Extra!

A tax lawyer bought the White Sox for about $20 million in 1981. Forty-five years later the worst team in modern baseball is in the playoffs, the owner-in-waiting wants 80 acres of riverfront, and the public still owns the old ballpark. Part One is the man. Part Two is the land.

30 September 2026

Why would anybody pay $130 to wear another man’s name on his back?

You would never wear a stranger’s name on a sweater. On Sunday half the city does it on purpose, pays full price, and the stranger gets a check.

30 September 2026

Chicago sold its parking meters again, 46 to 3, and drivers pay until 2084

The council sold the curb a second time. The city got a check, a slice of whatever is left after the debt, and a promise to be asked next time. Abu Dhabi got out.

16 September 2026

Why the truck, the train and the gallon showed up in your grocery receipt

Everybody is watching the stock. Nobody is watching the tank.

14 September 2026

Chicago cut its arts budget 15 percent, the only big American city that cut at all

The farm system is dying. The money is uneven. That is the whole column. Everything else is the receipt.

12 September 2026

Chicago’s pension funds hold 28 cents for every dollar they owe, the worst of any big American city

About fifty billion owed to retired cops, firefighters, laborers and clerks. About fourteen billion on hand.