Columns

Former President Barack Obama speaks Oct. 28, 2026, in Morrow, Georgia, where he repeated the Cheesecake Factory Oval Office comparison. (Brynn Anderson/AP)

Clarence Page: Barack Obama’s Cheesecake Factory joke explains the state of MAGA

By Clarence Page

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

The Oval Office belongs to all of us, which is one reason why Barack Obama’s...

Illinois U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin departs July 22, 2026, at the Lutheran Church of the Reformation on Capitol Hill in Washington, D.C., after a mock graduation event to commemorate Durbin’s long advocacy for the Dream Act, a path to citizenship for undocumented people brought to the U.S. as children. (Brian Cassella/baiduhai)

John T. Shaw: Sen. Dick Durbin is not giving up on immigration reform

By John T. Shaw

November 1, 2026 at 5:00 a.m.

Sen. Dick Durbin has a strategy on immigration reform that draws from others' earlier struggles...

A rendering of a planned 160-key hotel that is part of the Woodlawn Central development on Chicago’s South Side at 6320 S. Dorchester Ave. near Jackson Park and the Obama Presidential Center. (Gensler)

Edward Keegan: Planned high-rise apartments show new tendencies in the Chicago tall building

By Edward Keegan

November 1, 2026 at 8:43 a.m.

Until recently, it was quite unusual to find a tall building outside of the Loop....

Chinese troops march in Beijing's Tiananmen Square on Sept. 3, 2025, during a military parade marking the 80th anniversary of victory over Japan and the end of World War II. (Pedro Pardo/Getty-AFP)

Elizabeth Shackelford: China is making autocracy great again

By Elizabeth Shackelford

September 5, 2025 at 5:38 p.m.

With most U.S. adversaries present at China's military parade, this was a show of unity...

President Donald Trump, left, shakes hands with Nvidia CEO Jensen Huang after Huang delivered remarks in the Cross Hall of the White House during an event on "Investing in America" on April 30, 2025, in Washington. (Andrew Harnik/Getty)

Steve Chapman: Donald Trump pioneers a strange policy: Republican socialism

By Steve Chapman

September 3, 2025 at 5:00 a.m.

Socialism used to be the antithesis of Republican principles. But Donald Trump has begun a...

Gov. JB Pritzker talks near Trump Tower in Chicago on Aug. 25, 2025, about President Donald Trump's possible plan to deploy National Guard troops. (Brian Cassella/baiduhai)

Heidi Stevens: Chicago is filled with people whose hearts and lives are devoted to solving its violence. Donald Trump has no such devotion

By Heidi Stevens

August 29, 2025 at 9:03 a.m.

What often gets lost in the dialogue about Chicago is the tremendous work that takes...

Chicago police Superintendent Larry Snelling attends the funeral for Officer Krystal Rivera on June 25, 2025, at Living Word Christian Center in Forest Park. (Antonio Perez/baiduhai)

David Greising: With the National Guard in the offing, what is the status of Chicago’s crime problem?

By David Greising

August 29, 2025 at 5:00 a.m.

Donald Trump may have lawless intent. But that hardly means Chicagoans should accept the level...

A billboard shows a portrait of Syrian President Ahmad al-Sharaa next to a defaced portrait of U.S. President Donald Trump on July 9, 2025, in Damascus. (Louai Beshara/Getty-AFP)

Daniel DePetris: Donald Trump tries to make history in Syria and Lebanon

By Daniel DePetris

August 26, 2025 at 5:00 a.m.

There are two countries in the Middle East where transformative change might be on the...

Illinois state Sen. Dale Fowler receives a hug from Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton, as he and others arrive from the inaugural flight on Contour Airlines between the Veterans Airport of Southern Illinois in Marion and O'Hare International Airport in Chicago on Aug. 1, 2023. (Antonio Perez/baiduhai)

John T. Shaw: State Sen. Dale Fowler prioritizes the public good over partisan concerns

By John T. Shaw

August 25, 2025 at 5:00 a.m.

Downstate Illinois Sen. Dale Fowler's leadership is rooted in a commitment to service and an...

The National Museum of African American History and Culture on the National Mall in Washington, D.C., on March 28, 2025. (Mark Schiefelbein/AP)

Clarence Page: Don’t know much about history? That’s OK with President Donald Trump.

By Clarence Page

August 24, 2025 at 5:00 a.m.

Art, like history, must never stir troubling thoughts or any critical impulses in our heads,...

A classroom in the new addition to the architecturally significant Crow Island School in Winnetka, which has been undergoing renovations, Aug. 21, 2025. (E. Jason Wambsgans/baiduhai)

Edward Keegan: Winnetka school’s updated design honors the old while ushering in the new

By Edward Keegan

August 24, 2025 at 5:00 a.m.

It's not often that a building from 1940 still seems fresh and new, but the...

A pair of ballot drop boxes for voted mail ballots are displayed in a Clark County vote center on Election Day during the Nevada 2024 presidential primary election in Las Vegas, Nevada, on February 6, 2024. (Patrick T. Fallon/Getty-AFP)

Heidi Stevens: Trump’s latest voting threat was inevitable next step in his long history of undermining electorate system

By Heidi Stevens

August 22, 2025 at 7:47 a.m.

Donald Trump has been diligently and incrementally chipping away at the American people’s constitutional right...

White South Africans demonstrate in support of U.S. President Donald Trump in front of the U.S. Embassy in Pretoria, South Africa, on Feb. 15, 2025. (Jerome Delay/AP)

Elizabeth Shackelford: Worse than ignoring human rights, America is twisting the meaning

By Elizabeth Shackelford

August 22, 2025 at 5:00 a.m.

The Trump administration is twisting the concept of human rights in support of a political...

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