All Stories
Op-ed: Let’s honor DuSable by getting rid of the high-speed highway on the lake
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...
Op-ed: Where young asylum-seekers find safe refuge
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....
Op-ed: The case against dibs — a lousy ‘tradition’
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...
Op-ed: Pandemic traffic: It’s not your imagination — it’s bad out there
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,...
Commentary: Facebook has become ghoulish, so I’m taking a break
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
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...
Commentary: Back to church: The weird, comforting feeling of being together again in the COVID-19 era
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...
Illinois Tollway slashes late fees on unpaid tolls to $3 from $20
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...
From closed rest areas to drive-thru testing limitations, truck drivers face rough road during coronavirus pandemic
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...
31-year-old bicyclist trapped under truck, critically hurt in Northwest Side collision
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...