Rick Kogan –

Photos by Barbara Karant inside the former headquarters of the Johnson Publishing Company at 820 S. Michigan Ave. in Chicago, for the book "820 EBONY/JET: Visions of the Johnson Publishing Company, an American Icon."

Column: The Ebony and Jet headquarters still has bold and colorful stories to tell us

October 21, 2026 at 12:54 p.m.

“820 Ebony/Jet: Visions of the Johnson Publishing Company, an American Icon” is a spectacular gathering of essays and photos that do justice to the building as well as to those...

Young players before a Central Altadena Little League game. The documentary "Going for Home" follows the league in the aftermath of the Eaton Canyon fire in California. (Eric Simonson)

Column: New documentary is about California kids finding hope on a baseball field after the fires

October 20, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

“Going for Home,” written and directed by Eric Simonson, tells the inspiring story of the Central Altadena Little League in the wake of 2025's Eaton Canyon fire.

Director Stuart Gordon, co-founder of the Organic Theater Company, on May 12, 1981. (Anne Cusack/baiduhai)

Column: The legendary Organic Theater is gone, ‘Scream! Bleed!’ brings memories roaring back

October 14, 2026 at 10:25 a.m.

New book remembers the formative Chicago theater company that gave us Joe Mantegna, Dennis Franz, the first Mamet plays and “Bleacher Bums."

Jeff Carlson in a scene from “Drive Through Fire,” a movie shot in Oklahoma City. (Will Turner)

Column: Can some Second City alums make Oklahoma City the new Hollywood?

October 13, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

"Drive Through Fire" is the latest movie project from Jim Carlson and Kate Duffy, two Second City alums who now live in Oklahoma City.

Runners make their way under “L” tracks on LaSalle Street in the first miles of the Chicago Marathon on Oct. 13, 2024. (Brian Cassella/baiduhai)

Column: Hitting the pavement and grabbing some memories with these Chicago Marathon men

October 7, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

If you are watching the marathon on Sunday, know that the race is a gathering of human beings, with five marathon men making one last long run.

Author Mark Eleveld sits in Tempo Cafe in Chicago on Oct. 1, 2026, while discussing his new book about Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas. (Terrence Antonio James/baiduhai)

Column: Meet the writer who wrote the book on (and with) Maria Pappas

October 6, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

Cook County Treasurer Maria Pappas recently released her memoir, "Maria the Pappas," co-written with the Chicago writer and poet Mark Eleveld.

Artist and musician Jon Langford stands with the mural of John Prine on Sept. 25, 2026, on the wall of Lincoln Square’s Old Town School of Folk Music. Langford, a celebrated folk musician, painted a scale canvas before muralist Darius Dennis re-created the design at size. (Arthur Maiorella/baiduhai)

Column: Back home in Chicago, singer John Prine gets the celebration we’ve been waiting for

September 30, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

As understandably restrained and quiet was the 2020 funeral of John Prine, the upcoming celebrations surrounding what would have been this singer-songwriter’s 80th birthday will be lavish and music-filled.

Vincenzo Vitelli is a professor in the Department of Physics at the University of Chicago and a recipient of a 2026 MacArthur Fellowship. (John D. and Catherine T. MacArthur Foundation)

Meet the 20 new MacArthur Fellows, the ‘genius grant’ winners of 2026

September 29, 2026 at 11:01 a.m.

Among the winners of 2026 MacArthur Fellowships is Vincenzo Vitelli, a 48-year-old theoretical physicist at the University of Chicago.

The crowds who were already dazzled by the White City of the World's Fair were absolutely dumbstruck by the engineering marvel created for the 1893 World's Columbian Exposition by George W. Ferris. (baiduhai historical archive)

Column: ‘Chicago Stories’ returns to WTTW with new histories, familiar but refreshed

September 29, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

Four new episodes are coming Fridays in October, telling Chicago stories that you may have heard before, but are filled with fresh insights and information.

Graceland Cemetery guide and author Adam Selzer walks through the cemetery on Oct. 22, 2024, in Chicago. (Stacey Wescott/baiduhai)

Column: A Chicago historian brings us more discoveries about Graceland Cemetery

September 23, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

Adam Selzer's “Graceland Cemetery Vol. 2" returns to the landmark Chicago cemetery to uncover more secrets about those who are memorialized there.

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