This time of year, we often overlook the buildings that envelop us in the Loop as we trudge to work, shoulders bent against cruel winds and bitter cold. But we walk among giants, and that includes 311 S. Wacker Drive, the 65-story postmodern skyscraper that occupies the greater part of an entire block of prime real estate just across the street ...Read more

President Donald Trump delivered a direct, to the point speech from the rotunda of the U.S. Capitol that made it precisely clear what he intends to do over the next four years, starting immediately, to fix what he called a “crisis of trust” in government.

In a one-two-punch, Trump offered a stinging rebuke of the Biden administration and ...Read more

The first human death from bird flu in the United States occurred on Jan. 6 in a Louisiana hospital, less than three weeks before the second Donald Trump administration’s inauguration. Bird flu, also known as Avian influenza or H5N1, is a disease that has been on the watch list of scientists and epidemiologists for its potential to become a ...Read more

There are a lot of known unknowns about exactly how Republicans will approach the major tax and spending issues facing the new Congress. But one thing is clear: Low-income Americans are going to be in the crosshairs.

A “menu” of potential cuts developed by House Republicans proposes somewhere north of $5 trillion in spending reductions, the...Read more

With radical policy shifts looming in Donald Trump’s new administration, many federal employees are surely debating a difficult question: Resign? Or stick around for an agenda that troubles them? This moral calculus — whether to try to make a difference from within or leave in protest — has long challenged government workers, particularly ...Read more

I really appreciated Monday's unexpected call for unity in the Capitol rotunda, where MAGA insurrectionists mounted a deadly attack on Congress four years ago.

Unfortunately, it did not come from the petulant, vindictive President Donald Trump, who sat on a dais crowded with Trump family members, former presidents and first ladies, and members ...Read more

It isn’t possible to draw a direct line between the blizzard that clobbered Kansas City on Jan. 5 and the California firestorms. Our snow was a major inconvenience, and expensive, but the fires are an historic calamity by any measure, with deaths and injury and property loss.

The heart sinks (or soars) at every story of courage and resilience...Read more

Donald Trump promised “shock and awe” during the first days of his presidency. He didn’t disappoint the majority of Americans who understood that the country has been on a distressing course over the past four years.

Historians will record that Monday was an eventful day. Donald J. Trump, after a four-year hiatus, took the oath of office ...Read more

As U.S. TikTok users rejoice at the site’s return from its 14-hour hiatus, curmudgeonly critics — me included — wonder whether President Donald Trump can really get around the congressional statute aimed at banning it.

The short answer: Of course, he can.

True, as a legal matter, a president can’t simply suspend the operation of a duly...Read more

Whether you think Donald Trump or Joe Biden deserves the credit for pushing Israel and Hamas into a ceasefire deal is largely a sideshow to the main event. As the Tribune Editorial Board astutely observed last week, the most important thing is the substance — 15 months after the war in Gaza started, the parties were finally able to come to ...Read more

Anyone who thought the grievance-wielding, enemy-targeting Donald Trump might have taken a day off after listening to his formal inaugural speech in the Capitol Rotunda didn’t need to wait long to find out just how wrong they were.

That’s when the true Trump, the not “beautiful unifying” Trump, came out. He rattled off complaints about ...Read more

Donald Trump on Monday took an oath to “preserve, protect and defend the Constitution of the United States” and then promptly broke that oath by seeking to revoke the first sentence of the 14th Amendment: “All persons born or naturalized in the United States, and subject to the jurisdiction thereof, are citizens of the United States and of...Read more

Fires are still burning, ominous wind warnings abound, and in ravaged communities, residents are searching the rubble for possessions and pets.

Eventually decisions will have to be made — by residents, elected officials, developers and planners — about what happens to this torched land.

The people who lived and lost in communities ...Read more

Taking the oath for the second time, President Donald Trump promised sweeping changes and a “revolution of common sense” and bluntly criticized his Democratic predecessor.

“We now have a government that cannot manage even a simple crisis at home, while at the same time stumbling into a continuing catalog of catastrophic events abroad,” ...Read more

A city devastated; neighbors coming to its aid; the hunt for a scapegoat: Though the Angelenos enduring wildfires today lead lives dramatically different from those of the people who survived the Halifax Explosion more than a century ago, the stories of the two disasters intermittently rhyme.

On the morning of Dec. 6, 1917, an accidental ...Read more

Seven Illinois counties voted in November 2024 to explore seceding from the state of Illinois. Now, Indiana lawmakers want to capitalize on their dissatisfaction. Indiana’s House speaker, Republican Todd Huston, wants to adopt those counties and others whose residents are unhappy with Illinois politics, a move that would mean redrawing state ...Read more

Ashes are not the stuff of life.

I learned that in August 2023 from a mortician preparing to cremate my mother. The organic matter in a person’s body, I was told, vaporizes when burned hot enough, leaving behind the pulverized, inorganic substance we call ashes.

So what I might call “Mom” is actually a pile of inert minerals ...Read more

I was appalled to hear Chicago Teachers Union President Stacy Davis Gates’ recent remarks comparing Chicago Public Schools CEO Pedro Martinez to a special education student who cannot be suspended.

This statement is deeply offensive and perpetuates damaging stereotypes about students with disabilities who are disproportionately suspended and...Read more

I grew up seeing wine as a symbol of joy, holiness and a tool for elevating the mundane. From the weekly Kiddush (a blessing said over a wine cup) on Shabbat to holidays like Purim, Passover and Simchat Torah, wine occupies a sacred space in Judaism.

But this month, the surgeon general’s advisory on alcohol’s link to cancer has shaken me. ...Read more

The end of 2024 and the beginning of 2025 have brought an onslaught of terror attacks and tumult. While the incidents that occurred over the last several months may not be connected, they do usher in a sense of chaos and fear.

As a country, to meet this moment of terror, we must all look both outwards and inwards.

All while balancing the ...Read more