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...

Rep. Adam Kinzinger, R-Ill., speaks to the media at the White House on March 6, 2019. Kinzinger is slamming as beyond repugnant President Donald Trump's tweet of a conservative pastor's comment that removing Trump from office would provoke a civil war.?

Column: Let’s cancel the phony ‘cancel culture’ fight in today’s politics

By Clarence Page

February 16, 2021 at 2:25 p.m.

Incessant Republican complaints about "cancel culture" might have more credibility if the Republicans didn't engage...

Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler, R-Wash., speaks during a House Appropriations Committee hearing on Capitol Hill on April 3, 2019.

Column: Democrats were wrong to silence impeachment witnesses

By Dahleen Glanton

February 15, 2021 at 5:00 a.m.

America needed to hear Rep. Jaime Herrera Beutler. We needed to hear her voice, repeating...

House Speaker Nancy Pelosi of Calif., center, with lead House impeachment manager Rep. Jamie Raskin, D-Md., left, Rep. David Cicilline, D-R.I., Rep. Diana DeGette, D-Colo., Rep. Joaquin Castro, D-Texas, Rep. Eric Swalwell, D-Calif., Rep. Ted Lieu, D-Calif., Delegate Stacey Plaskett, D-V.I., Rep. Madeleine Dean, D-Pa., Rep. Joe Neguse, D-Colo., speaks to members of the media during a news conference on Capitol Hill in Washington on Feb. 13, 2021, after the U.S. Senate voted not guilty, to acquit former President Donald Trump of inciting riot at the U.S. Capitol.

Column: The impeachment acquittal does profound damage to our democracy

By Steve Chapman

February 13, 2021 at 6:32 p.m.

One of the most familiar lessons of the Donald Trump era is that no matter...

With temperatures below zero, the sun rises over a frigid Lake Michigan on Feb. 7, 2021.

Column: Looking for the light in the depths of February

By Mary Schmich

February 12, 2021 at 6:34 p.m.

Every year about this time, when we've reach the psychological pit of winter — when...

Column: Love is admitting you can’t pick a good Valentine’s Day movie

By John Kass

February 12, 2021 at 5:18 p.m.

We've been married for almost 35 years. She's the love of my life, the mother...

A plaque near the office of then-Speaker Michael Madigan in 2016 shows his lengthy tenure as Illinois House speaker.

Column: Hold off on celebrating new term limits on leadership in Springfield until they’re set in stone

By Eric Zorn

February 12, 2021 at 6:28 p.m.

Here's a golf clap for the new rule approved Wednesday by the Illinois House of...

People walk down South Wentworth Avenue on Feb. 13, 2020, in the Chinatown neighborhood of Chicago. Rising tensions have been reported in Chicago's Asian American communities since the pandemic's early days.

Column: A surge of violent crime against Asian Americans sparks fear of renewed racism

By Clarence Page

February 12, 2021 at 2:35 p.m.

I don't want to spoil the party, but amid the hopeful signs that we might...

An excavator begins demolishing the former Archer Daniels Midland flour mill buildings on Feb. 12, 2021, in the Fulton Market district of Chicago.

Sterling Bay is taking down a late-1800s flour mill in Fulton Market, despite efforts by preservationists

By Ryan Ori

February 16, 2021 at 7:36 a.m.

Sterling Bay is demolishing a former Archer Daniels Midland flour mill in the Fulton Market...

A supporter of President Donald Trump carries a campaign sign with Vice President Mike Pence's name cut out, in front of the Texas state Capitol in Austin on Jan. 6, 2021.

Column: Mike Pence could turn the impeachment trial around

By Steve Chapman

February 12, 2021 at 1:00 p.m.

Over many years, Mike Pence compiled a stellar record as a conservative Republican, most recently...

Then-President Donald Trump gestures as he boards Air Force One at Andrews Air Force Base in Maryland on Dec. 23, 2020.

Column: Power means never having to say you’re sorry: Inside Trump’s brain during his impeachment trial

By Mary Schmich

February 12, 2021 at 5:00 a.m.

Many Americans have wondered what former President Donald J. Trump has been doing and thinking...

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