Columns
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To respond to reality, state needs to fix structural tax deficitJun 06, 2025 4:00 am - Guest columnist Ralph Martire: Illinois has cut real spending on core services like education and healthcare by 12% since 2000 due to a structural budget deficit caused by a tax system not designed for the modern economy.
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The role of ‘Homes & Garden’ in a seasonal artistryJun 05, 2025 1:27 pm - Columnist Jim Slusher: As spring arrives, suburban gardens burst into color, transforming neighborhoods into art galleries, thanks to dedicated amateur gardeners inspired by sources like the Sunday Homes & Garden section.
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A Gold Star Wife’s request for Memorial DayMay 26, 2025 4:00 am - Guest columnist Katie Stack: Marine Lance Corporal James Stack was killed in Afghanistan on November 10, 2010. His wife Katie became a Gold Star widow and requests that on Memorial Day, we thank fallen heroes at memorials, gather with meaning, and teach children about those who died for our freedom.
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Public defender reforms promise a fairer kind of democracyMay 25, 2025 4:00 am - Guest columnist K. Edward Copeland: As we move into the next stage of passing the FAIR Act, the legislature must prioritize independence for public defenders.
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O’Donnell: Flanders Fields puts a Wrigley Field All-Star Game in perspectiveMay 24, 2025 5:10 pm - THE GRAY-HAIRED FELLOW WAS ONCE a high school second baseman with a determined spirit but weak bat. He later missed Vietnam only because a fortunate opening put him in a ...
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Lawmakers must act to protect communities from transit crisisMay 23, 2025 4:00 am - Guest columnist Jeff Schielke: State legislators must act before the close of the legislative session this month to enable new, sustainable transit funding and reforms, without which communities will face harmful service cuts.
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The unique lessons hiding within a familiar type of pictureMay 22, 2025 4:00 am - Columnist Jim Slusher: Graduation photos may seem repetitive, but each one captures a unique moment in time for an individual. The images reflect community value, the transition to adulthood and much more.
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Keeping the degrees of separation close to the new popeMay 15, 2025 4:00 am - Some statisticians claim that each of us is no more than six degrees of separation from any other person on the planet. With that as a rough measure, Chicagoans were che...
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Why let SAVE Act restrict access to a right we all agree on?May 11, 2025 4:00 am - Guest columnist : Despite consensus on upholding voting rights and rule of law, the SAVE Act restricts eligible citizens' ability to vote. Congress must craft a reasonable solution protecting all citizens' franchise.
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The complicated, unproductive search for ‘the narrative’May 08, 2025 4:00 am - Columnist Jim Slusher: When I taught high school journalism back in the 1970s, it wasn’t hard to lean on famous quotes that attempt to summarize some formula for deciding what deserves to be reported and how. But the truth today - as in the past really - is that news judgment cannot be compacted into a single clever phrase.