Author Image: Stephan Benzkofer

Stephan Benzkofer

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Actor Tommy Lee Jones, left, and former Vice President Al Gore, attend a 2005 film premiere in New York. The two men were roommates at Harvard University.

10 things you might not know about college

As college students return to classes, Illinois institutions of higher learning are in the news. The University of Illinois dismissed football coach Tim Beckman over alleged mistreatment of his players....
Rush Street in the 1950s was a time when an alcoholic was a "character," a stripper was practicing art and a prostitute could garner respect.

10 things you might not know about Chicago taverns

Happy-hour discounts have returned to Chicago bars under legislation signed recently by Gov. Bruce Rauner. And when Donald Trump insulted Mexican immigrants last month, a Chicago watering hole became part...
The Chicago flag's four stars represent Fort Dearborn, the Great Chicago Fire, the World's Columbian Exposition and the Century of Progress Exposition.

10 things you might not know about flags

These are banner days for some flag-wavers but not for others. South Carolina recently removed the Confederate battle flag from its Capitol grounds. But a Russian political party opposed to...
Jack Harris, 10, left, and Truman "Pat" Kirkpatrick, 16, play music in their Oak Park tree fort as they compete for the tree-sitting endurance record in July 1930. The boys quit July 15, 1930, at the request of their parents after having spent 115 hours in an oak tree.

Summer fun: Go sit in a tree

During the summer of 1930, America's kids took to the trees. Long before social media linked the nation's youth, the tree-sitting craze raced across the country, infecting kids in Chicago,...
Reenactors fire muskets near the Sons of the American Revolution's French Monument on the campus of St. John's College in Annapolis, Md.

10 things you might not know about patriots

These are tough times for patriotism. In March, a Georgia man who described himself as a "patriot" was charged with planting a bomb in the hope that Muslims would be...
George Washington, 50, of the 500 block of Sheridan Road, had a 50-foot-long American flag made for him in 1943 to show his patriotism. Chicago has been honoring Old Glory's June 14, 1777, birthday since at least 1892.

Thank a Chicagoan for Flag Day

If you enjoy Flag Day, you can thank a Chicagoan. Which Chicagoan is up to you. Though Flag Day has been celebrated nationally since President Woodrow Wilson's proclamation in 1916,...
Why is a labor stoppage called a "strike"? Learn the history of the term and nine other facts about unions.

10 things you might not know about unions

Illinois has become a battleground over worker rights, with Gov. Bruce Rauner pushing for right-to-work zones to diminish the power of unions while labor forces rally to organize fast-food staff....