Mike Conklin

When Illinois State University students resume classes in Downstate Normal this month, it's doubtful any can tell a taller tale about the summer than the school's own president, Al Bowman....

I've become a helmet nag. After two bike accidents when wearing one prevented more serious injuries, it's hard not to be a believer. So I've developed this little routine: When...

The annual family car trip dangles in the memory like the sagging spiral of a Shell No-Pest Strip in a gas station bathroom: It's always there. It's a little icky...

The shady block that runs from 4200 to 4300 N. Kedvale Ave. is named for Ella LaBagh, a resident of that block whose love for trees helped spur the establishment...

Jewel Stradford Lafontant Street is a one-block stretch running from 4900 S. Greenwood Ave. to 5000 S. Greenwood Ave. in Chicago. That's where Jewel Lafontant-Mankarious, a barrier-breaking African-American woman who...

On a beastly hot Sunday morning in Lake County's Old School Forest Preserve, about 75 members of the Lake Forest-Lake Bluff Running Club watched Melissa Nides and Jack Zordan hit...

Monday's U.S. Senate resolution came as the anti-lynching exhibit "Without Sanctuary: Lynching Photography in America" is being shown in the Chicago Historical Society Museum. In the last four years, the...

Anyone aware the Big Ten won't have a baseball team make the College World Series field in Omaha? I didn't think so. Midwesterners have become so used to the conference...

Navy Pier fireworks start in earnest Memorial Day weekend, with shows on Wednesdays (9:30 p.m.) and Saturdays (10:15 p.m.), plus special July 3-4 and Sept. 4 exhibitions throughout the summer....