30 years ago today, Bart Simpson got the “dud” while playing a game of Mystery Date with Milhouse and his parents. #TheSimpsons episode “Summer of 4 Ft. 2” first aired May 19, 1996.

My ride when I go to Lincoln Yards by Sterling Bay

Federal prosectors to post their Ls.

Tom Cruise has initiated Ghost Protocol

RIP to my favorite dive bar beer, a true legend, the beer that made Milwaukee famous. This is a genuine bummer. www.jsonline.com/story/money/...

Every game at the new Fire stadium

Alamo was threatening for years to put people in prison for using their cell phones but the sweet promise of slashing payroll was too good to ignore. Imo they're going to sell less food & drink because using a phone in a theater is a contrary, unpleasant and antisocial sensation

What's the point of public transit if it's used to gouge people

I wrote in the past about the ISP public integrity task force, which did not show much evidence of holding suburban departments accountable for shootings over the years. projects.bettergov.org/taking-cover...

Pierre Bourdieu once argued that the question of whether something is art isn't answered by the artist's intention or even the object itself. Instead, the quality of being "art" is conferred by a community — curators, dealers, auction houses, audiences, etc. 🧵

Somehow Palpatine returned

3005 West Carroll Avenue

I was doing research years ago and found an incident where an NIU graduate developed psychotic hallucinations. Got paranoid, found Alex Jones, which fed his disease. One day he killed a family member and shot his mom before cops killed him. The Onion taking over Infowars is a W for humanity

This makes me physically ill. What an absolute waste.

Route 66: Photos from the ‘Main Street of America’

Rayman lives here 🙌

Montreal Vessel (free & fun) > NYC Vessel (expensive & sad)

Of all the problems the City of Chicago faces, summer camp registration feels like the easiest to fix

“I have a responsibility… not to put garbage in the world. … If you start trying to figure out what it is that people want, you are doing what AI does. The idea of AI precedes AI itself…. It’s why they remake the same five movies every 10 years. It’s why they have a formula for what a movie is.”

Reading Sam Smith's "The Jordan Rules" and it's great. Almost all celebrity content including sports now feels like Brand Management and this is not. Feels like I'm reading about actual human beings

Visited Centralia in Southern Illinois earlier this week and stopped by the miner's memorial in Wamac that recognizes the 111 miners who died in the 1947 explosion. Woody Guthrie wrote three songs about them

Officials have released footage showing the fatal shooting of Krystal Rivera following months of work covering the case by Peter Nickeas, @ctoner.bsky.social and our friends in @cstguild.bsky.social. Another example of invaluable work made by our members.

Saints are imperfect vessels of God

"I was lost and confused. I was in denial that I even fired my gun,” he told investigators, according to recordings of interviews obtained by the Illinois Answers Project and Chicago Sun-Times. illinoisanswers.org/2026/04/17/o...

'I did nothing wrong. And the whole world is making me seem like a monster': Our story about the bodycam footage from the Carlos Baker Krystal Rivera police shooting and the ensuing investigation illinoisanswers.org/2026/04/17/o...

Chicago police officer Carlos Baker shot and killed his partner, Officer Krystal Rivera, in 2025. We partnered with the Chicago Sun-Times to fight CPD in court and get the body camera footage of both officers released. Read: https://bit.ly/4tTljEI

illinoisanswers.org/2026/04/17/o... Our latest on the Carlos Baker Krystal Rivera shooting following the release of body cam footage that @illinoisanswers.bsky.social and @chicago.suntimes.com fought in court to release

South suburban Pope 💪

[dusts off this old thing]

chicago.suntimes.com/the-watchdog... Chicago police didn't interview most of the cops who were in the room when a Glock went missing. A supervisor said he thought another cop stole it. No one has been disciplined or charged in the theft of the gun, later used in shootings across the South side

Reading "The Nix" and there's a POV chapter from a World of Warcraft player with the alias "Pwnage." How come no one told me about this

I love how US Grant contrasts himself in a "rough traveling suit, the uniform of a private with the strap of a lieutenant-general" with Lee, "a man so handsomely well dressed, six feet high and of faultless form" while Lee surrenders his army to him.

I hate that contract negotiations are not going better, but this is where we are. Today my colleagues and I @propublica.org are walking out. We need management to come to the table with more serious contract proposals that address our real concerns about discipline, job protections and fair wages.

We’re on strike today! Support our fight for a fair contract by NOT visiting the @propublica.org website or engaging with ProPublica stories today. Tell ProPublica’s management you won’t cross the picket line: actionnetwork.org/petitions/te...

"Protective Parking Service" (Lincoln Towing) tow truck driver driving like a total jagoff on Ashland. Using the turn lane to get out of traffic to blow through red lights.

www.chicagotribune.com/2026/04/03/p... When you've walked the streets of Riverdale & Harvey, you possess the strength other popes could only dream of

illinoisanswers.org/2026/04/03/p... My story about the Trump administration suing Illinois over the state's attempts to reign in prediction markets as "illegal gambling"

Incredible reporting ⬇️

🚨 @illinoisanswers.bsky.social and @chicago.suntimes.com won a court case to release the records including body cam footage of last summer's fatal police shooting of Ofc. Krystal Rivera by her partner, Ofc. Carlos Baker.

Sadly, it looks like we tore down so much of this city since the 80s as well. The fact that 47th and Prairie looked like this in 1980....yeah.

blockclubchicago.org/2026/03/23/i... ICYMI @blockclubchi.bsky.social picked up my piece about prediction markets running wild on Illinois gambling regulators and the Polymarket CEO giving a UChicago freshman $20k to start a prediction market club on campus

All of pop culture is the Alf Pogs bit from the Simpsons. Remember X? It's back in X form

Often it doesn't work out how I'd like, but I find the act of voting profound. That we have a choice at all and we're writing this long, storied tapestry together.