Columns

This image from CCTV video released by Saudi Arabia's Media Ministry shows passengers taking cover as flames and smoke fill part of King Khalid International Airport in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, during what authorities described as a strike at the airport on Oct. 10, 2026. (Saudi Media Ministry via AP)

Daniel DePetris: Resumption of war between Houthis and Saudis is bad timing for Donald Trump

By Daniel DePetris

October 12, 2026 at 1:27 p.m.

The attacks in Saudi Arabia come when Donald Trump is in a standoff over the...

Attorneys for Christa Pike hold a news conference after a judge ruled the Tennessee Department of Corrections must preserve all evidence related to the failed execution of Pike, on Oct. 7, 2026, in Nashville, Tennessee. (George Walker IV/AP)

Clarence Page: A botched execution shakes our death penalty presumptions

By Clarence Page

October 12, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

The botched execution of Christa Pike offers a gross illustration of the cruelty that capital...

Chicago school board president candidates Jessica Biggs, Hilario Dominguez and Victor Henderson participate in a forum at the Copernicus Center on Sept. 29, 2026. (Chris Sweda/baiduhai)

David Greising: The race for Chicago school board president is about ideas — and character

By David Greising

October 10, 2026 at 10:01 a.m.

It will take savvy strategic thinking, backed by the character needed for leadership, to make...

People rally at the White House Ellipse on Jan. 6, 2021, which preceded the attack on the U.S. Capitol. Text messages between Virginia Thomas, wife of Supreme Court Justice Clarence Thomas, and Mark Meadows are the first evidence that she directly advised the White House in efforts to reverse results of the 2020 presidential election.

Clarence Page: Burner phones and Ginni Thomas’ paranoid ways

By Clarence Page

April 1, 2022 at 4:26 p.m.

Character, according to an old saying, is defined by what you do when you think...

Chris Rock, left, and Will Smith onstage during the 94th Academy Awards at the Dolby Theatre on March 27, 2022, in Hollywood, California.

Column: An Oscars slap is an odd time to check the nation’s moral compass. But could it point us toward grace?

By Heidi Stevens

June 7, 2024 at 11:51 a.m.

Three weeks into Russia's lethal invasion of Ukraine, two years into a pandemic — surrounded,...

Will Smith attends the 94th Academy Awards in Hollywood, California, on March 27.

Clarence Page: Will Smith’s slap embarrassed more than Hollywood, although that’s a start

By Clarence Page

March 29, 2022 at 5:57 p.m.

If you think you've heard enough about what some are calling Will Smith's "slap heard...

U.S. Supreme Court nominee Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson answers questions from Sen. Josh Hawley, R-Mo., during her confirmation hearing before the Senate Judiciary Committee on Capitol Hill on March 22 in Washington.

Clarence Page: Little room for rationality in attacks on Ketanji Brown Jackson’s record

By Clarence Page

March 25, 2022 at 5:42 p.m.

The Supreme Court nomination hearing for Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson should have gone down as...

Flowers for Dreams co-founders Joseph Dickstein, left, and Steven Dyme celebrate the company's 10-year anniversary and the milestone of $1 million in charitable donations on Feb. 7, 2022.

Column: Chicago florist tracks down woman in Ukraine who’s selling flowers through the war

By Heidi Stevens

June 7, 2024 at 11:51 a.m.

In early March, two weeks into Russia's assault on Ukraine, Steven Dyme watched a clip...

Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson testifies on her nomination to become a U.S. Supreme Court associate justice during a Senate Judiciary Committee confirmation hearing in Washington on March 22.

Clarence Page: Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson’s defense background matters too

By Clarence Page

March 22, 2022 at 5:28 p.m.

When Mitch McConnell, the Senate's Republican leader from Kentucky, suggested that Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson...

Marchers make their way toward the St. Pete Pier in St. Petersburg, Florida, on March 12, 2022, during a march to protest the controversial "Don't say gay" bill passed by Florida's Republican-led legislature.

Clarence Page: Free speech is under assault, but we still need to talk

By Clarence Page

March 18, 2022 at 4:14 p.m.

After witnessing Vladimir Putin brutally, yet routinely, assault basic freedoms in Russia and Ukraine, it...

Chicago artist Richard Hunt, left, and Ida B. Wells' great-granddaughter Michelle Duster, lower right, unveil a plaque with an image and quote under a monument in honor of journalist and activist Ida B. Wells in Chicago's Bronzeville neighborhood on June 30, 2021.

Clarence Page: TV’s ‘Gilded Age’ tries to fill a gap in Black history

By Clarence Page

March 15, 2022 at 5:07 p.m.

Hey, is that young Black actor in HBO's "The Gilded Age" supposed to be Ida...

Actor Jussie Smollett speaks to Judge James Linn after his sentence is read on March 10, 2022, at the Leighton Criminal Court Building.

Clarence Page: Jussie Smollett’s sideshow mocks real tragedies

By Clarence Page

March 11, 2022 at 7:46 p.m.

True to his profession, actor Jussie Smollett reacted to his sentence of jail time for...

A demonstrator holds a sign saying "United Against Putin" outside the White House in Washington, D.C., on March 6, 2022, during a rally in support of Ukraine.

Heidi Stevens: ‘There is no far away.’ With memories of war in her own country, my friend pleads for unity with Ukraine.

By Heidi Stevens

June 7, 2024 at 11:51 a.m.

My dear friend Audra is from Lithuania. She was born in Vilnius, Lithuania's capital, and...

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