Columns

The new Cragin Park Fieldhouse stands Oct. 15, 2026, in Chicago’s Belmont Cragin neighborhood. (Brian Cassella/baiduhai)

Edward Keegan: Is the minimalist fieldhouse in Chicago’s Cragin Park architecture or just a building??

By Edward Keegan

October 18, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

The Cragin Park Fieldhouse expresses a clear architectural character with its exposed steel structure. I...

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”...

Kay Fleenor poses at the Illinois Bell Telephone Company exhibit at the Modern Living Exposition Home and Flower Show at Navy Pier in 1958.

Column: Finally, belatedly, I put our once-beloved landline phone out of its misery

By Eric Zorn

December 1, 2020 at 3:56 p.m.

"The deed is done," I announced to my wife the other day with the grim...

A rendering shows the completed skyscraper at the halted construction site of 1000M, seen July 7, 2020, in Chicago.

Helmut Jahn skyscraper 1000M

By Contributed Content

December 2, 2020 at 10:50 a.m.

Construction has stopped at the Helmut Jahn-designed 74-story condo tower called 1000M, at 1000 South...

Helmut Jahn-designed skyscraper, halted by COVID-19, could be revived as apartment tower in 2021

By Ryan Ori

December 1, 2020 at 3:49 p.m.

The biggest Chicago skyscraper to have construction halted by the coronavirus pandemic could be revived...

City Lit owner Teresa Kirschbraun stands in her Logan Square bookstore on Nov. 27, 2020. It's closing after eight years.

Column: A parting love letter to City Lit, my favorite bookstore in Chicago, on its final day of business

By Heidi Stevens

December 1, 2020 at 2:14 p.m.

On a chilly Thursday evening in 2017, City Lit bookstore in Logan Square transformed itself...

Artist Pablo Serrano paints a massive mural on the sidewall of Carnitas Don Pedro on 18th Street in Pilsen on Oct. 30, 2020. The mural of residents and essential workers is set to be Pilsen s largest piece of art.

Column: The despised Pilsen landmark plan gets a hearing today. Here’s how to save the treasured neighborhood.

By Blair Kamin

December 1, 2020 at 9:01 a.m.

There's no doubt Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood has the stuff to become an official city landmark...

Esports arena for professional video game competitions planned for Chicago’s Near South Side

By Ryan Ori

December 1, 2020 at 3:12 p.m.

Professional video game players could compete in front of large crowds on the Near South...

Volunteers load boxes and bags of food from the Greater Chicago Food Depository for residents.

Column: Third annual Insult-A-Columnist Holiday Food Drive begins as coronavirus-driven food insecurity surges

By Rex W. Huppke

December 1, 2020 at 9:00 a.m.

It's officially the holidays, that magical time of year when I ask all readers to...

Round 2 of Invest South/West seeks to revive Bronzeville, South Chicago, New City, North Lawndale

By Ryan Ori

November 30, 2020 at 2:45 p.m.

After receiving a dozen real estate development proposals for the initial three sites in Mayor...

Gyros Planet owner Erika Castro hugs her daughter, also named Erika, as Castro's husband, Pablo Sanchez walks through the entrance to their Evanston restaurant on Feb. 24, 2021.

Column: Evanston students auction time and talents to save Gyros Planet, a struggling restaurant feeding thousands of hungry families

By Heidi Stevens

November 30, 2020 at 6:35 p.m.

A group of Evanston Township High School students and alums is rallying around a family...

Gyros Planet and Taqueria will stay open after receiving community support

By Contributed Content

February 26, 2021 at 5:22 p.m.

Evanston's Gyros Planet restaurant feeds families affected by the coronavirus.

Columnists