Local Columnists

The Great Experiment is over. We survived more than six years as a one-car family with a one-car garage in multiple-car suburbia.

Most columnists are comfortable going after public officials – calling out their shortcomings and misdeeds in pieces ranging from epic prose to shrill screeds.

Last week was the annual road trip to see my mother in Georgia. 

Writer’s note: Since we now are finding ourselves in the graduation ceremony season, I thought I’d share one retired teacher’s perspective of what goes through our minds this time of year…

State lawmakers continue to twiddle their thumbs on pension reform, arguably the most significant issue facing Illinois in a generation.

McHenry County's second specialty court reached a milestone this week, graduating its first group of offenders who successfully completed drug court as an alternative to the traditional criminal justice system.

Illinois Supreme Court Chief Justice Thomas Kilbride will be in McHenry County later this month for a noble cause.

The last time I wrote about cats, a humorless reader objected and used my name in the pejorative sense in her reply.

If members of the Illinois Republican Party didn’t know they were standing at a crossroads, the departure of Chairman Pat Brady is the signpost they were looking for.

The Blackhawks truly have had a tremendous amount of success this season.

I like to talk. It’s usually not too hard for me to find people to talk to. The big problem is keeping them from walking away. Maybe that’s why I like writing this column so much, because it’s kinda like you and I are having a conversation, except I get to do all of the talking and all you can do is just listen. Having fun yet?

Writing this column was not a part-time job for my father. Community journalism was his life. Before he died Friday, at age 90, he had already put in two hours at his desk, read several newspapers, and turned in a column well before deadline. I was blessed to have arrived from Denver the night before for a long-planned visit and to be holding his hand when he passed quietly, most likely from a heart attack.

World War II veteran John L. “Jack” Sebesta initially wasn’t sure he wanted to make the trip.

I don’t believe in a God who consigns certain people to tragic lives of pain and suffering while rewarding others with strength and fullness.

Like people in many professions, journalists enjoy a chance to talk shop.