Bob Secter

Chicago police monitor a prayer vigil in front of the Chicago Police Department headquarters in memory of Laquan McDonald and to call for a federal investigation into the case, Nov. 30, 2015.

Four new Laquan McDonald shooting videos raise more questions

May 25, 2019 at 6:24 p.m.

Newly released videos from four additional police vehicles at the scene of the 2014 shooting of Laquan McDonald raise questions about how the city's Police Department documented the killing of...

Mariel refugees clapped and cheered after arriving in Key West by boat from Cuba in April 1980.

Republicans’ stance on Syrian refugees is telling

May 11, 2019 at 7:47 a.m.

One of the more astute observations about the collision of politics and principle came a few years ago not from a philosopher or a political scientist but rather TV satirist...

Republican presidential candidates, from left, John Kasich, Mike Huckabee, Jeb Bush, Marco Rubio, Donald Trump, Ben Carson, Carly Fiorina, Ted Cruz, Chris Christie and Rand Paul take the stage during the CNBC Republican presidential debate at the University of Colorado, in Boulder, Colo., on Oct. 28, 2015.

The GOP political whining, not the scrutiny, is what’s new

May 11, 2019 at 7:45 a.m.

The all-out vetting of Barack Obama began early in his first presidential campaign, at one point prompting the then-Democratic Illinois senator to express unease in a 2007 interview with the...

Gov. Bruce Rauner, left, and Democratic House Speaker Michael Madigan.

War of words not helping Rauner, Madigan resolve impasse

May 15, 2019 at 8:05 p.m.

Speaking to a Chicago gathering of business students last month, Gov. Bruce Rauner related how a professional mentor long ago had instilled in him the importance of embracing the golden...

Gov. Rauner, a longtime equity investor with a broad portfolio, reported adjusted gross income of $57.5 million for 2014.

Rauner made $57.5 million in 2014

May 15, 2019 at 8:02 p.m.

Gov. Bruce Rauner shattered state records for personal campaign spending in 2014 yet still earned $20 million more than he spent on politics, his tax returns show. Rauner, a longtime...

Mayor Rahm Emanuel attends the CPS sports alumni breakfast Sept. 30, 2015, at Dunbar Vocational High School in Chicago.

Mayor’s planned property tax breaks could hurt many renters, small businesses

May 15, 2019 at 8:01 p.m.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel has framed his record $588 million property tax hike plan around the notion that it will include breaks for those of modest means, but hundreds of thousands...

Andrea Zopp, Democratic candidate for the U.S. Senate, speaks with the Chicago Tribune Editorial Board on Aug. 31, 2015.

Senate hopeful Zopp: Byrd-Bennett’s ties to firm were ‘a plus, not a negative’

May 15, 2019 at 7:55 p.m.

Chicago Public Schools CEO Barbara Byrd-Bennett's ties to SUPES Academy were viewed as "a plus, not a negative" when the consulting firm landed a $20.5 million no-bid contract now linked...

Since Scott Walker became governor of Wisconsin in 2011, the share of public workers who belong to a union has dropped from nearly half to less than one-third, one analysis found.

Walker’s anti-union crusade pivotal to White House run, damaging to labor

August 21, 2019 at 10:47 p.m.

As Wisconsin Gov. Scott Walker shapes his presidential campaign to appeal to the GOP's deeply conservative base, perhaps nothing is more fundamental than playing up his reputation as a union...

The parallels between Rod Blagojevich and Donald Trump are striking: the goofy hair, the mad-as-hell-and-I'm-not-going-to-take-it-anymore swagger, the knee-jerk name-calling and the appetite for attention.

Trump, Blago joined at the (shoot-from-the) hip

August 19, 2019 at 1:06 a.m.

Many people are wondering how Donald Trump, for all his excesses and eccentricities, could be doing so well in the presidential primary polls. The answer to that mystery may be...

Some Rod Blagojevich convictions tossed; wife tells him disappointing news

August 18, 2019 at 6:19 p.m.

More than three years ago, Rod Blagojevich stood with his family on the steps of his Chicago bungalow and vowed to dozens of supporters to fight to overturn his conviction...

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