Chicago

[Christa Loecher]

Sports

Chicago was named the Best Sports City in the United States by The Sporting News in 1993 and 2006.[36] The city is home to two Major League Baseball teams: the Chicago Cubs of the National League play on the city's North Side, in Wrigley Field, while the Chicago White Sox of the American League play in U.S. Cellular Field on the city's South Side. Chicago is the only city in North America that has had more than one Major League Baseball franchise every year since the American League began in 1900. The Chicago Bears, one of the two remaining charter members of the NFL, have won thirteen NFL Championships. The other remaining charter franchise also started out in Chicago, the Chicago Cardinals, now the Arizona Cardinals . The Bears play their home games at Soldier Field on Chicago's lakefront.

Due in large part to Michael Jordan, the Chicago Bulls of the NBA are one of the most recognized basketball teams in the world. With Jordan leading them, the Bulls took six NBA championships in eight seasons during the 1990s (only failing to do so in the two years of Jordan's absence). The Chicago Blackhawks of the NHL, who began play in 1926 have won three Stanley Cups. The Blackhawks also hosted the 2008-2009 Winter Classic. Both the Bulls and Blackhawks play at the United Center on the Near West Side.

The Chicago Fire soccer club are members of Major League Soccer. The Fire have won one league and four US Open Cups since their inaugural season in 1998. In 2006, the club moved to its current home, Toyota Park, in suburban Bridgeview after playing its first eight seasons downtown at Soldier Field and at Cardinal Stadium in Naperville. The club is now the third professional soccer team to call Chicago home, the first two being the Chicago Sting of the NASL (and later the indoor team of the MISL); and the Chicago Power of the NPSL-AISA. The Chicago Red Stars of Women's Professional Soccer also play in Toyota Park in Bridgeview, Illinois. The Chicago Rush, of the Arena Football League, The Chicago Bandits of the NPF and the Chicago Wolves, of the AHL, also play in Chicago; they both play at the Allstate Arena. The Chicago Sky of the WNBA, began play in 2006. The Sky's home arena is the UIC Pavilion. The Chicago Slaughter of the CIFL began in 2006 and play at the Sears Centre. The Chicago Storm began play in 2004 in the MISL until 2007 when they moved to the XSL. The Chicago Storm also play at the Sears Centre.

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The Chicago Machine, a Major League Lacrosse team, has been playing since 2006. Their home field is Toyota Park, but they are playing their 2009 season opener and closer at Soldier Field.[37]

The Chicago Marathon has been held every October since 1977. This event is one of five World Marathon Majors.[38]

In 1994 the United States hosted a successful FIFA World Cup with games played at Soldier Field.

Chicago was selected on April 14, 2007 to represent the United States internationally in the bidding for the 2016 Summer Olympics.[39][40] Chicago also hosted the 1959 Pan American Games, and Gay Games VII in 2006. Chicago was selected to host the 1904 Olympics, but they were transferred to St. Louis to coincide with the World's Fair.[41] On June 4, 2008 The International Olympic Committee selected Chicago as one of four candidate cities for the 2016 games.

Chicago is also the starting point for the Chicago Yacht Club Race to Mackinac, a 330-mile (530 km) offshore sailboat race held each July that is the longest annual freshwater sailboat race in the world. 2008 marks the 100th running of the "Mac."

At the collegiate level, Chicago and its suburb, Evanston, have two national athletic conferences, the Big East Conference with DePaul University, and the Big Ten Conference with Northwestern University in Evanston.

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Wrigley Field

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Soldier Field

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United Center

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Media

The Chicago metropolitan area is the third-largest media market in North America (after New York City and Los Angeles).[42] Each of the big four (CBS, ABC, NBC, and FOX) United States television networks directly owns and operates a station in Chicago (WBBM, WLS, WMAQ, and WFLD, respectively). WGN-TV, which is owned by the Tribune Company, is carried (with some programming differences) as "WGN America" on cable nationwide and in parts of the Caribbean. The city is also the home of many talk shows, including The Oprah Winfrey Show (on WLS) and Jerry Springer (on WMAQ), while Chicago Public Radio produces programs such as PRI's This American Life and NPR's Wait Wait... Don't Tell Me!. PBS on TV in Chicago can be seen on WTTW (producer of shows such as Sneak Previews, The Frugal Gourmet, Lamb Chop's Play-Along, and The McLaughlin Group, just to name a few) and WYCC.

There are two major daily newspapers published in Chicago: the Chicago Tribune and the Chicago Sun-Times, with the former having the larger circulation. There are also several regional and special-interest newspapers such as the Chicago Reader, the Daily Southtown, the Chicago Defender, the Chicago Sports Weekly, the Daily Herald, StreetWise, The Chicago Free Press and the Windy City Times.

The city has pushed hard to make Chicago a filming-friendly location. After a long drought of interest from Hollywood movies, Spider-Man 2 filmed a scene in Chicago. Since then, progressively more movies have filmed in Chicago, most notably the massive blockbuster success The Dark Knight, which was a follow up to Batman Begins, which also shot in Chicago.

