversary bash) will relocate to 600 W. Cermak, in the riverside industrial corridor now being reinvented as the Spice Barrel District.…

Occupy Chicago: talking TIFs to the people

Ben Joravsky — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 18:00:00 -0600

The other day I get a call from Jon Kurinsky with Occupy Chicago—wants to know if I'd be willing to lead a teach-in on tax increment financing.

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Joravsky at Occupy Chicago

Tal Rosenberg — Mon, 07 Nov 2011 10:30:00 -0600

This past weekend, Reader staff writer Ben Joravsky spoke at Occupy Chicago about TIFs and their reverberating effects throughout the city. Below the jump, see a video with footage of Ben's talk, followed by a short on-camera interview.…

Ben on Rahm on Fox Chicago Sunday

Jerome Ludwig — Mon, 31 Oct 2011 11:00:00 -0500

Reader political writer Ben Joravsky appeared on Fox Chicago Sunday to talk about his and Mick Dumke's recent story "The Mayor's Millionaire Club."

Per myfoxchicago.com:

"Chicago - In politics, it's all about access: who has it, who doesn't, and what you have to do to get it.

"That makes this week’s cover story in the Chicago Reader so fascinating.…

Chicago is the third best city for trick-or-treating

Jerome Ludwig — Thu, 27 Oct 2011 11:00:00 -0500

That's according to Richard Florida, writing at theatlanticcities.com.

The 2011 edition of the Trick-or-Treater Index "is based on the following five metrics: the share of children aged 5 to 14; median household income (figuring the haul will be better in more affluent metros), population density, walkability (measured as the percentage of people who walk or bike to work) and creative spirit (which we measured as the percentage of artists, designers, and other cultural creatives)."

I get share of children, household income, population density, and walkability as relevant metrics, but creative spirit?…

Occupy this sleeping bag

Andrea Bauer — Mon, 24 Oct 2011 13:00:00 -0500

Saturday, October 15, marked a day of global protest against the empowerment of big banks and corporations at the expense of the people. In Chicago, an estimated 5,000 protesters took to the streets and marched from LaSalle and Jackson to Michigan and Congress.…

Thomas Friedman puts on Rahm-colored glasses

Mark Bergen — Mon, 17 Oct 2011 12:15:00 -0500

Is this a trend? The big guys from out east sweep through town, swoon with our mayors, then proceed to gloss over nearly every reality in the city.…

A move to take back TIFs

Mark Bergen — Wed, 12 Oct 2011 16:50:00 -0500

As protesters gathered at the Daley Plaza this afternoon, someone with a megaphone began the familiar call-and-response: "What do we want?"

"What do we want today?" a young organizer near the front replied quietly.…

Occupy LaSalle Street

Mark Bergen — Fri, 30 Sep 2011 15:01:55 -0500

In lower Manhattan the Occupy Wall Street protests have been growing with tremendous speed, adding leftist luminaries, elected officials, and hundreds of others to its ranks.

Here, the Occupy Chicago protests have persevered with the same message and energy—but not the same numbers.…

The Tylenol Mafia

Joy Bergmann — Mon, 26 Sep 2011 13:30:00 -0500

[Joy Bergmann wrote a November 2000 Reader story called "A Bitter Pill," about the unsolved Tylenol murders. Here's a follow-up.]

No one has ever been charged as the perpetrator of the 1982 Tylenol murders in which seven Chicago-area residents died after consuming cyanide-laced Extra Strength Tylenol capsules.…

A leaner, yuppier Walmart arrives downtown

Mark Bergen — Wed, 21 Sep 2011 15:17:37 -0500

From a few blocks away, they looked like protestors. I saw the tall signs and expected the normal jeering crowds that have trailed Walmart and its myriad of labor abuse allegations everywhere the behemoth chain goes.…

I heard it on the train

Sam Worley — Thu, 18 Aug 2011 11:04:07 -0500

. on last night's commute.…

Rich families, poor neighborhoods

Sam Worley — Wed, 10 Aug 2011 15:07:28 -0500

Affluent black and Latino families are more likely to live in poor neighborhoods than are affluent whites, according to a new Brown University study that Megan Cottrell reported on earlier this week:

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You could own this golfing Richard M. Daley cutout

Miles Raymer — Tue, 09 Aug 2011 12:58:38 -0500

You may know Ray Noland's work through his iconic Jogging Blagojevich paintings stenciled on walls all over town, or by his illustrations for a number of Reader stories, most recently the big one on racial disparities in marijuana-law enforcement in the city. If you were at the Pitchfork Music Festival this year, you may also know it from the ten stenciled cutouts of political figures (and Gil Scott-Heron) installed throughout the festival grounds.…

In defense of suburbs

Steve Bogira — Tue, 26 Jul 2011 14:39:32 -0500

Should a city native still feel guilty about moving to the suburbs? Nicholas Lemann thinks not.…

Pot busts of the week

Lauri Apple — Fri, 08 Jul 2011 14:13:30 -0500

Mick Dumke usually does these posts, but he reached his marijuana news quota a few days ago, so I'm taking over this week. Let's find out how America's limitless tax dollars are being used!

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