Everything is terrible. But, there’s still hope.

In the Chicago area, business leaders see the growth of a service economy driven by an expansion of tech firms and independent practitioners looking to capitalize on the demands of a 21st-century marketplace.

Ok, I’ll admit it. I have Santa Claus issues.

As the U.S. Supreme Court ponders whether to overturn Roe vs. Wade, all eyes are on Justice Amy Coney Barrett—and her religious beliefs.

The number-one reason innocent people go to prison is because of government misconduct.

I was digging around in a barn loft a while back collecting things that had been stored away for half a century.

There is no place more miserable to be on Thanksgiving Day than in a buffet line in a Las Vegas casino.

Always assume the gun is loaded.

Small Business Saturday was founded by American Express in 2010 to help bring more customers to local shops.

I’m not sure if I really understand forgiveness, but I can acknowledge its value.

When I was a little kid, my cousin, Jay Standring, was so famous that I thought a potato chip was named after him.

Every city council or school board has issues large and small that impact the lives of the people it serves.

Rich people own professional sports teams, and for some reason, politicians just can’t resist shoveling cash their way.

I’m not sure what I expected our country to look like in 2021, but I certainly didn’t expect it to be so fractured and bogged down in hate.

So, who is “James Doe?”

Willie Moore was a Black man who endured segregation and saw the school where he taught integrated after a long fight for racial equality.

As Americans fled Kabul and desperate Afghans sought to follow, Jerry and Brett Young stood in the yard of their rural Rochester, Ill., home recently and remembered their boy who never got to see his 26th birthday.

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.