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Harpo Studios, headquarters of talk show host Oprah Winfrey.

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Economy

Chicago has the third largest gross metropolitan product in the nation — approximately $440 billion according to 2007 estimates.[43] The city has also been rated as having the most balanced economy in the United States, due to its high level of diversification.[44] Chicago was named the fourth most important business center in the world in the MasterCard Worldwide Centers of Commerce Index.[45] Additionally, the Chicago metropolitan area recorded the greatest number of new or expanded corporate facilities in the United States for six of the past seven years.[46] In 2008, Chicago placed 16th on the UBS list of the world's richest cities.[47]

Chicago is a major world financial center, with the second largest central business district in the U.S. The city is the headquarters of the Federal Reserve Bank of Chicago (the Seventh District of the Federal Reserve). The city is also home to three major financial and futures exchanges, including the Chicago Stock Exchange, the Chicago Board Options Exchange (CBOE), and the Chicago Mercantile Exchange (the "Merc"), which includes the former Chicago Board of Trade (CBOT). Perhaps due to the influence of the Chicago school of economics, the city also has markets trading unusual contracts such as emissions (on the Chicago Climate Exchange) and equity style indices (on the US Futures Exchange).

In addition to the exchanges, Chicago and the surrounding areas house many major brokerage firms and insurance companies, such as Allstate, Prudential, and Zurich North America. Chicago is also home to numerous headquarters and offices of many of the most recognizable names in the busienss world. The city and its surrounding metropolitan area are home to the second largest labor pool in the United States with approximately 4.25 million workers.[48]

Manufacturing, printing, publishing and food processing also play major roles in the city's economy. Several medical products and services companies are headquartered in the Chicago area, including Baxter International, Abbott Laboratories, and the Healthcare Financial Services division of General Electric. Moreover, the construction of the Illinois and Michigan Canal, which helped move goods from the Great Lakes south on the Mississippi River, and of the railroads in the 19th century made the city a major transportation center in the United States. In the 1840s, Chicago became a major grain port, and in the 1850s and 1860s Chicago's pork and beef industry expanded. As the major meat companies grew in Chicago many, such as Armour and Company, created global enterprises. Though the meatpacking industry currently plays a lesser role in the city's economy, Chicago continues to be a major transportation and distribution center.

Late in the 19th Century, Chicago was part of the bicycle craze, as home to Western Wheel Company, which introduced stamping to the production process and significantly reduced costs,[49] while early in the 20th Century, the city was part of the automobile revolution, hosting the brass era car builder Bugmobile, which was founded there in 1907.[50]

Chicago is a major world convention destination. The city's main convention center is McCormick Place. With its four interconnected buildings, it is the third largest convention center in the world. Chicago also ranks third in the U.S. (behind Las Vegas and Orlando) in number of conventions hosted annually.[51] In addition, Chicago is home to eleven Fortune 500 companies, while the metropolitan area hosts an additional 21 Fortune 500 companies.[52] The state of Illinois is home to 66 Fortune 1000 companies.[53] The city of Chicago also hosts 12 Fortune Global 500 companies and 17 Financial Times 500 companies. The city claims one Dow 30 company as well: aerospace giant Boeing, which moved its headquarters from Seattle to the Chicago Loop in 2001.

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The Chicago Board of Trade Building at night.

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Demographics

During its first century as a city, Chicago grew at a rate that ranked among the fastest growing in the world. Within the span of forty years, the city's population grew from slightly under 30,000 to over 1 million by 1890. By the close of the 19th century, Chicago was the fifth largest city in the world,[55] and the largest of the cities that did not exist at the dawn of the century. Within fifty years of the Great Chicago Fire of 1871, the population had tripled to over 3 million.[56]

As of the 2000 census, there were 2,896,016 people, 1,061,928 households, and 632,909 families residing within Chicago. More than half the population of the state of Illinois lives in the Chicago metropolitan area. The population density of the city itself was 12,750.3 people per square mile (4,923.0/km²), making it one of the nation's most densely populated cities. There were 1,152,868 housing units at an average density of 5,075.8 per square mile (1,959.8/km²). Of the 1,061,928 households, 28.9% have children under the age of 18 living with them, 35.1% were married couples living together, 18.9% had a female householder with no husband present, and 40.4% were non-families. The median income for a household in the city was $38,625, and the median income for a family was $46,748. Males had a median income of $35,907 versus $30,536 for females. Below the poverty line are 19.6% of the population and 16.6% of the families.

At the 2007 U.S. Census estimates, Chicago's population was: 38.9% White (30.9% non-Hispanic-White), 35.6% Black or African American, 0.5% American Indian and Alaska Native, 5.3% Asian, 0.1% Native Hawaiian and other Pacific Islander, 21.3% some other race and 1.6% two or more races. 28.1% of the total population were Hispanic or Latino of any race. [5].

The main ethnic groups in Chicago are African American, Irish, German, Italian, Mexican, English, Bulgarian, Greek, Chinese, Lithuanian, Polish, Serbian, Ukrainian and Puerto Rican. Poles in Chicago constitute the largest Polish population outside of the Polish capital of Warsaw[30]. The Chicago Metropolitan area is also a major center for those of Indian ancestry.

