Block Club Chicago
Joe Ricketts’ abrupt November 2017 decision to shutter DNAInfo websites in New York and Chicago (as well as Chicagoist, Gothamist, LAist, DCist and SFist) left Chicago without a hyperlocal news source. Archives were briefly banished from the web, but were acquired by three public radio stations in February 2018. Not only did a core of reporters from DNAInfo come out swinging with the Block Club Chicago startup in 2018, the site later acquired the assets of DNAInfo Chicago. Describing themselves as “independent, nonpartisan and nonprofit neighborhood news,” the subscription-driven Block Club Chicago is back to snooping up the street and sniffing down the block, illuminating real estate machinations and shenanigans as well as the small sights and smells that keep a big city like Chicago at street level. BCC also offers a free daily newsletter with breaking news. (Ray Pride)
Best of Chicago 2018
