Metering is ON

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Laura S. Washington biography

Laura S. Washington, a columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times , brings more than two decades of experience as a non-profit professional and multi-media journalist who …

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Wrigleyville needs more cops on beat

Move over, Rush Street. Lake View is the new Chicago Party Central. I’m no Debbie Downer. I like a party or three. Yet, my North Side neighborhood, which includes Wrigleyville and Boystown, is an ever-swelling bastion of beer-soaked bashes. Baseball summerlong. Mega rock concerts. Football …

Candidates should be wooing women

What war on women? As the general election phase of the 2012 presidential sweepstakes kicked off last week, supporters of President Barack Obama were peddling a theory that the Republican Party and Mitt Romney, the presumed GOP nominee, are waging a war on women. They …

Republicans need woman in VP spot

Willard needs girl power. Actually, Willard “Mitt” Romney needs much more than that, but let’s take one thing at a time. As Romney steams toward the Re­publican presidential nomination, his campaign is vetting vice presidential possibilities. It is the most important choice he will make …

Rahm paving path for 2016 prez bid

Look out, Clinton, Cuomo and company. Here comes Rahm. With Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s massive “new” infrastructure pitch, the former ballerino has done a full pirouette from Chicago to the national stage. Ostentatious­ly ambitious, his “Building a New Chicago” marks the unofficial launch of a 2016 …

Preckwinkle’s bets angle at future jobs

The handicapping of the 2012 Illinois Democratic Primary is in full swing. The knives are out, the pundits are dissecting the what-ifs and would-be’s, and Toni Preckwinkle is taking her hits. Since her 2010 election, the Cook County Board president has vaulted to the top …

Secret Service incident likely not the first: Congressman

A senior House Republican says he doubts that a Secret Service scandal involving prostitutes in Colombia was a one-time incident.

Supreme Court race: You be the judge

Don’t do it. There’s a subversive notion brewing in the run-up to tomorrow’s Illinois primary. President Barack Obama has no opponent. The top of the Democratic ticket is a snore. So lifelong Democrats in our blue state are ginning up trouble. My buddy Gil Ross …

Let’s embrace our  history of protests

Chicago, be proud to protest. The angst and hand-wringing in the run-up to the 2012 NATO (sans G-8) summit is so “not” Chicago. When President Barack Obama announced he was pulling the G-8 half of the international gathering to Camp David, the conventional wisdom-ites cackled …

Rep. Jesse Jackson:  Hubris vs. humility

Humility? That notion, quaint in today’s scorched-earth political arena, has emerged in U.S. Rep Jesse Jackson Jr.’s battle for his 2nd Congressional District seat. I ran across a Feb. 28 opinion piece that nailed Jackson’s dilemma. Jackson ally and Park Forest Mayor John A. Ostenburg …

Obama crooning,  GOP gone wild

He may not be fiddling, but he is singing the blues, while the GOP burns. The man just can’t stop singing. First he serenaded his wayward base, via a stanza from Al Green’s “Let’s Stay Together.” Then, last week he was chirping “Sweet Home Chicago” …

How will NATO, G-8 summits help Chicago?

What’s in it for Chicago? I am pondering that question, three months before the ballyhooed NATO/G-8 international summits blow into our already Windy City. The summits’ cheerleaders claim that the May 19-21 meetings will bring in thousands, including heads of states, foreign ministers and diplomats; …

Exhibit opens eyes to LGBT history

Before I saw “Out in Chicago,” I thought I knew something about the LGBT community. As a “straight,” I try to tell their stories with care. After two visits to this must-see exhibit, I still have a lot to learn. The Chicago History Museum’s current …

Obama: Not hesitant to use force to defend interests

President Barack Obama said Sunday that the United States will not hesitate to attack Iran with military force to prevent it from acquiring a nuclear weapon, but he cautioned that “too much loose talk of war” recently has only helped Tehran and driven up the price of oil.

Romney shows he’s out of touch

If this were a Karaoke contest, it would already be over. In the latest twist to the wildly improbable 2012 presidential campaign, the front-runners were stumping to the sound of music. At a fund-raiser at Harlem’s Apollo Theatre, President Barack Obama, channeling his inner Al …

Demonizing foes won’t help Newt

In Newt Gingrich’s alternative universe of “radical socialism,” Bernardine Dohrn reigns atop a pedestal on Mt. Olympus. For weeks, the Republican presidential candidate has been stumping to “take back America.” He denounces President Barack Obama as a food stamp-loving socialist-commie-leftie-Saul Alinsky-acolyte. On the night of …

Still not ready to talk about race

So much conversation, but are we really talking? I mulled that question after I saw “Race,” a new production at Chicago’s Goodman Theatre. It’s the latest play by the Pulitzer Prize-winning playwright David Mamet. After successful runs in New York and San Francisco, the Chicago …

First lady right  to call it what it is

The angry black woman is fighting back. Last week, first lady Michelle Obama responded to a prevailing stereotype of the African-American woman as a militant creature who doesn’t know how good she has it and doesn’t deserve it anyway. It dates back to the shackles …

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