From Marketplace
April 2015
This store sold $5 M in lottery tickets last year
Lucky Mart barely sells anything else.
Big Coal gets its day in court against the EPA
A federal court in Washington hears a challenge to the EPA’s Clean Power Plan.
Can YouTube get us to pay for ad-free cat videos?
YouTube auteur/entrepreneur Hank Green says there’s content well worth paying for.
How billiards created the modern world
Early promoters needed a substitute for ivory billiard balls. Result? Plastics.
March 2015
The city paid more than half a billion dollars over 10 years, and it’s not alone.
February 2015
Mayor Rahm Emanuel raised more than four times as much as all of his opponents, combined.
- Rising seas threaten south Florida’s drinking water
- Miami is a poster child for climate risk– but the threat to the region’s drinking water has been under-examined.
- Miami condo buyers aren’t homeowners. They’re traders
- The distinction explains why development can remain so frantic, despite well-known climate risks: The condos aren’t housing units– they’re apartment-shaped financial instruments.
- The market doesn’t charge for Miami’s climate risk
Bond-rating agencies and others don’t look more than a few years into the future.
January 2015
- Fracking makes sand a $10 B industry
We followed the sand and the money, from the mine to the wellhead– with a stop at Wall Street. - Sand turns a rural county upside-down
A tour of Trempealeau County, Wisconsin– from the mining sites to the kitchen table of a family struggling with the health risks. - Frac sand companies get creative with local politics
To get a permit, one company offered $1.5 million to a “city” with fewer than 1,400 residents. - States play catch-up with sand mining
Wisconsin’s outdated rules lack teeth to regulate a multi-billion dollar industry.
December 2014
November 2014
October 2014
This explainer lays out many surprises: Corn– our biggest crop– isn’t a foodstuff (at least for humans). And if we grew vegetables instead, world hunger could be solved in a snap.
The business of commemorative months, explained!
September 2014
August 2014
July 2014
A ride-along with one of the workers who makes bike-sharing work.
June 2014
May 2014
April 2014
March 2014
February 2014
January 2014
… because every story is really about “how does this affect me?”
November 2013
October 2013
… and AUDIO stories from other fine venues
Chicago’s river isn’t a river
It’s a brilliantly-engineered part of the sewer system.
From 99 Percent Invisible, with the remarkable Roman Mar
Is salt mined under Chicago?
From WBEZ’s “Curious City.”
Why you can’t help paying four bucks for a latte
A neuro-economist explains.
From WBEZ’s “Venture”
Could I build a robot to go to meetings?
I’d free up time, and get rich selling them.
For WBEZ’s “Venture”
Chicago’s segregation, seen via time-lapse on the CTA Red Line
From WBEZ’s “Race Out Loud.”
The MCC: Chicago’s Jailhouse Skyscraper
From 99 Percent Invisible, with the remarkable Roman Mars
During foreclosure crisis, maintenance companies cleaned up
But: One specialist on Chicago’s South Side lost a big client. Here’s why.
From WBEZ’s “Venture.”
What happened to Chicago’s old-school donut shops?
No, Dunkin didn’t kill them.
Also answered: Where’s the city’s best donut shop now?
From WBEZ’s “Curious City.”
The Mirage: A fake tavern that exposed real corruption (ten bucks at a time)
For “Venture” on WBEZ
January, 2012
As Seen in Print:
When death comes to work
They aren’t listed in obituaries, but co-workers and even more distant associates can be left bereft by the sudden death of a colleague.
From Crain’s Chicago Business.
Just don’t do it!
A profile of the Pink Nun, a post-modern, sex-positive, MFA-toting advocate for chastity.
CHA’s commuter kids
As Chicago’s public housing tumbled, hundreds of displaced students returned to their old neighborhoods for school every day.
Dan Weissmann 