Curious City

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**Curious City**

Ask questions, vote and discover answers about Chicago, the region and its people. From WBEZ.

Latest Episodes:

When Church Meets State: Picking Apart Prayer in Aurora’s City Council Dec 04, 2016

Show notes

Aurora leads council meetings with prayer, and it sometimes raises eyebrows. But would a judge ever smack it down?

City Beautiful? Why Some Chicago Neighborhoods Have Viaduct Art and Others Don't Nov 27, 2016

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Murals beautify some viaducts, while others are left bare and dirty. Why the disparity?

Tips For Hunting Chicago’s Long-lost Recipes Nov 20, 2016

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The city's top recipe sleuths share their secrets as we recreate a divine, but elusive, fried chicken dish.

The Swinging Times of Chicago's Revolving Doors Nov 11, 2016

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Tempted to ignore the revolving door? Here are the revolutions that made the city a magnet for this seemingly simple device.

Do Lotto Dollars Really Fund Education? Nov 06, 2016

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Schools are really crimped for cash. Hold up, wasn’t the lottery supposed to help with that?

Second City: The Origins of Chicago’s One-way Rivalry with New York Oct 30, 2016

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There was a time Chicago gave New York a run for its money. How did we end up the Second City?

Fighting For Scraps: What It Would Take For Chicago To Get Citywide Composting Oct 23, 2016

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Minneapolis and San Fran do it. Even Oak Park’s got a program. What gives? Photos of how municipal composting works in Oak park, interviews and the prospects for change in Chicago.

From Rust to Repurposed: A Second Life for Chicago’s Abandoned Bikes Oct 16, 2016

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That sorry-looking bike on the curb could end up in the hands of a local kid or even a family overseas. Full story with additional interviews and photos: http://wbez.is/2dgqDAf

Daley vs. Little Italy: Did the Mayor Drop UIC on the Neighborhood Out of Spite? Oct 09, 2016

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Why did Richard J. Daley push for the UIC campus to rise from the heart of a long-standing ethnic neighborhood? In this special Curious City presentation, reporter Monica Eng examines the pervasive suspicion that the mayor’s choice rose from a political spat or — even worse — from disdain for the Italian-American community. Click here for the full story.

From Rails to Trails: The Economic Impact of Chicago’s Repurposed Railways Oct 02, 2016

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As The 606 stokes fears of economic displacement, the city wants to repurpose more rail lines. What's the state of research on this?