John Biemer

John Biemer: Some songs understand that Christmas can be a mix of joy and melancholy

December 22, 2022 at 11:00 a.m.

The older I get, the more I find myself drawn to the Christmas songs that have a touch of melancholy to them. Songs that acknowledge the complexity of Christmas emotions....

Joanne Biemer with children Jack, 14, Ellie, 12, and Charlie, 8, with their dog, Daisy, at their home in Oak Park on March 24, 2020.

Commentary: How Daisy has turned into my family’s comfort dog during the pandemic

March 25, 2020 at 10:10 p.m.

I've been hugging my dog more lately. Maybe you have been too. During these stressful, uncertain days of social distancing, quarantine and COVID-19, it's never been better to have a...

The white wall outside the studio is covered with graffiti from visitors across the globe professing their Beatles' love and quoting lyrics.

Stepping across the real Abbey Road, 50 years after release of Beatles’ landmark album

September 16, 2019 at 1:27 p.m.

We popped up from the London Underground station of St. John's Wood and noticed right away that we were in a leafier part of England's capital, outside the congested city...

Visitors watch as Gen Anderson, second from right, and John Brueggen capture "Chance the Snapper" to take him for a veterinary exam on July 25, 2019. Chance now lives in a small pound while he is under quarantine for 90 days. His area is decorated with a welcome to Florida sign and a Humboldt Park Lagoon map.

‘That’s the alligator they caught in Chicago.’ Chance the Snapper’s reputation grows at new home in Florida.

August 7, 2019 at 12:03 p.m.

The alligator that became a sensation in Chicago after turning up in a Humboldt Park lagoon last month is healthy and enjoying the good life in sunny Florida, keepers at...

With fake bears in the background, a real black bear and two cubs raid an unsecured trash container by the side of the road in the hills of Gatlinburg, Tenn.

That time when a bear broke into our minivan on a family vacation in the Smokies

August 23, 2019 at 9:16 p.m.

As we checked in and got directions to our mountain cabin, we were told we might encounter bears on the property. Don't feed them, we were warned. OK, we said....

Is a DNA test for HPV just as good as a Pap test?

Has the Pap test lost its value?

May 31, 2019 at 9:14 p.m.

The Pap test — a staple of women's health checkups for generations — is one of medicine's greatest success stories, saving the lives of countless women by detecting abnormal cells...

The home improvement store has a very familiar refrain that features a <a href="https://www.uspto.gov/sites/default/files/76368849.mp3">banjo featuring prominently</a>.

Can the human body handle a trip to Mars?

April 6, 2019 at 9:21 p.m.

The race to the Red Planet is heating up. President Barack Obama touted NASA's plans to send people to Mars by the 2030s in a recent piece written for CNN's...

Spending a month with children’s cancer

June 12, 2018 at 3:08 a.m.

After three years as a resident physician in pathology, I'd grown accustomed to seeing cancer. In fact, I see it every day. But this was different: These were just kids....

Ode to that second fridge

May 11, 2019 at 7:05 a.m.

I love our second fridge. It sits unassumingly in the utility area of our basement, next to the washing machine and dryer. It isn't quite as big as our kitchen...

Hadiya Jackson of Hanover Park is prepared for an MRI by technologist Erica Sanza at Loyola University Health System in Burr Ridge, IL.

New MRI reduces stress of test

August 19, 2019 at 6:40 a.m.

Hadiya Jackson is feeling anxious as she awaits her MRI. The Lake Park High School gymnast banged her knee doing a back walkover on the beam, and she's hoping it's...

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