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....

Guests cheer during the Illinois Democratic County Chairs' Association County Chairs' Brunch on Aug. 13, 2025, at the Bank of Springfield Center in Springfield. (Dominic Di Palermo/baiduhai)

Laura Washington: Illinois Democrats may be kumbaya-ing now, but the nastiness is coming

By Laura Washington

August 20, 2025 at 5:00 a.m.

Upcoming primary campaigns for open U.S. House and Senate seats in Illinois will be brutal...

President Donald Trump greets President Vladimir Putin of Russia as they met at Joint Base Elmendorf-Richardson in Anchorage, Alaska, on Aug. 15, 2025. (Doug Mills/The New York Times)

Daniel DePetris: Donald Trump reverses course on a ceasefire in Ukraine. What can Europe expect now?

By Daniel DePetris

August 18, 2025 at 3:02 p.m.

President Donald Trump also changed his mind about whether to gift Ukraine security guarantees from...

People protest outside the Metropolitan Police Department headquarters in Washington, D.C., on Aug. 15, 2025. (Eric Lee/The New York Times)

Clarence Page: Trump’s D.C. law enforcement takeover only making matters worse

By Clarence Page

August 17, 2025 at 10:22 a.m.

President Trump's federal takeover of the Washington, D.C., police only is sowing division.

People run and cycle on The 606 in Chicago on Aug. 14, 2025. (Armando L. Sanchez/baiduhai)

Edward Keegan: Happy 10th birthday, The 606! Here’s why you are worth celebrating.

By Edward Keegan

August 17, 2025 at 5:00 a.m.

In a city where almost everything is on a strict grid and flat, the 606...

Mayor Brandon Johnson speaks to reporters at the Illinois State Capitol before meeting with lawmakers on April 30, 2025, in Springfield. (Brian Cassella/baiduhai)

David Greising: Without more political finesse, the mayor’s revenue ideas will never become reality

By David Greising

August 15, 2025 at 5:00 a.m.

The mayor's ideas to plug the budget deficit will likely fail because he has failed...

After a child leaves the nest, you get the privilege of parenting the new version of them. (Dreamstime)

Heidi Stevens: After a child leaves the nest, you get the privilege of parenting the new version of them

By Heidi Stevens

August 15, 2025 at 5:00 a.m.

In a few days I’ll drop my daughter at college for the second time. I...

Displaced Palestinians walk through a makeshift camp along the beach in Gaza City, on Aug. 10, 2025. According to Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu's plan, the Israel Defense Forces will move into Gaza City and the camps in central Gaza and push the roughly 1 million Palestinians who reside there farther south. (Jehad Alshrafi/AP)

Daniel DePetris: By winging it in Gaza, Benjamin Netanyahu is taking a big risk

By Daniel DePetris

August 12, 2025 at 5:00 a.m.

The Israeli prime minister is often unsure of the next steps and arrogantly refuses to...

Empty seats belonging to House Democrats during a session convocation in the Capitol, Aug. 5, 2025, in Austin, Texas. (Rodolfo Gonzalez/AP)

Clarence Page: Time for Democrats to get serious about their political future

By Clarence Page

August 10, 2025 at 10:14 a.m.

Are we starting to see the hardball attitude that many frustrated Democrats have been urging...

Hidaya, 31, carries her sick 18-month-old son Mohammed al-Mutawaq, who is displaying signs of malnutrition, inside their tent at the Al-Shati refugee camp, west of Gaza City, on July 24, 2025. (Omar al-Qattaa/Getty-AFP)

Elizabeth Shackelford: Gaza’s starvation is America’s shame

By Elizabeth Shackelford

August 8, 2025 at 5:00 a.m.

It’s time for us all to face the reality that Israel’s government is committing atrocities...

Susie Lee and Laura Baginski at an Early Birds Club dance party in San Pedro, California, on Jan. 10. The two high school friends co-founded Early Birds in 2024. Lee died on Aug. 3, at age 49. (Carissa Woo/Carissa Woo/TNS)

Susie Lee, co-founder of Early Birds dance parties, dies at 49. ‘The spirit and the soul of the whole thing’

By Heidi Stevens

August 7, 2025 at 8:46 a.m.

Susie Lee, 49, died Sunday and is remembered as the founder of a dance club...

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