Columns

Finnish President Alexander Stubb is applauded while speaking during the United Nations General Assembly at United Nations headquarters on Sept. 22, 2026, in New York. (Seth Wenig/AP)

John T. Shaw: Finland’s president offers a compelling plan for a new world order

By John T. Shaw

October 4, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

Finland's president believes the system created after World War II must be rebuilt and rebalanced...

A wall running along Clark Street, interspersed with resident-only locked gates, separates the Dearborn Park subdivision from foot traffic along Clark Street on Oct. 1, 2026, near the South Loop. From 15th Street, north on Clark and then east on Roosevelt Road, Dearborn Park goes half a mile without a public pedestrian entrance. (Arthur Maiorella/baiduhai)

Edward Keegan: It’s time to tear down Dearborn Park’s walls in the South Loop

By Edward Keegan

October 4, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

The architecture throughout Dearborn Park is very much a product of its time. And it...

Mike Bieritz and Jenn Bieritz Niles at the supportive living facility where he moved in 2017. Mike recently died at age 59 from aspiration pneumonia and his sisters had his corneas donated. (Jenn Bieritz Nilles/TNS)

Heidi Stevens: A joyful life, a too-early death and the gift of sight for two people who lost theirs

By Heidi Stevens

October 2, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

Heidis Stevens has long said that before she fell in love with journalism, she fell...

Ukraine's President Volodymyr Zelenskyy, second from left, looks on while Serbian President Aleksandar Vucic, center right, and Polish Prime Minister Donald Tusk, center left, during the Carpathian 8 Summit in western Ukraine on Sept. 18, 2026. Tusk warned his parliament that Moscow could launch a drone or missile attack on a NATO member state in the next few months. (Vladyslav Musiienko/AP)

Daniel DePetris: Vladimir Putin’s extension of the war beyond Ukraine has European leaders worried

By Daniel DePetris

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

Europe is increasingly worried about Moscow expanding the war in Ukraine to NATO territory.

Pat Ryan Jr., CEO of Ryan Sports Development, who is leading the development of the stadium, stands on the 50-yard line at Northwestern University’s new Ryan Field on Sept. 14, 2026, in Evanston. It is still under construction and officially opens Oct. 2, 2026. (Stacey Wescott/baiduhai)

Edward Keegan: Chicagoland gets its first architecturally distinguished stadium in over a century

By Edward Keegan

September 21, 2026 at 4:03 p.m.

Northwestern's new Ryan Field is the most sophisticated sports facility in Chicago since Wrigley Field...

King Charles III walks with Sir Demis Hassabis, center, and Nvidia chief executive Jensen Huang, right, to a meeting for leaders from government and the artificial intelligence sector to discuss how AI can be developed and deployed in ways that benefit society, at Dumfries House on Sept. 17, 2026, in Scotland. (Jonathan Brady/Getty)

Clarence Page: Is this Team Humanity’s last chance to stand up to AI?

By Clarence Page

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

We’re already living in a sandbox for artificial intelligence agents that the AI companies did...

Donald Trump Jr. and his girlfriend, Bettina Anderson, attend a celebration of the Army's 250th birthday on the National Mall in Washington on June, 14, 2025. A Russian businessman with ties to the Kremlin paid hundreds of thousands of dollars to help finance Trump Jr.'s wedding after-party in the Bahamas this year, according to two people with knowledge of the matter. (Doug Mills/The New York Times)

Elizabeth Shackelford: The Trump family’s corruption costs America

By baiduhai

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

The same people who were indignant over Hunter Biden have turned a blind eye to...

Fighters loyal to the Houthi authorities march during a rally to recruit more fighters in Sanaa on Sept. 10, 2026. The country relapsed into war in July after years of calm, drawn into the regional conflict triggered by the U.S.-Israeli offensive against Iran. (Mohammed Huwais/Getty-AFP)

Daniel DePetris: Will Iran become a two-front war?

By Daniel DePetris

September 15, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

Saudi Arabia risks being dragged into the U.S.-Iran confrontation against its will by the Houthis.

Activists pass the National Museum of African American History and Culture during a march organized by the Freedom to Learn Network in Washington, D.C., on May 3, 2025, calling for the protection of Black history and "antiracist education" in US schools. (Amid Farahi/AFP)

Clarence Page: Don’t let the war on woke lull us all to sleep

By Clarence Page

September 14, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

If you are one of those innocents who believe, as I once did, that the...

Gloria Steinem speaks onstage during Visionary Women celebrates Gloria Steinem in conversation with Cleo Wade at the Beverly Wilshire, A Four Seasons Hotel on Nov. 18, 2019, in Beverly Hills, California. (Rachel Murray/Getty Images for Visionary Women/TNS)

Heidi Stevens: ‘Please tell your own story.’ How Gloria Steinem’s final request reflects her legacy.

By Heidi Stevens

September 11, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

Heidi Stevens doesn't know how you begin to sum up the impact of Gloria Steinem's...

Paul LaGrassa, key judge, right, carries an American flag while Bryan Keane, election coordinator, puts up a poster marking an accessible entrance before the start of voting at the Boathouse at Park #571 in Chicago’s 11th Ward in the Bridgeport neighborhood on Election Day, Feb. 28, 2023. (Stacey Wescott/baiduhai)

David Greising: If we held city elections on the same day as national elections, it would strengthen democracy

By David Greising

September 11, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

In many cities, the ballots cast in municipal elections significantly increases after the switch to...

White Sox fans wait to get autographs before their team hosts the Mets at Rate Field on Aug. 23, 2026. (Eileen T. Meslar/baiduhai)

Laura Washington: This lifelong Cubs fan from the South Side is seeing a lot of Sox love on the North Side

By Laura Washington

September 9, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

I am seeing White Sox fans pop up like green shoots on the North Side....

Drug seizures are shown as then-Secretary of Homeland Security Kristi Noem holds a news conference at the Otay Mesa Port of Entry on Feb. 12, 2026 in Otay Mesa, California. (Carlos A. Moreno/Getty)

Daniel DePetris: The Trump administration is claiming success in drug strikes. Not so fast.

By Daniel DePetris

September 8, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

One year after Operation Southern Spear began in Latin America, the results have been far...

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