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Rachel Hinton—Radical Turkeys
So many lessons to be learned from Francesca Hong’s Thanksgiving Tweet. Ben riffs. Rachel Hinton returns with the latest on the book backup at the Chicago Public Library. What does it say about Chicago that its leaders won’t adequately fund the public libraries? Also, mayor race updates. And a few words about Pope Hat night at Sox Park. Rachel is an investigative reporter at Block Club.
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Aug. 5, 2026
LeBron Makes Another Decision
Once again LeBron James made a decision as to where to take his basketball-playing talents, and once again I don't like it. Harumph! Only this time my opposition is more, I don’t know—noble? At least to me. You decide. His first decision came in …
Aug. 2, 2026
Put Up Your Dukes
One day last week, I took the train downtown to meet with a gathering of residents in an Italian restaurant on South Michigan Avenue to talk TIFs. Marj Halperin asked me to do it. Said the residents were trying to make sense of the city’s scheme to…
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Johnny's Couch
The calendar on the wall says it's 2026, and yet I keep thinking I've gone back in time to 1984. That’s cause my beloved Bulls have a rookie who reminds me of--dare I say what I'm about to say? No, I can't. Seems too soon. Scared I'll jinx that ro…
July 15, 2026
Bird Crazy
On the road west, we tangent through the mountains outside Tucson, settling in a lodge that bills itself as a sanctuary for bird watchers. As such, the place's crawling with people, quietly scanning the horizon, binoculars out. It’s my first enco…
June 29, 2026
Slouching Towards Fiction
It only took over 50 years, but I finally got around to reading Slouching Towards Bethlehem--Joan Didion's iconic essay. Not sure why I didn't read it earlier. It's a classic of New Journalism, a style of non-fiction where the writers put themselv…
June 27, 2026
Mark Singer's Warning
In 1996, a magazine writer named Mark Singer got an assignment from his boss that he didn't want to do. Hang around with Donald Trump and write a story about it. I don't blame him for not wanting to hang around with Trump or write about him. Till …
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