CTA Surveys Customers ... Badly

Mike Doyle, 07.03.2009

Scribe of chicagocarless.com

Maybe CTA President Richard Rodriguez should spend less time driving to work and more time attending to the system that 1.5 million riders a day depend on to get around Chicago.

Suspensions in Chicago Schools Target Black Boys Most Often

Lorraine Forte, 07.01.2009

Deputy Editor of Catalyst Chicago

When punishment for one group of students is so clearly out of proportion to their enrollment, something's undoubtedly amiss.

Chicago River: From Open Sewer to Crown Jewel?

Henry Henderson, 07.02.2009

Natural Resources Defense Council

While the city and residents have embraced the river, the governmental agency responsible for the waterway continues to turn its back to the river and consider it an open sewer.

Pat Quinn, Lawmakers Agree on a Key Number in Illinois Doomsday Budget Slugfest

David Ormsby, 07.01.2009

Public Relations Strategist and Political Consultant

Gov. Quinn vetoed the only budget plan on the table. But that does not lessen the confusion, much of which the governor has bred.

Chicagoan Isai Madriz Riding the Rails in Argentina

Esther J. Cepeda, 07.03.2009

Esther J. Cepeda is an opinion journalist and expert on the issues of U.S. Hispanics/Latinos. She writes about that and much, much more on www.600words.com

It's been 22 months since Isai mounted his rickety bicycle to pedal from the suburbs of Chicago to Argentina and back up to Venezuela to raise money for low-income students to go to college.

Thank You Mark Kirk For a Gutsy Vote

Jimmy Seidita, 06.30.2009

Jimmy Seidita blogs about environmental issues in the Chicago region.

Kirk was the only Republican from the Midwest to vote for the climate bill. Pleased and a little surprised, I looked at his Facebook and got an eyeful of the crapstorm that has been unleashed upon him.

Health Care Rationing? The US Has Been Rationing Care for Years

Sarah Lovinger, 07.03.2009

Physician and Executive Director, Chicago chapter of Physicians for Social Responsibility

I am not sure in which alternate reality these Conservative nay-sayers live, but as a primary care doctor working with uninsured patients, I can assure you that health care has been rationed in the US for years.

Help! I'm Being Nibbled to Death by Ducks

Dan Rosenthal, 06.29.2009

Our esteemed legislators in Springfield are getting their ducks in a row this week and when they're done, we'll be in for a nibbling like we never imagined.

Now is the Time for Quinn to Lead

Rep. Jack Franks, 06.26.2009

Illinois finds itself on the brink of a man-made disaster and the same managers who drove our state into this fiscal catastrophe continue to control the levers of power. Bullying the legislature into huge tax increases will not work. Governor, stop obfuscating, get prepared and lead.

$100,000 and Springfield Dropped the Ball

Scott Foval, 06.26.2009

Writer, Consultant, and Media Producer

Cuts are coming, a train wreck is about to hit, and our state officials took a two-day trip to Springfield just to sit there and do nothing.

Exclusive Excerpt: This Is Your Country On Drugs

Ryan Grim, 06.29.2009

When approached in isolation, drug policy almost always backfires, because it doesn't take into account the powerful economic, social, and cultural forces that also determine how and why Americans get high.

This Week in Magazines: The Bull (Moose) in the Obama China Shop

James Warren, 06.28.2009

Former managing editor and Washington bureau chief of the Chicago Tribune

Sheila Bair is a Bull Moose in the China shop of the Obama administration's economic team.