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...

A couple watches as digital art displays are projected on the facade of the Merchandise Mart in downtown Chicago during the launch of Art on theMart on Sept. 29, 2018.

Column: Barack Obama projected onto Chicago’s Merchandise Mart? That’ll scare the Republicans away!

By Rex W. Huppke

May 7, 2021 at 11:53 a.m.

Like most Chicagoans, I like seeing images projected onto the sides of huge buildings for...

Column: We will never surrender. The Golden Moutza of April is at hand.

By John Kass

May 7, 2021 at 5:00 a.m.

Some people just can't handle the pressure of helping to award the Golden Moutza. "It...

An eastern chipmunk nibbles grain near the front door of a home in Evanston on Oct. 17, 2020.

Column: Instead of politics and doom, let’s talk about birds and chipmunks

By Mary Schmich

May 7, 2021 at 5:00 a.m.

For just a moment, forget Donald Trump. And Liz Cheney. And today's top trending Twitter...

A man walks to Xi'an Cuisine in the Greektown neighborhood on May 4, 2021. New, non-Greek businesses that have opened in the area include Chinese restaurant Xi'an Cuisine and Japanese restaurant Aodake Ramen, both on Jackson Boulevard.

Greektown’s identity fades as new businesses open. ‘We can’t live in nostalgia.’

By Ryan Ori

May 7, 2021 at 7:22 a.m.

A Florida-based meat and fish market plans to open its first Midwest store in Greektown,...

Katrina Spade, co-founder of Recompose, monitors the temperature of wood chips that contains a human body at a facility in Cullowhee, North Carolina, in 2015.

Column: ‘Human composting’ gains momentum around US — but not yet in Illinois

By Eric Zorn

May 6, 2021 at 4:27 p.m.

My corpse, my choice. I'm offering this slogan for proponents of "human composting" if and...

Stephanie Kitchen, left, new owner of City Lit bookstore and former owner Teresa Kirschbraun stand in the Logan Square store on May 6, 2021. After closing a few months ago, City Lit is reopening in June.

Column: City Lit bookstore will reopen in June. And the neighbors (including this one) rejoice.

By Heidi Stevens

May 26, 2021 at 3:36 p.m.

City Lit, the beloved Logan Square bookstore that closed in December, is reopening in June....

Englewood resident Fannie Peeples gets a Johnson & Johnson COVID-19 vaccine from Friend Health nurse Syreetta Stinson at the Peace House of I Grow Chicago, March 26, 2021. I Grow Chicago teamed with Friend Health to provide 150 vaccines, coffee and doughnuts at the event.

Column: Let’s pay people to get the COVID-19 vaccine if that’s what it takes

By Dahleen Glanton

May 6, 2021 at 5:00 a.m.

For a while, I was able to boast that I didn't personally know anyone who...

In this image from video, former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin, center, is taken into custody as his attorney, Eric Nelson, left, looks on, after the verdicts were read on April 20, 2021, at Chauvin's trial at the Hennepin County Courthouse in Minneapolis for the 2020 death of George Floyd.

Column: Derek Chauvin case appeal: Could America handle this again?

By John Kass

May 6, 2021 at 5:10 a.m.

When former Minneapolis police Officer Derek Chauvin was convicted of the murder of George Floyd,...

People dance during the 23rd Annual Chicago SummerDance event in Grant Park's Spirit of the Music Garden in 2019. The event is coming back this summer, with dates and locations still to be announced.

Column: Chicago’s great cultural comeback is coming much faster than we thought. Here’s why.

By Chris Jones

May 5, 2021 at 7:05 p.m.

Just weeks ago, the working assumption around town was that this would be a relatively...

President Joe Biden takes questions from reporters about the American Rescue Plan at the White House on May 5, 2021.

Column: An allegedly senile Joe Biden keeps succeeding

By Steve Chapman

May 5, 2021 at 4:51 p.m.

In a Democratic presidential debate in September 2019, Julian Castro thought he heard Joe Biden...

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