Columns

Comedian and political satirist Bill Maher waves to the stage during the 27th annual Mark Twain Prize for American Humor celebrating Maher on June 29, 2026, in Washington. (Kevin Wolf/AP)

Clarence Page: Beware the charm of our rising chatbots

By Clarence Page

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

Besides the existential risks of artificial intelligence, consider how AI chatbots insinuate themselves in the...

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 19, 2026 at 8:09 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...

Hayo Tikba (The Fire Inside), 2019 by Santiago X (Koasati/Chamoru) part of the The Chicago Architecture Biennial held at the Chicago Cultural Center on Sept. 17, 2019.

Column: Chicago Architecture Biennial will go on next year with new format and gritty subject matter: Finding creative uses for city’s vacant lots

By Blair Kamin

October 21, 2020 at 3:23 p.m.

The show — the architecture show, that is — will go on. After weeks of...

Senate Majority Leader Sen. Mitch McConnell takes an elevator as he leaves a Senate Republican policy meeting on Capitol Hill in Washington on Sept. 17, 2020.

Column: Second stimulus check unlikely, but Americans will get free ‘Went Broke For Amy Coney Barrett!’ T-shirts

By Rex W. Huppke

October 21, 2020 at 3:55 p.m.

A second stimulus check for American workers struggling through the coronavirus pandemic is unlikely to...

Former U.S. Labor Secretary Robert Reich participates in a discussion at the Center for American Progress Action Fund on March 5, 2019, in Washington, D.C.

Column: Truth and Reconciliation Commissions? Why not just make ready the guillotine?

By John Kass

October 21, 2020 at 5:03 a.m.

Just as Democratic Party elites and Big Tech try to stamp out the Hunter Biden...

President Donald Trump speaks during a campaign rally at Southern Wisconsin Regional Airport in Janesville, Wisconsin, on Oct. 17, 2020.

Column: Black support for Trump is a mirage, despite what foul-mouthed rappers say

By Dahleen Glanton

October 21, 2020 at 5:00 a.m.

If you have been paying attention to the news lately, it might appear as though...

Democratic vice presidential candidate Sen. Kamala Harris, D-Calif., speaks to supporters at a campaign event on Oct. 19, 2020, in Orlando, Fla.

Column: Voting in Kamala’s shoes — the power of a candidate’s sneakers

By Mary Schmich

October 21, 2020 at 5:00 a.m.

Let's get the criticism of this column out of the way upfront: The most important...

Welcome back, everyone, to the Tweet of the Week poll

By Eric Zorn

October 26, 2020 at 11:47 a.m.

Instructions: Click the box next to each tweet that amuses you -- no limit to...

Flowers and notes left by well-wishers outside Comet Ping Pong, the pizza restaurant in northwest Washington, D.C.,are shown, where a North Carolina man fired an assault rifle multiple times as he attempted to "self-investigate" the conspiracy theory known in the Twitterverse as "Pizzagate" on Dec. 9, 2016.

Column: The rise of QAnon isn’t surprising. Americans have long been sucked into conspiracy theories.

By Clarence Page

October 20, 2020 at 3:13 p.m.

I'm no less shocked than anybody else by the rise of the wacky QAnon conspiracy...

President Donald Trump waves goodbye to the crowd after speaking at a campaign rally Oct. 17, 2020, at Southern Wisconsin Regional Airport in Janesville.

Column: Trump calls Fauci an ‘idiot,’ says rallies are ‘BOFFO’ while coronavirus rages on

By Rex W. Huppke

October 19, 2020 at 4:11 p.m.

As hospitals fill up with COVID-19 patients in Wisconsin and Chicagoans face a second surge...

Valparaiso High School's Carter Finucane waves a flag before the football game against Chesterton High School on Sept. 18, 2020, in Valparaiso, Indiana.

Column: Gov. Pritzker? The kids want to play.

By John Kass

October 16, 2020 at 7:31 p.m.

Though Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has shut down many youth and high school sports in...

Letters sent by Catherine Moran Lee in 1945 to her husband, Leo Lee, in 1945.

Column: Love letters in the alley: When a Chicago cop finds a stash of old letters in the trash, he’s transported to Chicago during World War II. And vows to get the letters back to the family.

By Mary Schmich

October 16, 2020 at 3:45 p.m.

One day this summer, in the midst of the pandemic, Eric Wolforth took a walk...

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