Rick Kogan

Born and raised and still living in Chicago, Rick Kogan has worked for the Chicago Daily News, Chicago Sun-Times and the Tribune, where he currently is a columnist. Inducted into the Chicago Journalism Hall of Fame in 2003, he hosts “After Hours with Rick Kogan” on WGN radio and is the author of a dozen books, including “A Chicago Tavern.

Tony Fitzpatrick with some of the puzzles that have been created from his artwork, on May 9, 2020. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)

Tony Fitzpatrick, a Chicago artist in many realms, dies at 66

October 12, 2025 at 3:37 p.m.

Tony Fitzpatrick had recently published a new book, “The Sun at the End of the Road,” filled with his distinctive art, poetry and prose. Some consider it a memoir.

Tonika Lewis Johnson with an exhibit of her Folded Map Project, which compares North and South Side addresses, at Englewood Branded in Chicago on Nov. 6, 2019. (Erin Hooley/Chicago Tribune)

MacArthur 2025 ‘genius grant’ winners include a Chicago photographer

October 9, 2025 at 2:25 p.m.

Tonika Lewis Johnson's artwork includes the acclaimed Folded Map Project. She's one of 22 new MacArthur Fellows, announced on Wednesday.

Brian McCarty, Greg Blake, Dan Eubanks and Greg Cahill of bluegrass band Special Consensus in Millennium Park in Chicago. (Karen Murphy)

Column: Special Consensus celebrates its half century of unlikely bluegrass glory

October 8, 2025 at 5:00 a.m.

When Greg Cahill formed this band 50 years ago, there were few other bluegrass bands from Chicago. The road has taken some turns.

In 2020, Chicago artist Tony Fitzpatrick shows off in his home in Chicago’s Humboldt Park neighborhood some of the puzzles that have been created from his artwork. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)

Column: Tony Fitzpatrick has a new book, and maybe new lungs

October 2, 2025 at 3:50 p.m.

“The Sun at the End of the Road” is a new collection of artwork, poetry and essays, published this month. The author has to celebrate, for now, at the Rush...

Office workers were sent home early on Jan. 26, 1967, when it became apparent that this was not going to be an ordinary snowfall. This group is waiting for the bus on Michigan Avenue in front of Tribune Tower. (Otto Kleiber/Chicago Tribune)

Column: WTTW’s new ‘Chicago Stories’ gives us Blago, blizzards and Frangos

September 24, 2025 at 1:22 p.m.

This fall's season of the longtime documentary series opens with an episode on Chicago blizzards and concludes in late October with a remembrance of the Marshall Field's department store.

Crowds gather for a candlelit processional titled There is Hope for the Broken, on May 31, 2019, in Chicago. The processional was led by the Broken Mary statue radio host Kevin Matthews found, pieced back together and wrote a book about. (Chris Sweda/Chicago Tribune)

Column: In Kevin Matthews’ new ‘Broken Mary’ movie, his life takes a turn after finding a broken statue

September 23, 2025 at 5:00 a.m.

The documentary was six years in the making and premieres Oct. 7 in movie theaters all over the Chicago area.

A mariachi band member places an order at the drive-thru window of the McDonald’s restaurant on Cermak Road. He was part of a troupe of performers participating in the Cinco de Mayo parade in Chicago's Pilsen neighborhood in the year 2000. (Antonio Perez/City 2000)

Column: New exhibit revisits CITY 2000, Gary Comer’s powerful message to the future

September 17, 2025 at 9:22 a.m.

CITY 2000 involved more than 200 photographers, videographers and journalists who would spend all of 2000 roaming the city and capturing moments both ordinary and extraordinary.

Mixologist Melissa Weaver at the Tavern on Rush bar where she is currently working as a server, Sept. 8, 2025. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)

Column: Mixologist Melissa Weaver dreams of a tavern to call her own

September 16, 2025 at 5:00 a.m.

Though the word “mixologist” was not coined until the mid-1800s and didn’t move into common usage until this century, we have seen some “interesting” bartending experiments.

The Uptown Theatre at 4816 N. Broadway in the Uptown neighborhood of Chicago on Sept. 10, 2025. (Eileen T. Meslar/Chicago Tribune)

Column: Will there be more birthdays for the Uptown Theatre? A new book looks at its history

September 10, 2025 at 2:18 p.m.

“The Uptown: Chicago’s Endangered Movie Palace” captures the building’s amazing history, but also serves as a call to action, an argument for salvation.

Author James Tehrani in his Vernon Hills home on Sept. 3, 2025. Tehrani has written the first biography of the famous child star Carl "Alfalfa" Switzer, who is best known for his role in the "Our Gang" series. The book is titled "Alfalfa: The Rascal You Knew, the Character You Never Knew." (John Konstantaras/for the Chicago Tribune)

Column: Writer James Tehrani’s first book is ‘Alfalfa — The Rascal You Knew, the Character You Never Knew’

September 9, 2025 at 5:00 a.m.

James Tehrani may know more about Carl Switzer/Alfalfa than anyone on the planet and the proof peppers the pages of his entertaining biography.

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