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”...

Poll worker Aana Vigen places a flag outside the Ward 49 voting site at the Rogers Park Library in the 6900 block of North Clark Street in Chicago, as Election Day voting begins early in the morning of Nov. 3, 2020.

Column: Election Day battle between Trump and Biden prompts novel idea: Let’s count all the votes!

By Rex W. Huppke

November 3, 2020 at 5:00 a.m.

It's Election Day, a day of reckoning for President Donald Trump and former Vice President...

Republican presidential nominee U.S. Sen. John McCain shakes hands with vice presidential nominee Alaska Gov. Sarah Palin during their election night rally at the Arizona Biltmore on Nov. 4, 2008, in Phoenix.

Column: Will the 2020 loser join the ranks of those who gave winning concession speeches?

By Eric Zorn

November 2, 2020 at 2:11 p.m.

John McCain set the gold standard for presidential concession speeches 12 years ago, and his...

A protester holds a sign while marching on Wacker Drive toward Trump Tower in protest of President Donald Trump's first visit to Chicago since he was elected on Oct. 28, 2019, in Chicago.

Column: Win or lose on Tuesday, those who stood against Trump can stand with their heads held high

By Dahleen Glanton

November 2, 2020 at 5:00 a.m.

On the eve of one of the most important presidential elections of our time, I...

Voters watch updates during a 2016 election night party in northwest suburban Park Ridge, the hometown of Democratic presidential nominee Hillary Clinton.

Column: Where were you on election night 2016? We all remember. And it makes a lot of us anxious.

By Mary Schmich

October 30, 2020 at 7:00 p.m.

Tuesday, Nov. 8, 2016. Election Day. Where were you that night? Odds are, you remember....

Author-commentator Jeffrey Toobin, shown speaking in 2018 in Boston, has been suspended by The New Yorker.

Column: Toobin, Giuliani, Big Tech … ‘there can be only one’ Golden Moutza of October!

By John Kass

October 30, 2020 at 6:47 p.m.

Nothing is more disgusting and moutza-worthy than John Goodman's creepy disembodied head on a fingertip...

People fill out their ballot during early voting at Welles Park in Chicago, Oct. 14, 2020.

Column: Races I’ll be watching Tuesday night, and what I expect to see

By Eric Zorn

October 30, 2020 at 2:38 p.m.

"I don't know" is the most common response you'll hear if you ask political journalists...

President Donald Trump acknowledges the crowd during his swearing-in ceremony on January 20, 2017, at the U.S. Capitol in Washington, D.C.

Column: President Trump may be most memorable for his lies

By Clarence Page

October 30, 2020 at 2:17 p.m.

For those who occasionally have dared me to say something nice about President Donald Trump,...

Scabby the Rat, shown outside a building in the 100 block of West Washington Street on Aug. 7, 2019.

Column: Who’s afraid of Scabby the Rat?

By Steve Chapman

October 30, 2020 at 12:58 p.m.

The federal Endangered Species Act protects a wide array of threatened creatures. But it doesn't...

Survey: Seven questions soliciting your best guesses about Tuesday’s results

By Eric Zorn

November 4, 2020 at 7:20 a.m.

OK, hive mind! I've posted here an Illinois-centric click survey asking you to predict the...

The Rev. Michael Enright presides over the 10 a.m. Mass at St. Adalbert Roman Catholic Church in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood on June 26, 2016. The Chicago Academy of Music is interested in purchasing the church and renovating it into a music conservatory.

Column: In a shift, city will take first steps to grant landmark status to Pilsen’s shuttered St. Adalbert Catholic Church

By Blair Kamin

October 30, 2020 at 1:57 p.m.

As debate has raged over a proposed landmark district in Pilsen, activists kept asking why...

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