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At the risk of sounding like a lefty on the fringe, I’m starting to think that the mainstream media really doesn’t want Bernie Sanders to win the Democratic nomination—even if he’s the best chance to beat Trump. First up, “How the Insufferably Woke Help Trump” by Timothy Egan, a left-of-center populist. Think about this. Egan’s sister is on the edge of poverty, yet she won’t budge an inch from her unstated religious beliefs, even if that means voting for policies that push her over the edge....

The best perk of my job booking the Promontory is hearing brilliant DJs mix house, hip-hop, and Afrobeat while I do spreadsheets. The pandemic put that on hold, but the loss was tempered when DJs took to Instagram, Twitch, and Facebook. When I got a notice that Jay Illa, Dee Money, or Vince Adams was starting a livestream, it meant my next quarantined hour would have a world-class soundtrack. My favorite streamer was the Promontory’s favorite DJ, Matt “Kwest_On” Cannon....

Adam Gogola, 35, sings and plays guitar for Chicago punk band Blind Adam & the Federal League. He believes that music and social action can and should mix, and during the pandemic he and his bandmates have helped run a series of streaming benefit concerts and launched a mutual-aid program for their unhoused neighbors called the People’s Pizza Party. Donations can be made via Venmo at @peoplespizzaparty. I reached out to my friend Joe Tessone, who owns Mystery Street recording studio in Lincoln Park, and my friends at the Night Ministry....

Desiree Martin/Getty “The development of full artificial intelligence could spell the end of the human race,” says Stephen Hawking. In a recent Bleader post of mine touting a new travel magazine published by the Smithsonian, editor Victoria Pope made a confession. At an earlier point in her career she’d reported from Germany for the Wall Street Journal and, “I was a disaster at earnings reports, and though I tried I never got any good at it....

Qin Shi Huangdi likely qualifies as the most ambitious 13-year-old who ever lived. In 247 BCE, when he ascended the throne of Qin, one of the many warring states that competed for territory in what is now modern China, he set for himself two goals: to conquer all the rival states and to create a magnificent tomb that would contain a replica of his kingdom. This is the first time some of the figures have ever left China....

All day long at the Petro truck stop in Gary, Indiana, drivers pull in, dismount from their cabs, and saunter lazily across the long blacktop toward a grassy patch next to the parking lot entrance. Muttering into Bluetooth earpieces, they approach the steps of a raised semitrailer painted bright yellow, announcing itself to the parking lot with the words “Balkan Grill Restaurant.” Inside, a stark cargo area contains a few high-top tables, a drink cooler filled with bottled water and the Slovenian soft drink Cockta, and a window that separates customers from the kitchen, the register, and Momocilo “Momo” Bogdanovich....

The 606 North Branch Trail System

Apartment People apartmentpeople.com Runner-Up: Craigslist

Mildblend Supply Co. 1342 N. Milwaukee mildblend.com Runners-Up (tie): Belmont Army Hazel

Metropolis Runner-Up: Star Lounge Coffee Bar

Cindy’s 12 S. Michigan 312-792-3502 cindysrootfop.com Runner-Up: The Signature Room

Welcome to the Reader‘s weekday news brief How local “Dreamers” are planning ahead while Congress decides their fate Local undocumented immigrants who were brought to the U.S. as children and were allowed to get work permits under the Deferred Action for Childhood Arrivals program are in limbo as Congress and the White House decide their future. There are more than 35,600 DACA recipients in Illinois, according to the Tribune. “I try to be optimistic and hopeful, but part of me is like, I don’t know....

The snow finally started—late, OK, but I’d been feeling anxious without it—and it finally feels like winter. We should slow down, right? Cuddle up with a warm mug of something and eight million books and forty million cats and refuse to take out the garbage? Not at the Reader. We’re just getting going. Last week we erred in stating that Ahmedabad is the capital of the Indian state Gujarat. In fact it’s the former capital....

The Academy Award nominations were announced this morning by Tiffany Haddish and Andy Serkis. The Shape of Water leads with 13 nominations, with Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri garnering nine and Dunkirk close behind with seven. Here are the nominees in the top categories, with links to Reader reviews of the films in contention: Sally Hawkins, The Shape of Water Frances McDormand, Three Billboards Outside Ebbing, Missouri Margot Robbie, I, Tonya...

Few things make the indoors less delightful than harsh, overhead light. The cold months combined with the raging pandemic spell more time than ever in our homes and making them cozier and more relaxing can be as easy as flipping a switch. If you’re in a room with multiple types of light right now, try it: turn on the overhead light and take a look around. Then turn it off and light a wall sconce, table lamp, floor lamp, or some candles....

Hubbard Street Dance Chicago Runner-Up: Joffrey Ballet

Green Mill 4802 N. Broadway 773-878-5552 greenmilljazz.com Runner-Up: Constellation

By Jason Conklin and Nolan Rafferty, managers of the Lakeview pub Galway Bay Rafferty: He did that all the time—like a goddamn human bridge between two cars. The owners of the cars probably just missed work rather than wake him to move their vehicles. Conklin: Ha! That’s right. We came back to the bar the next morning—and we have no recollection of hiring this guy, by the way—and the bar is closed and the lights are off and we see this guy with perfect hair squinting through the windows and trying to open the doors....

City Winery Rootstock Wine & Beer Bar Finalists: Travelle at The Langham, Joe’s Imports

This is a huge oversimplification, but there are generally two kinds of blues crowds: the Black audience that gravitates toward soul singers, and the white audience that loves instrumental virtuosity. In their time, B.B. King and Albert King were two of the few blues artists to enjoy equal adoration from both crowds, and today Bobby Rush seems set to be the next to pull off that feat. Rush was born in Louisiana in 1933 and moved to Chicago with his family in the early 50s, and he’s become a mainstay on the local blues scene as well as on the chitlin’ circuit, with a live show famous for the shake dancers doing their thing behind him as he sang....