Stories by Michael Lipkin

Former Chicago Reader sports columnist Ted Cox shares some of his favorite stories from 25 years of covering Chicago sports. 

A month after the federal government's sequestration cuts, economists still disagree on their impact. Will 750,000 jobs be lost or 300,000? University of Chicago professors Austan Goolsbee and Steven Kaplan join us.

Cubs Chairman Tom Ricketts set April 1 as a deadline for working out a deal on Wrigley Field negotiations. We hear from rooftop owners and Lakeview residents on what could be holding up a deal.

WBEZ reporter Rob Wildeboer has been trying to interview Gov. Pat Quinn for months on conditions in Illinois prisons -- unsuccessfully.

More than 50 Chicago Public Schools are on CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett's final closure list. We have reaction.

An excerpt from Captive Audience by Susan Crawford.

How fast is your internet service and how much do you pay for it? Law professor Susan Crawford says that in the United States it's too slow and too much. She joins us.

President Obama's State of the Union called for universal preschool. Nobel Prize-winning professor James Heckman shares his research on the benefit of preschool decades after graduation.

An excerpt from Wool by Hugh Howey.

Author Hugh Howey got a writer's dream: multiple publishers offering him million-dollar deals to publish his work. Then he did something most authors wouldn't even consider -- he turned them all down. Howey joins us.  

We continue our conversation with "Wool" author Hugh Howey, including how he would reform the publishing industry.

Billions of dollars in federal spending cuts loom if Congress does not reverse course by next week.  We have more on how the so called sequestration could be felt here at home.

Excerpt of "Naked Statistics" by Charlie Wheelan

Dartmouth economics professor Charlie Wheelan joins us with a refresher on Stat 101.

State Sen. Kimberly Lightford, D-Maywood, wants to lower the mandatory school age in Illinois from 7 to 5. 

As Pope Benedict XVI prepares for his last weeks in office, we speak with Father Don Senior about what it's like to live in Vatican City. 

We tell you about an organization that helps low-income residents prepare their tax returns for free.

The alleged shooters of Hadiya Pendleton failed to press charges from an earlier shooting, preferring retaliation instead, according to police. We speak with CureViolence's Ameena Matthews and executive director of the mayor's Office of Public Engagement Felicia Davis on gang culture. 

Chicago Police Superintendent Garry McCarthy is here to talk about why the city saw its deadliest January in a decade -- and what he's doing to curb the violence.

Chicago ends its deadliest January in a decade as hundreds more police are deployed to the streets. Elizabeth Brackett and her panel discuss the city's crime rate.

The Smart Chicago Collaborative wants Chicagoans across the city to test the latest civic app and websites. 

Illinois yanks its bonds off the market after a downgrade in its credit rating last week. We find out how this will affect finances for the worst-rated state in the nation.

Chicago Teachers' Pension Fund executive director Kevin Huber joins us with the dire state of his fund.

A new site aims to tell riders how their CTA ride got delayed.

A technology park in the middle of the city -- University of Illinois announces a new research lab modeled on Bell Labs. Vice president of research Larry Schook joins us.

Open City's latest site makes Chicago's zoning code "digestible by humans."