Monthly Archives: April 2016

    Billionaire philanthropist Sean Parker collated a group that plans to defeat cancer with immunotherapy. Imagine taking the top baseball players, forming them into a group and funding them to play. That is what Sean Parker did when he collected six of the brightest scientists into a powerhouse that is intent on turning cancer into just another disease. One that could be beaten by the body. Immunotherapy is the process where the body marshalls its own immune system to defeat foreign invaders, such as bacteria and viruses. Cancer is a tricker foe than ‘regular’ diseases and stomps the immune system. Parker’s team are working on two ways to get around this. Their first idea is to create “armies” of immune cells that would attack cancer. Their second idea would be to “retrain” the troops to circle cancer's defenses. Lest this sound simplistic, Parker’s Manhattan Project of six researchers convened [...]

  Four schools in Highland Park’s District 112 are historic and slated to close in 2017. Landmarks Illinois, a group that works to preserve the state's architectural and cultural landmarks opposes their closure. Lincoln Elementary School, Ravinia Elementary School, Elm Place Middle School and the Green Bay School date back to the early 19th century. North Shore School District 112 want them closed to save its budget. The schools cost at least $5 millions in personnel costs and millions more in long-term maintenance fees.  Landmarks Illinois points to their historic value and urges that the District consider reconverting rather than razing these buildings. If sold, each of the properties could fetch sizeable amounts of money. The 3.7-acre Green Bay School property was appreciated at $5.2 million last year for its prime location and its possibility to hold multi-family housing. 3.3-acre Elm Place Middle School is zoned for single-family housing and [...]

Take this as you may, the Journal of the American Medical Association reports that top earning Americans add more years to their lives than those in a lower bracket do. The eight researchers – economists from Stanford University, the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, Harvard University, consulting firm McKinsey & Co., and the U.S. Treasury’s office of tax analysis - peeked into 1.4 billion anonymous tax records that dated from 1999 to 2014 and matched the data to death records from the Social Security Administration. They concluded that wealthier people tended to live longer than those who had less. Males who lived in the top fifth percentile tended to add another two years to their lives, while females in that same bracket lived longer by another three. By contrast, males who lived in the bottom fifth percent added a few more months to their life expectancy while females, in that same [...]

Last Monday, Alderman Anthony Beale (9th) proposed  that Chicago’s Uber and Lyft drivers should get chauffeur’s licenses. These are what ‘regular’ taxi drivers pay to acquire. If rideshare drivers go for them, it may spell the end of ride sharing as we know it. And, possibly, hike the price of the industry. As Marco McCotry, Uber Illinois General Manager, points out, the ridesharing industry works precisely because its employees patrol many areas on south and west side of Chicago where  few taxi drivers dare to drive. Fifty-four percent of uberX trips in Chicago begin or end in areas that are underserved by taxi and public transportation. Uber and Lyft also propel social change since they give jobs to those who are under- or unemployed. More than 20% of uberX driver-partners live on the south and west sides, including many areas plagued by the city’s highest unemployment rates. Such drivers use [...]

Illinois Top Colleges     It’s hardly ever been a worst time for Illinois students to trot off to college than now. Some institutions are chopping classes, others clipping teachers and few offering Monetary Award Program grants. The budget starvation has reached its ninth month. But this has deterred few students from registering for degrees this year. In its annual tradition, Forbes listed the best value schools of 2016. Focusing on Illinois, this is its list: 11) Augustana College (National Rank: 257) 10) DePaul University (National Rank: 251) 9) Lake Forest College (National Rank: 235) 8) Knox College (National Rank: 205) 7) Illinois Wesleyan University (National Rank: 204) 6) Bradley University (National Rank: 182) 5) Illinois Institute of Technology (National Rank: 128) 4) Wheaton College (National Rank: 105) 3) University of Chicago (National Rank: 56) 2) Northwestern University (National Rank: 51) 1) University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign (National Rank: [...]