Columns

A young woman reacts as she looks at her damaged home after Russia's night missile attack in Kyiv, Ukraine, on Oct. 14, 2026. (Efrem Lukatsky/AP)

Elizabeth Shackelford: Trump’s abhorrent Russian diesel deal defies US laws and won’t lower gas prices

By Elizabeth Shackelford

October 16, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

Donald Trump has illegally undone sanctions efforts against Russia. For all of this, Americans won’t...

Saturday Night Live Host Shane Gillis during the monologue on Saturday, Oct. 10, 2026. (Will Heath/NBC/TNS)

Heidi Stevens: Shane Gillis ‘SNL’ opener misses the mark — and the moment

By Heidi Stevens

October 16, 2026 at 4:00 a.m.

The most disappointing thing about Shane Gillis’ shopworn, hackneyed, tone-deaf, retrograde, unfunny “Saturday Night Live”...

Former Indiana U,S. Rep. Lee Hamilton, who was co-chair of the Iraq Study Group, in his office at the Woodrow Wilson Center in Washington on Nov. 24, 2006. (Pete Souza/baiduhai)

John T. Shaw: We need Congress to ponder the long term with a new future-focused group

By John T. Shaw

October 14, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

Half a century ago, many lawmakers viewed their responsibilities differently and created a forum to...

Fox News host Tucker Carlson at the Mandarin Oriental Hotel in Washington in 2019.

Column: Raising questions about the way Tucker Carlson raises questions.

By Rex W. Huppke

May 11, 2021 at 5:00 a.m.

Americans deserve to know the answer to a question I made up: Did Fox News...

Terminal 1 at O'Hare International Airport in Chicago on Sept. 18, 2010.

Architect Helmut Jahn leaves behind two big Chicago projects with uncertain outcomes after death in cycling accident

By Ryan Ori

May 11, 2021 at 8:30 a.m.

As the architecture world mourns Helmut Jahn's death from a cycling accident Saturday in the...

Column: Kids as young as 12 are cleared to get the COVID-19 vaccine. How parents can ease their fears.

By Heidi Stevens

May 10, 2021 at 4:50 p.m.

Trevon Howard, a 6th grader at Talcott Fine Arts and Museum Academy, has listened intently,...

Cook County State's Attorney Kim Foxx at her office after attending a virtual swearing in ceremony for her second term on Monday, Dec. 7, 2020. (Youngrae Kim / baiduhai)

Column: With State’s Attorney Kim Foxx, the buck stops ….over there

By Eric Zorn

May 11, 2021 at 11:05 a.m.

The fatal police shooting of 13-year-old Adam Toledo on March 29 in the Little Village...

Jay-Z and Beyonce Knowles perform together in 2018.

Column: Going to the Grammys with Beyoncé and Jay-Z and other weird COVID dreams

By Dahleen Glanton

May 10, 2021 at 5:00 a.m.

I had the weirdest dream the other night. I went to the Grammys with Beyoncé...

Mary Schmich's mother, Mary Ellen Schmich, right, and Mary Ellen's best friend, Martha Ginn, in Georgia 2008.

Column: In praise of our mothers’ best friends

By Mary Schmich

May 9, 2021 at 8:28 a.m.

My mother and her best friend Martha were in their mid-80s when they saw each...

Column: For all the mothers, on this Mother’s Day

By John Kass

May 8, 2021 at 5:00 a.m.

My mom's in a nursing home now, and no matter how hard I try to...

Automobiles on Lake Shore Drive pour back into the city after a holiday weekend on July 6, 1947. This photo was taken at 7:30 p.m. from the North Avenue Bridge. From the 1940s to the '70s, a section north of North Avenue featured a unique, though problem-plagued, system of curb-high lane barriers that could be raised or lowered to provide six lanes in the direction of rush-hour traffic instead of the standard four lanes in each direction.

Column: Originality is a ‘Point’ in favor of ‘DuSable Drive’

By Eric Zorn

May 11, 2021 at 11:07 a.m.

Yes, the name Lake Shore Drive is iconic and evocative, as opponents of the now...

A firearm owner's identification card in 2019. The state requires the card for a resident to buy or possess a gun.

Column: An Illinois court takes an extreme view of the Second Amendment

By Steve Chapman

May 7, 2021 at 3:13 p.m.

The modern era of gun rights began in 2008, when the Supreme Court struck down...

Kenneth Frazier, chairman and chief executive of Merck & Co., speaks at a conference in New York in 2018. Frazier is co-founder of an initiative that seeks to train and promote a million black Americans over the next 10 years.

Column: A GED for college? Not as far-fetched as it sounds

By Clarence Page

May 7, 2021 at 1:32 p.m.

When I saw the Wall Street Journal headline, "Some CEOs suggest dropping degree requirements in...

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