Chicago is like 2 separate cities. The north side and downtown is more like Anchorage with less than 5 homicides per 100,000 people per year. The south side has more than 25 homicides per 100,000 people per year. Back in the 70s and 80s the numbers were at or over 700 homicides per year, for the whole year, with some years close to 1000. Media coverage these days does make one feel that what is going on now, has never happened before, but unfortunately, the more the times change, some things remain the same.