Mary Wisniewski

Automobiles on Lake Shore Drive pour back into the city after a holiday weekend on July 6, 1947. This photo was taken at 7:30 p.m. from the North Avenue Bridge. From the 1940s to the '70s, a section north of North Avenue featured a unique, though problem-plagued, system of curb-high lane barriers that could be raised or lowered to provide six lanes in the direction of rush-hour traffic instead of the standard four lanes in each direction.

Op-ed: Let’s honor DuSable by getting rid of the high-speed highway on the lake

June 16, 2021 at 10:27 p.m.

Next week, the City Council could vote to rename Lake Shore Drive in honor of Jean Baptiste Point DuSable, the Haitian-born trader known as the founder of Chicago. Though the...

Rosette, an immigrant from Congo, pulls weeds outside at the Bethany House of Hospitality on May 17, 2021, in Chicago.

Op-ed: Where young asylum-seekers find safe refuge

May 18, 2021 at 11:37 p.m.

The young people at Viator House and Bethany House, two Chicago-area group homes for immigrants seeking political asylum, seem like typical college-age kids — full of fun, ambition and energy....

A toy car stakes a claim on a shoveled-out parking spot on Huron Street and Damen Avenue on Chicago's West Side on Jan. 12, 2009.

Op-ed: The case against dibs — a lousy ‘tradition’

February 4, 2021 at 6:46 p.m.

As a protest against dibs, a guy in my neighborhood has deposited his dog's poop on people's dibs markers — their chairs and coolers and traffic cones. It's gross and...

Morning rush traffic along the inbound Kennedy Expressway on Nov. 11, 2020, in Chicago.

Op-ed: Pandemic traffic: It’s not your imagination — it’s bad out there

December 21, 2020 at 7:52 p.m.

Like a lot of us trying to stay sane during the pandemic, I take daily walks. And I've noticed that while more people are on the sidewalks getting their exercise,...

The scariest thing about Halloween this election year may be Facebook.

Commentary: Facebook has become ghoulish, so I’m taking a break

October 23, 2020 at 8:23 p.m.

Bored with the pandemic, my neighbors are going all out for Halloween. One yard is covered with skeletons — pushing their way out of the ground, walking skeleton dogs, driving...

Commentary: Another change during the pandemic — I’m using the good china

August 24, 2020 at 5:52 p.m.

I'm using Ma and Dad's wedding china. I'll sometimes have tea in a gold-rimmed cup with a matching saucer, or put my peanut butter-and jelly sandwich on a fancy dessert...

Worshippers arrive for noon Mass at Holy Name Cathedral in Chicago on July 10, 2020.

Commentary: Back to church: The weird, comforting feeling of being together again in the COVID-19 era

July 24, 2020 at 6:52 p.m.

I've been going to church again, and it's weird. Not bad weird, or good weird. Just surreal weird, like a banana with a mustache. It's like a lot of things...

The Illinois Tollway board on Thursday voted on reforms that will slash the penalty for an unpaid toll to $3 from $20 for passenger cars, and substantially cut existing debts for those with outstanding violations and fines.

Illinois Tollway slashes late fees on unpaid tolls to $3 from $20

June 25, 2020 at 6:27 p.m.

The Illinois Tollway board voted Thursday on reforms that will slash the penalty for an unpaid toll to $3 from $20 for passenger cars, and substantially cut existing debts for...

Truck driver Brenda Echols of JKC Trucking Inc. at Summit Cold Storage in Summit, May 15, 2020. Echols drives between Illinois and Texas.

From closed rest areas to drive-thru testing limitations, truck drivers face rough road during coronavirus pandemic

June 25, 2020 at 4:24 p.m.

Life as a long-haul trucker has always had its challenges — boredom, bad traffic and tough schedules. But the coronavirus pandemic has added new problems, with closed rest stops and...

A bicyclist peddles past Chicago police and investigators at the scene where a female bicyclist was run over by a vehicle on West Belmont and North Milwaukee avenues in Chicago's Avondale neighborhood June 23, 2020. The woman is in critical condition.

31-year-old bicyclist trapped under truck, critically hurt in Northwest Side collision

June 23, 2020 at 9:24 p.m.

A city of Chicago truck driver ran over a 31-year-old bicyclist Tuesday morning on the Northwest Side, trapping her under the vehicle, authorities and witnesses said. The 31-year-old woman was...

All Stories