Homicide: Life in the Windy City

I pay a lot more attention to the news than I used to, and it gives me occasion to think about what exactly constitutes "news," and why exactly we report it. Deaths--especially ones that were not of natural causes--always seem to make that list, making the news a rather morbid preoccupation of mine, if one thinks about it.

In any case, two very striking murders are on the front page of the Chicago Tribune online:

--Yesterday, District Court Judge Joan Lefkow arrived home to find her husband and mother slain. Though relations to white supremacist Matthew Hale are suspected, Eric Zorn's caution in fingering this man is probably correct. Nevertheless, still very shocking.

--Found murdered at his Belmont home: a singer with the Chicago Lyric Opera.

The page ends with follow-ups on two other murders. Combined with yesterday's suicide bombing in Iraq, it's been a morbid week. And it's only Tuesday. (Who knew that Lebanon, of all places, would provide a bright spot!?)