'When are we going deer hunting again?" Gilbert's question took me by surprise, as they so often do. You never know where that dog comes up with some of this stuff. To the best of my recollection, I answered carefully, we've never been deer hunting.
One of the real joys of homeownership is that you never really know what unanticipated expense is going to jump up and bite you when you least expect it -- stuff like repairing the roof, replacing the furnace or removing a tree.
The evidence is complete in the Tony Rezko trial, and while I'd rather hear the closing arguments before predicting a verdict, one outcome is already clear:
During his last three years as a Waukegan police detective, Tom Granger has specialized in enforcing the laws related to identity theft.
No, I don't think it makes somebody a racist to favor a candidate other than Barack Obama for president, and yes, there are many more valid ways to reach that viewpoint than those that I suggested on Wednesday.
It's not usually my style to beat a dead horse, but today I can't help myself. Barack Obama and his presidential campaign are at a crossroads, brought there in large part by his old pastor, the Rev. Jeremiah Wright.
Here's what I don't get about the whole brouhaha concerning Barack Obama and the Rev. Jeremiah Wright:
Mark Brown: An Illinois politician stands on the precipice of the Democratic presidential nomination, his fate squarely in the hands of the good people of Indiana. Uh-oh. I'm getting a bad feeling here. If Barack Obama still harbors any hopes of driving a stake through the heart of Hillary Clinton's presidential ambitions before the nomination process reaches this summer's convention, the experts say he's going to have to win the May 6 Indiana primary.
As everybody knows, Peter Fitzgerald is the guy who had the foresight to pick a then-unfamiliar New York prosecutor named Patrick Fitzgerald for the job of U.S. attorney in Chicago.
Mark Brown: Tammy Duckworth and husband Bryan Bowlsbey have each sent the other off to the Iraq war, and now each has returned. But here's the part that might surprise you, especially considering that Duckworth came back without her legs: they both will tell you the one who was left at home probably had it the roughest.
You could say Swantell McKinley got killed fighting over a Cubs jacket, except the fight wasn't really about the jacket.
Fresh from defending the use of town firefighters to demolish his pool house, a south suburban mayor has some more explaining to do about his home rehab project.
Aurelia Diaz, knock it off. Stop using Laura Stotler's Social Security number.
You didn't believe it, did you? You didn't believe it until you saw the big cat laid out on that concrete slab. You didn't believe there was a cougar running loose in the Chicago area.
By the end of the day, the following exchange was little more than an inconsequential aside in the Tony Rezko trial, but it caught my attention.
The students from Bogan High School were just getting off the bus Friday morning at Walter Payton College Prep when I showed up to report on what was billed as the kickoff for a citywide peace campaign.
A fellow could grow old and very hungry waiting for Sun-Times outdoors writer Dale Bowman to invite him along on a morel mushroom hunting trip.





