If the state lottery is a tax on people who are bad at math, the residents of zip codes 60619, 60628, and 60617 need a remedial class in the worst way. According to Leah Samuel’s study of Illinois Lottery receipts (Chicago Reporter, October), these three south-side zip codes generated the most lottery sales in fiscal year 2002. Those who live in predominantly black zip codes spent $1.57 out of every $100 of income on lottery tickets, compared to $1.34 in predominantly Latino areas, $0.92 in mixed areas, and $0.46 in predominantly white areas.
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“Smaller farmers lack an effective means of bringing their products to the city,” former Earth restaurant owner Barry Bursak tells Juli Brussell in Conscious Choice (October). “Even if they grow organic produce, getting it here and to market is a different story. And as the largest natural foods stores replaced the smaller independent food cooperatives and stores, the market for local organic products really dwindled. The big stores don’t buy locally.”
Hot news from an International Council of Shopping Centers press release: the biggest single holiday shopping day in 1996, ’97, ’98, ’99, 2000, and ’01 was–the Saturday before Christmas.
