John McCarron

Some of my best friends are investigative reporters. Or were, before they read this column. But with so many voters itching to "throw the bums out" in this year's elections,...

Joseph "Joe" Arvin, the gear man, is at it again. He's president of Arrow Gear, a Downers Grove company that bucks global trends by employing 250 Chicagoans in the manufacture...

"The government rescues banks that are 'too big to fail,' not ones that are too good to save." Pardon the sarcasm of my friend, a West Side community organizer, but...

Now what? Now that the disappointment has faded, now that we can wish Rio de Janeiro "good luck" without clenching our teeth, what's next for our favorite Midwestern metropolis? What...

Question: How much is a house worth ... if it's on a block where other houses sit empty after foreclosure? Answer: Not as much as you might think unless, of...

Everyone's heard about Daniel Burnham. The late, great architect and urban planner is much in the news this year, the centennial of his 1909 Plan of Chicago. But what about...

Here's for spending some stimulus money on medium-speed rail. High-speed trains are all the rage. What I need is one that can carry this White Sox fan from the CTA's...

Shaun Donovan is due in Chicago this week to speak at a conference on affordable housing at the swank Palmer House Hilton Hotel. The U.S. Secretary of Housing and Urban...

"Chicago's landscape is being swamped by a sea of unsightly billboards, advertising benches and illegal signs because of a toothless zoning ordinance that city officials admit cannot be enforced." Change...

We gather today, dear readers, to announce winners of the 2009 Anti-Burnham Centennial Awards. Why anti-Burnham? Because in the weeks ahead all manner of civic groups will be staging seminars...