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”...

Columnist Eric Zorn plays the violin while columnist Mary Schmich plays piano during a 2015 performance of Songs of Good Cheer charity fundraising event at the Old Town School of Folk Music.

Column: Songs of Good Cheer is going virtual. Here’s everything you need to know to join our annual holiday singalong

By Mary Schmich

November 28, 2020 at 5:00 a.m.

This is your official invitation to the 22nd annual Songs of Good Cheer — and...

Decorating Christmas cookies is a tradition every year.

Column: The BEST Christmas cookie recipe in the world. And some thoughts on frosting, which is all that matters.

By Rex W. Huppke

November 27, 2020 at 7:00 a.m.

Thanksgiving is over and it's time to talk seriously about Christmas cookies. "But, Rex," you...

A small stereo and other personal items found in the apartment of Tribune reporter Josh Noel's father-in-law after his death.

Column: Even in death, the ongoing gift of a forgotten stereo

By Josh Noel

November 27, 2020 at 9:48 a.m.

Soon after I met him, my father-in-law told me something that stuck with me: "I...

Roscoe Village resident Marci Sieracki pulls a lasagna out of the oven while her daughter Charlotte, 8, watches on Nov. 25, 2020. Sieracki bakes and delivers lasagna for free to healthcare workers and other people impacted by COVID as part of a national Lasagna Love movement.

Column: Free lasagnas may not cure all ills, but they go a long way during a pandemic. One Chicagoan has helped make hundreds.

By Heidi Stevens

November 26, 2020 at 5:00 a.m.

Marci Sieracki is a certified public accountant with 8- and 5-year-old daughters e-learning at home...

Supporters of President Donald Trump gather outside of a hotel before a Pennsylvania Senate Majority Policy Committee public hearing to discuss 2020 election issues and irregularities with Trump's lawyer Rudy Giuliani on Nov. 25 in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania.

Column: Our democracy is fighting a bad case of ‘truth decay’

By Clarence Page

November 25, 2020 at 8:03 p.m.

Surely I'm not the only American who is reminded by President Donald Trump's refusal to...

Residents pitch in to find survivors after the Bath, Michigan, Consolidated School was dynamited by school board member Andrew Kehoe on May 18, 1927. A historical marker marks the site where 38 students and five adults died in the explosion. (AP Photo/The Detroit News, File)

Column: My unexpected connection to the worst school killing in US history

By Eric Zorn

November 25, 2020 at 6:46 p.m.

Earlier this month I was deep into a nearly 200-entry, reminiscence-heavy Facebook comment thread with...

One of the two finalists to be declared the national Thanksgiving turkey appears in the Grand Ballroom of the Willard InterContinental Hotel on Nov. 23, 2020. President Donald Trump pardoned the turkey named Corn the next day at the White House.

Column: Mr. Thanksgiving Advice Man ready to help with your coronavirus Thanksgiving issues

By John Kass

November 25, 2020 at 5:34 p.m.

Mr. Thanksgiving Advice Man is back, because this Thanksgiving is, as they say, fraught with...

Concrete workers top out the Vista Tower on the 101st floor on April 26, 2019.

Column: From Vista Tower to St. Regis Chicago — another Chicago case of naming rights whiplash

By Blair Kamin

November 25, 2020 at 6:48 p.m.

Holy Sears Tower! Names clearly are not forever on Chicago skyscrapers, unlike the Chrysler Building,...

Taliban prisoners peer through a prison door after an attack in the city of Jalalabad, east of Kabul, Afghanistan, on Aug. 3, 2020.

Column: Obama’s memoir highlights his Afghanistan failure

By Steve Chapman

November 25, 2020 at 3:40 p.m.

Shortly before becoming vice president, Joe Biden traveled to Afghanistan in his role as chairman...

Goodbye Vista Tower, hello St. Regis. Chicago’s newest skyscraper has a new name, new hotel and a restaurant deal with Alinea Group.

By Ryan Ori

November 25, 2020 at 7:47 a.m.

Vista Tower is getting a new name, just weeks before the first residents move into...

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