It came out of nowhere.

On a cold December night, Cook County Sheriff’s Office police responded to a frantic 911 call from a family whose son was behaving erratically and threatening to kill himself.

Over the past few days, I have had an opportunity to chat with several fellow veterans, service members, military family members and Gold Star families.

In the maelstrom of economic chaos generated by the COVID-19 virus, small-time landlords are struggling to stay afloat.

Sometimes hearts, rather than policies, need to be changed.

Under a well-intentioned, but really dumb, bill that passed both state houses on May 31 and was sent to Gov. J.B. Pritzker on June 29, pet shops can sell dogs and cats only if they are obtained from a pound or rescue group.

As demonstrators in Havana, Cuba, marched through the streets earlier this month waving U.S. flags, former Illinois Gov. George Ryan sat in his Kankakee home, watched the reports on television and remembered another controversy regarding the Stars and Stripes and Cuba.

It’s finally safe for children in Illinois to sell lemonade without fear of government overreach.

Nothing is more annoying in public policy than people who complain but don’t offer solutions.

Police officers are agents of state violence.

Imagine living in a place where police can detain children and lie to them to obtain confessions for crimes they did not commit.

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot landed in a maelstrom of controversy last month when she said she only would allow “journalists of color” to interview her for pieces about her first two years in office.

History books are filled with people accomplishing what once was believed impossible.

Five years ago, I opened up my credit card bill and nearly keeled over.

For nearly a year, I have been running into the reality of Chicago politics in our own neighborhood.

Politicians lie to get elected.

Imagine a state government with the worst credit rating in the nation borrowing money to pay off the personal debts of individuals with six-digit incomes who are buying homes that cost as much as $500,000.

Matt Creemens went on Facebook looking for a babysitter and ended up donating a kidney.

State Rep. Curtis Tarver (D-25th) is a man on a mission to reform Illinois law enforcement by eliminating a special legal protection given to cops.

No sooner did the knees touch the floor than the politicians’ complaints started flying.

Do you ever think about how stable our neighborhoods are?

Dr. Seuss, P.D. Eastman and Beverly Cleary were among my favorite authors when I was learning to read.

Despite its suburban reputation, some of the most appealing parts of Beverly/Morgan Park are its decidedly un-suburban characteristics.

When government fails, it’s the rare public official who says, “Oops, my fault.”

Every year, some Illinois legislator proposes a bill to remove public notices from being published in newspapers and to allow units of government to post their public notices on their websites.

“It’s not our problem.”

“This is no time to engage in the luxury of cooling off or to take the tranquilizing drug of gradualism.” –Martin Luther King, Jr.

You can call it haggling, dickering, bargaining or whatever you want, but negotiating gives me purpose.

Do miracles really happen?

The nun’s ruler snapped across Anne Burke’s knuckles as she struggled to form words onto a page.

We live in a society where it is unacceptable to ridicule a candidate’s race or religion, but increasingly, a politician’s physical size is fair game. As politics have become increasingly mean-spirited, fat “jokes” have become more commonplace. Politicians such as former New Jersey Gov. Chri…

The political obituaries for Illinois Speaker of the House Mike Madigan may well be premature.

Tis the season to be jolly, but for many small business owners, it’s anything but.

A candidate concession speech is an important rite in a democracy that is done, not for the benefit of the winner or the loser, but as a means of honoring the voters and our system of government.

As we live through this pandemic and other social problems, I am reminded of advice from my dad who lived through the Great Depression.

Thank you to the donors, supporters and volunteers who have restored Beverly’s iconic Castle!

Recently, I picked up my 15-year-old daughter from school and told her I had an interview with a Supreme Court justice that afternoon.

A friend who is an old newspaperman contacted me the other day and wanted to know what I thought of the local newspaper no longer endorsing political candidates.

Two books have helped me grapple with the federal government’s response to the pandemic with which we continue to live.

It is effortless to name the critical concerns of our time.

I put my white bucks away.

There’s no way of sugar-coating this: 2020 has been nothing less than catastrophic.

Gov. J.B. Pritzker hired a lot of expert talent to guide his $5-million “It Only Works if You Wear It” campaign to encourage Illinoisans to wear a facemask.

One of the most indelible memories in an adult’s life is the first week away from home.

If it can happen to Art Turner, it can happen to just about anyone.

On July 30, three Chicago Police Department (CPD) officers were shot and wounded when a carjacking suspect opened fire in the 25th District police station’s loading bay. On July 28, for the second time in 2020, a member of the CPD died by suicide. During a recent weekend, 59 people were shot…