Metering is ON

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Mark Brown biography

Mark Brown is a local news columnist for the Chicago Sun-Times who writes about everything from political corruption to family life. Roger Ebert once called …Read More

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  • Chicagoans deserves to know who paid for protesters at school hearings

    With all due respect to Sara Paretsky’s latest novel, the hottest mystery in Chicago right now is: “Who Paid for Those Rent-a-Protesters?” I hope you’ve been following this one closely, because it may be the most delicious little whodunit since the never-solved mystery of who …Read More

  • Think twice, Dems, before voting for Newt Gringich in the primary

    Northfield Township Democratic Committeeman Michael Kreloff was still one of those lakefront independent types who occasionally found a Republican candidate to his liking when he ran for 49th Ward committeeman back in 1980. His opponent was Mike Brady, a young hotshot in Mayor Jane Byrne’s …Read More

  • Illinois Democrats might be tempted to cross over in March

    As someone who normally votes for Democrats, I’ve been following the battle for the Republican presidential nomination with a mixture of detachment and indifference. I figured I didn’t have any say in the matter, so until it’s over, why worry about whether Republicans pick Romney, …Read More

  • Jury selection needs reform

    Late Tuesday, U.S. District Judge James Zagel put an end — for now — to the latest flap over whether a juror’s failure to disclose her criminal background had unfairly tainted a high-profile federal conviction. But Zagel’s finding that Illinois Republican powerhouse William Cellini is …Read More

    • Libraries have become more than just a quiet place to read

    I spent a shivering couple of hours Monday morning with Chicago Public Library workers protesting outside the Bucktown-Wicker Park Branch. There was hot chocolate and picket signs. “Honk if you love libraries,” was the most popular, judging by the constant refrain of horns sounding along …

  • Despite council approval, ward remap could still face a fight

    Now that Chicago aldermen have avoided your input by joining forces to ram through new ward boundaries, the question is whether that map will pass legal muster. And there’s at least some interesting speculation that it won’t. For decades now, the most formidable challenges to …Read More

  • New aldermanic wards for one-third of Chicagoans

    As early as Thursday or next week probably at the latest, an estimated one-third or more of Chicago residents will be living in a new ward. They’ll be in two wards, actually, one old and one new, thanks to a ward redistricting plan that an …Read More

  • Mayor Rahm Emanuel deserves blame and credit for open government

    If I weren’t a jaded, cynical newspaper reporter, I’d swear I just witnessed democracy in action at City Hall on Tuesday. As a matter of fact, despite being a jaded, cynical newspaper reporter, I’m pretty sure I saw more signs of democracy at work than …Read More

    • Demonizing the wealthy is 100 percent wrong

    I have a confession to make. I aspire to be part of the 1 percent. Is that wrong? I don’t really think so, which makes it slightly disingenuous of me to label this a confession. But considering all the angry things that have been said …

    Preckwinkle stands firm on not holding illegal immigrants in jail once bond is posted

    Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle called Wednesday to say she is not backing down from a new county ordinance that some are blaming for allowing an illegal immigrant accused in a fatal drunk driving accident to skip the country. Instead, Preckwinkle said she’ll ask …

    New jobs don’t really help displaced factory workers

    It’s coming up on six years since a group of then-soon-to-be-unemployed factory workers sat me down in a church basement to sketch out what quite honestly struck me as a quixotic proposal. Their employer, Cooper Lamp Co., was shutting down its big old factory on …

    Public seems intrigued by new sushi-serving Walgreens store

    Istood outside with the riff-raff Monday evening as the important people on the invitation-only list were ushered inside for the private grand opening party. The wine was flowing, and waitresses brought around plates of fresh-made sushi for the well-heeled crowd while waiting for speeches by …

    Just one witness could solve crime

    It was three years ago today that 18-year-old David Hresil stepped off a CTA bus on 59th Street on his way home from school — never to make it that far. There was snow on the ground and more on the way, and David was …

    Incumbents rather run unopposed

    Given the chance, most politicians would just as soon run unopposed for election. That might seem obvious on the one hand and counterintuitive on the other — politicians allergic to real elections. But it bears stating aloud in light of Wednesday’s strange tale of the …

    Candidate: I got job offer to exit

    State Sen. Steve Landek, who doubles as the mayor of Bridgeview, held a private meeting last week in a Toyota Park skybox suite with the man who is running to replace him, self-styled community activist Raul Montes Jr. What Landek didn’t know, Montes says, is …

    Turns out a man can have too many T-shirts

    A man can never own too many T-shirts, I always say. I’ve said dumber things, but that failed philosophy is at the root of what I call my “T-shirt collection.” It’s not really a collection, of course, more of an accumulation — the logical result …

    ‘Doesn’t pay to get old in Illinois’

    What can Brown do for you? Besides delivering any last-minute packages, that is. It seems many readers want Brown to give them a chance to add their two cents to last week’s column about Ellen Levine, the 71-year-old Niles woman who honked off about her …

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