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Lead story: An ongoing series on Gawker has been trying to pinpoint the nation’s most racist city and this week the series lands on Chicago. First of all, before anyone gets up in arms about this, know that the series is compiled by Drew Magary, whose writing I love and who revels in vulgarity with the glee of a child in a toy store. Aside from citing past examples of racism – 1919 riots following the drowning a black teenager on the South Side and the 1977 march by the Nazis on Skokie – demographics and a few other historic touchstones, Magary largely turns the column over to Chicago readers.

Lead story: Abortion took center stage at times during this election, and thanks in no small part to the wrong-headed words of U.S. Senate candidate Todd Akin, it seems a new battleground for the debate has emerged over the past few weeks: Illinois. Two weeks ago, after 17 years of skirmishes and injunctions, the state’s controversial abortion notification law — requiring patients 17 years old or younger to notify their parents before having an abortion  — went before the Illinois state supreme court.

Lead story: A pair of epic sports collapses punctuated the weekend in Chicago. On the city’s South Side, the White Sox let their grasp on the American League Central division – and their only shot at the playoffs – slip away. Meanwhile, out in suburban Medinah, the U.S. Ryder Cup team experienced a historic meltdown on the competition’s final day and gave the title back to Team Europe. Obviously, the White Sox collapse hurts worse for city sports fans and will linger longer heading into the long, dark winter (not that Sox attendance numbers are any indication of the team’s success this year).

Lead story: With cooler weather and the start of fall, Chicago's outdoor festival season is drawing to a close. But to give up on outdoor music until 2013 would be to overlook the criminally under-reported Black Dot Music Festival. The fest, happening this Saturday night September 29 at Elastic Arts (2830 N. Milwaukee Avenue), aims to shine the spotlight on local African-American rock music and culture. Bands on the bill include outstanding singer-songwriter Jerome Holloway, the self-described “ballroom rockers” Blah Blah Blah, and folkster LeAnna Eden. It's the first such festival here in Chicago, though similar such events, like the annual AfroPunk Fest and events thrown by the Black Rock Coalition, have dotted the New York music landscape.

Keidra Chaney, a local music blogger and black musician, said "the potential of this festival to connect such a diverse musical community is incredibly exciting.

Lead story: While, as the old saying goes, “Chicago ain’t ready for reform,” it seems the rest of Illinois is. A poll released [PDF] by the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University shows that, actually, Illinois is ready for a variety of political reforms. As Rich Miller breaks it down for Capitol Fax, the survey of nearly 1,300 registered voters comes down hard on state businesses, with 62 percent saying they think corruption in business is widespread. But even more – almost 77 percent – think there’s widespread corruption in state government.