Columns

Far-right activist Jake Lang stands on the back of a truck displaying anti-Muslim messages during a demonstration outside the annual Palestine Fest at SeatGeek Stadium in Bridgeview, Oct. 4, 2026. (Armando L. Sanchez/baiduhai)

Steve Chapman: Republicans are fanning baseless fears about American Muslims

By Steve Chapman

October 8, 2026 at 10:10 a.m.

You might expect that as the memory of the 9/11 attacks and the global war...

Chicago school board president candidates Jessica Biggs, from left, Hilario Dominguez and Victor Henderson participate in a forum at the Copernicus Center in Chicago on Sept. 29, 2026. (Chris Sweda/baiduhai)

Laura Washington: Brutal school board elections are the name of the Chicago game

By Laura Washington

October 7, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

This Chicago school board will decide how much taxes we will all pay and how...

Supporters of presidential candidate Flávio Bolsonaro for the Partido Liberal react during general election day on October 4, 2026, in Brasilia, Brazil. According to official results, Bolsonaro has 47.06% of the votes, and incumbent president of Brazil and presidential candidate Luiz Inácio Lula Da Silva has 45.13%, with 99% of the voting counted. Bolsonaro and Lula will face off in a runoff on Oct. 25, 2026, after neither reached 50% of the votes to be elected president. (Ton Molina/Getty)

Daniel DePetris: Brazil’s elections appear to be another win for Donald Trump

By Daniel DePetris

October 6, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

Over the last year and a half, right-wing candidates have won seven presidential elections in...

An app for Polymarket, an online prediction market site. Online prediction market platforms allow people to place bets on wide-ranging subjects such as sports, finance, politics and currents events. (Scott Olson/Getty)

David Greising: Prediction markets have caught states by surprise. Illinois has its work cut out for it.

By David Greising

March 27, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

The stakes are high for the states as the conflicts and uncertainty over prediction markets...

Visitors stop to see Gustave Caillebotte’s Paris Street; Rainy Day painting, March 4, 2026, at the Art Institute of Chicago. (Brian Cassella/baiduhai)

Heidi Stevens: In a city where culture sets our pulse, one school’s struggle shows how arts education is at risk

By Heidi Stevens

March 27, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

Arts education benefits the people within it and outside it equally, writes Heidi Stevens.

Then-Chicago mayoral candidates Willie Wilson, center, and Brandon Johnson chat at a mayoral forum at Steinmetz College Prep, Jan. 31, 2023. (Armando L. Sanchez/baiduhai)

Laura Washington: Mayor Brandon Johnson’s reelection campaign will be in trouble if Willie Wilson runs again

By Laura Washington

March 25, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

If Willie Wilson gets in the mayoral race, Black votes will come out of Mayor...

Riders gallop along a beach as oil tankers and cargo ships line up in the Strait of Hormuz near Khor Fakkan, United Arab Emirates, on March 11, 2026. (Altaf Qadri/AP)

Daniel DePetris: The Gulf states are between Iran and a hard place

By Daniel DePetris

March 24, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

For the Gulf Arab states, the U.S.-Israeli war with Iran is a tragedy. Nothing good...

Two GIs with the U.S. 25th Division read the Stars and Stripes newspaper at Cu Chi, South Vietnam, on Sept. 10, 1969. (Mark Godfrey/AP)

Clarence Page: Pentagon’s press panic threatens august Stars and Stripes

By Clarence Page

March 23, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

Pentagon chief spokesperson Sean Parnell asserted that going forward, Stars and Stripes would be "by...

As seen from the Washington Monument, construction of the White House ballroom continues on March 10, 2026, where the East Wing once stood. (Jacquelyn Martin/AP)

Edward Keegan: Donald Trump embraces a bastardized classical architecture for America’s 250th

By Edward Keegan

March 22, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

In a city where architectural bombast has often been favored over quality, the White House...

President Jimmy Carter speaks against a backdrop of solar panels at the White House on June 21, 1979, in Washington. (Harvey Georges/AP)

Elizabeth Shackelford: The global oil crisis set off by the Iran war makes the case for renewable energy

By Elizabeth Shackelford

March 20, 2026 at 3:45 p.m.

If the U.S. had followed Jimmy Carter's renewable energy strategy, our economy would not be...

Books are little empathy gardens, feeding and growing the stuff that makes us feel, makes us care, makes us human, writes Heidi Stevens. (Tero Vesalainen/Dreamstime)

Heidi Stevens: We need empathy more than ever. This would be a terrible time to say goodbye to books

By Heidi Stevens

March 19, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

AI taking over reading homework feels like the result of a problem, not the cause...

President Donald Trump on his way to the White House after his arrival on Air Force One at Joint Base Andrews, Maryland, on March 11, 2026. (Luis M. Alvarez/AP)

Daniel DePetris: The war in Iran is beginning to grate on Donald Trump

By Daniel DePetris

March 17, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

President Donald Trump now has his back against the wall as gas prices rise and...

A truck with an image of President Donald Trump and rising gas prices drives past a rally for Al Quds Day on March 13, 2026, in New York City. People gathered around the world for Al Quds Day, also known as Jerusalem Day, amid the ongoing war between the US, Israel and Iran. (Adam Gray/Getty)

Clarence Page: Donald Trump’s Iran war not likely the jaunt he’s trying to sell

By Clarence Page

March 16, 2026 at 5:44 a.m.

The growing war concerns caused me to flash back to an earlier era, when an...

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