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Rahm Emanuel’s abrupt departure as White House Chief of Staff to run for mayor of Chicago is no surprise  now that Richard M. Daley has announced his retirement after 21 years in office.  The mercurial Emanuel, who left his Congressional seat and House leadership position to take the White House job, was replaced by the […]

Todd Henderson is a University of Chicago law professor; his wife is a physician at the prestigious university’s hospital.  Although the family earns more than $250,000 a year, lives in a pricey house in the upscale Kenwood neighborhood, employs a nanny and sends their children to private schools, Henderson is upset with President Barack Obama’s […]

Real estate professionals who had been expecting a worst-case scenario – an onrush of distressed commercial properties coming onto the market – are still waiting for that to come to fruition.  Ben Johnson, writing in the National Real Estate Investor, notes that “Keep on waiting/lurking seems to be the prevailing view.  According to New York-based […]

Although construction in the United States has been slow since the financial meltdown of 2008, there is one niche segment that is thriving – green construction.  According to McGraw-Hill Construction, green buildings now comprise one-third of all new construction, an increase of two percent over 2005, a surprise in an industry that is historically slow […]

As the nation’s roads, railways and sewers crumble, President Barack Obama’s proposal to create a $50 billion infrastructure bank is one way to build on the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act (ARRA).  According to Margaret Donahoe, Executive Director of the Minnesota Transportation Alliance, “A new multi-year transportation authorization act is almost one year overdue and […]

It’s not your imagination.  Chicago’s weather is getting warmer and climate scientists, botanists and zoologists have collected evidence that show real-time changes in seasonal timing and weather patterns that are altering the region’s ecosystems.   Writing in the Chicago Tribune, reporter William Mullen says “This is what experts say we should expect in the future:  Shorter, […]

Global banking regulators have agreed to implement new rules that will make the international banking industry safer and avoid future financial meltdowns. Known as Basel III — after the Swiss city in which the agreement was worked out — the new requirements will more than triple the amount of capital that banks must have in […]

The alternative investment management business will undergo major changes, thanks to passage of the Dodd-Frank Wall Street Reform and Consumer Protection Act.  Although no specific rules have yet been written, the Wall Street reform law could impact investment returns, leverage and risk-taking, innovation and transparency of private equity, real estate and hedge fund managers. “This […]

America’s states are under water in more ways than one.  This writer got a close-up view of how our aging infrastructure is being taxed by the elements.  A summer storm that brought as much as eight inches of rain in just two hours in the wee hours of Saturday, July 24 wreaked havoc in Chicago’s […]

David Owen, a staff writer with The New Yorker, has expanded on his 2004 article entitled “Green Manhattan” that roughs up some of the environmental movement’s most closely held beliefs in a new book entitled Green Metropolis.  A review by Catherine Tumber, originally published in The Wilson Quarterly, notes that “Eco-friendly suburbanites and small-town residents […]