Reader staffers share stories that fascinate, amuse, or inspire us.

Hey, did you read:

• That Mayor Emanuel's TV ad blitz will begin today? —Steve Bogira

• About how the Blackstone Group, a private equity firm, is buying up depressed homes in middle-class Chicago neighborhoods and haphazardly renting them out to tenants? —Tal Rosenberg

• This report from In These Times about fracking and the poor? —Tony Adler

• About the aldermanic candidate who had a "drunken breakdown" and sent a bunch of bizarre threatening e-mails to a local developer? —Gwynedd Stuart

• Ta-Nehisi Coates on the rape accusations against Bill Cosby? —Tal Rosenberg

• That the MTA in New York is starting a campaign to shame men who take up two or three seats on the subway because they feel they need to air out their balls? —Aimee Levitt

• About the San Francisco TV journalist who put hundreds of dollars of marijuana purchases in his expense report (and was reimbursed)? —Mick Dumke