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Religion

Because of Chicago's large multi-ethnic population, a wide variety of faiths are practiced. Various Christian denominations such as diverse Orthodox, Catholic and Protestant churches are found throughout the area along with adherents of Judaism, Islam, Buddhism, Hinduism, Zoroastrianism, Sikhism, Bahá'í, and others.

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A Critical Mass gathering on the Daley Plaza, with Chicago City Hall in the background and Chicago Picasso on the right

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Law and government

Chicago is the county seat of Cook County. The government of the City of Chicago is divided into executive and legislative branches. The Mayor of Chicago is the chief executive, elected by general election for a term of four years, with no term limits. The mayor appoints commissioners and other officials who oversee the various departments. In addition to the mayor, Chicago's two other citywide elected officials are the clerk and the treasurer.

The City Council is the legislative branch and is made up of 50 aldermen, one elected from each ward in the city. The council enacts local ordinances and approves the city budget. Government priorities and activities are established in a budget ordinance usually adopted each November. The council takes official action through the passage of ordinances and resolutions.

During much of the last half of the 19th century, Chicago's politics were dominated by a growing Democratic Party organization dominated by ethnic ward-heelers. During the 1880s and 1890s, Chicago had a powerful radical tradition with large and highly organized socialist, anarchist and labor organizations.[57] For much of the 20th century, Chicago has been among the largest and most reliable Democratic strongholds in the United States, with Chicago's Democratic vote the state of Illinois tends to be "solid blue" in presidential elections since 1992. The citizens of Chicago have not elected a Republican mayor since 1927, when William Thompson was voted into office. The strength of the party in the city is partly a consequence of Illinois state politics, where the Republicans have come to represent the rural and farm concerns while the Democrats support urban issues such as Chicago's public school funding. Although Chicago includes less than 25% of the state's population, eight of Illinois' nineteen U.S. Representatives have part of the city in their districts.

Former Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley's mastery of machine politics preserved the Chicago Democratic Machine long after the demise of similar machines in other large U.S. cities.[58] During much of that time, the city administration found opposition mainly from a liberal "independent" faction of the Democratic Party. The independents finally gained control of city government in 1983 with the election of Harold Washington. Since 1989, Chicago has been under the leadership of Richard M. Daley, the son of Richard J. Daley. Because of the dominance of the Democratic Party in Chicago, the Democratic primary vote held in the spring is generally more significant than the general elections in November.

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Crime

Murders in the city peaked first in 1974, with 970 murders when the city's population was over three million people (resulting in a murder rate of around 29 per 100,000), and again in 1992 with 943 murders, resulting in a murder rate of 34 per 100,000.[59] After adopting crime-fighting techniques recommended by Los Angeles and New York City Police Departments in 2004,[60] Chicago recorded 448 homicides, the lowest total since 1965 (15.65 per 100,000.) Chicago's homicide tally remained steady throughout 2005, 2006, and 2007 with 449, 452, and 435 respectively, and the overall crime rate in 2006 continued the downward trend that has taken place since the early 1990s.[61] However, in 2008, homicides rebounded to 510. [6] Like other school districts in larger cities, Chicago has struggled with school violence. In 2009, 21 Chicago Public School students have been killed as of February 23.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Chicago

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Education

There are 680 public schools, 394 private schools, 83 colleges, and 88 libraries in Chicago proper. Chicago Public Schools (CPS), is the governing body of a district that contains over 600 public elementary and high schools citywide, including several selective-admission magnet schools. The school district, with an enrollment exceeding 400,000 students (2005 stat.), ranks as third largest in the U.S.[62] Private schools in Chicago are largely run by religious groups. The two largest systems are run by Christian religious denominations, Roman Catholic and Lutheran, respectively. The Roman Catholic Archdiocese of Chicago operates the city's Roman Catholic schools, including Jesuit preparatory schools. Some of the more prominent examples of schools run by the Archdiocese are: Brother Rice High School, Loyola Academy, St. Ignatius College Prep, St. Scholastica Academy, Mount Carmel High School, Mother McAuley Liberal Arts High School, Marist High School, and St. Patrick High School and Resurrection High School. In addition to Chicago's network of 32 Lutheran Schools,[63] Chicago also has private schools run by other denominations and faiths such as Ida Crown Jewish Academy in West Rogers Park, and the Fasman Yeshiva High School in Skokie, a nearby suburb. There are also a number of private schools run in a completely secular educational environment such as: Latin School, University of Chicago Laboratory Schools in Hyde Park, Francis W. Parker School, Chicago City Day School in Lake View, and Morgan Park Academy. Chicago is also home of the prestigious Chicago Academy for the Arts, an arts high school focused on 6 different categories of the arts, Media Arts, Visual Arts, Music, Dance, Musical Theatre and Theatre. It has been heralded as the best arts high school in the country. Children commute from as far away as South Bend, Indiana every day to attend classes.