Eric Zorn

People demonstrate Jan. 5, 2021, at the Thompson Center for a bill for an elected board of education for Chicago Public Schools.

Column: Mayor Lori Lightfoot’s idea of an ‘elected school board’ in Chicago is no such thing. Thankfully.

April 16, 2021 at 8:59 p.m.

In the 2019 mayoral campaign scrum, two main camps emerged among the candidates regarding the issue of replacing Chicago's appointed school board with members elected by voters. One was the...

An inmate uses a phone at Logan Correctional Center, Aug. 16, 2019, in Lincoln.

Column: Phone calls should be free for prison inmates

April 15, 2021 at 9:13 p.m.

South Side Democratic U.S. Rep. Bobby Rush on Tuesday reintroduced a bill to limit the often exploitatively high rates on phone calls to and from prison inmates. It's a good...

Have your Tweet of the Week poll and take it, too

April 16, 2021 at 5:15 p.m.

Instructions: Click the box next to each tweet that amuses you -- no limit to the number of choices. Voting closes Friday at noon Chicago time. Winner is published in...

A man walks past George Floyd "I can't breathe" artwork along 18th Street in Chicago on Nov. 4, 2020.

Column: What do ‘sparks of life’ have to do with George Floyd’s death?

April 13, 2021 at 9:42 p.m.

Jurors at former police Officer Derek Chauvin's murder trial in Minneapolis learned Monday that George Floyd, the victim, was inept in the kitchen but he did make "the best banana-mayonnaise...

Chicago police investigate the scene where evidence was found near the 1000 block of South Lake Shore Drive following a shooting in which a young boy was wounded in downtown Chicago, April 6, 2021.

Column: Eyes front. Drive like a chicken. Avoid road rage.

April 11, 2021 at 12:00 p.m.

If you drive in the Chicago area and ever find yourself pulling up next to me at a stop light, feel free to pick your nose or chew a sandwich...

A flower is seen in an alley at 24th Street and Sawyer Avenue in Chicago's Little Village neighborhood on April 1, 2021. Thirteen-year-old Adam Toledo was shot and killed at that location by a Chicago police officer on March 29.

Column: No, ‘Where were his parents?’ is not an important question

April 9, 2021 at 2:17 a.m.

Response has been very heavy to my column earlier this week urging a wait-and-see response to the police killing of 13-year-old Adam Toledo. Most of the email was positive, but...

The sun rises to the east on March 29, 2021, as police investigate the scene where a Chicago police officer fatally shot a person near the corner of 2400 South Sawyer Avenue, behind Farragut Career Academy High School.

Column: Let’s wait before turning slain 13-year-old Adam Toledo into a martyr

April 6, 2021 at 10:02 p.m.

It's too early to say with confidence just what happened in a Little Village neighborhood alley at 2:38 a.m. March 29, when police shot and killed Adam Toledo. Officials have...

Thoughts and prayers for those who pass up the chance to take this super-sized Tweet of the Week poll

April 9, 2021 at 5:16 p.m.

Instructions: Click the box next to each tweet that amuses you -- no limit to the number of choices. Voting closes Friday at noon Chicago time. Winner is published in...

U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger speaks with the media before attending a gun violence hearing in 2019 at Kennedy-King College in Chicago.

Column: GOP Rep. Adam Kinzinger is at war with Trumpism, but GOP ‘tribes’ are heavily against him

April 5, 2021 at 8:16 p.m.

The good news for Illinois U.S. Rep. Adam Kinzinger is that fundraising for the political action committee he's organized to reclaim his Republican Party from the soulless grasp of former...

People in support of transgender rights rally outside the Alabama State House in Montgomery, Ala., on March 30, 2021.

Column: Trans bans in sports pose a harder question than most advocates are willing to admit

April 1, 2021 at 10:39 p.m.

When it comes to youth sports, how should we define "girl"? I posed this question via email this week to the National Center for Transgender Equality because I'm trying to...

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