Editorial: Next U.S. Attorney is “natural leader”
For decades, one of the most important political jobs in Illinois has been held by a series of men most of us never heard of. These men, successive U.S. attorneys for the northern district of Illinois, have wielded considerable power to do good — to …
Editorial: Reject concealed gun bill
Does this sound like a good idea in a city struggling with gun violence: Wipe every anti-gun-violence law off the books, and make it impossible to write new ones? We don’t think so, which is why we shudder at the thought of the concealed-carry bill …
Editorial: Fighting crime the smart way
As recently as three years ago, more than 1,300 young people were locked up in juvenile prisons in Illinois, costing the state a small fortune, from $88,000 to $98,000 per inmate. Now, thanks in part to Redeploy Illinois, a program that has made it possible …
Editorial: Gaming Board must have authority over Chicago casino
Chicago would become the only city in the nation to own a casino under legislation now working its way through Springfield. That’s why it must be absolutely clear in the bill that the Illinois Gaming Board has just as much authority to regulate Chicago’s casino …
Editorial: Spare 21 of 54 schools facing ax
Fifty-four Chicago public schools are on the chopping block, to be consolidated with 55 other schools this summer. In total, the lives of 30,000 students will be changed forever if the board of education approves these closures on Wednesday. That’s a record number for the …
Editorial: Judge should step aside
The writer Nelson Algren had a rule for life: Never make love to a woman whose troubles are greater than your own. Might we suggest a similar rule for criminal court judges: Never preside over a trial involving questions of ethical misbehavior when you yourself …
Editorial: How to enjoy a drink without driving drunk
If you were a 120-pound woman and drank more than just a single beer within 90 minutes before hitting the road, would it be fair if the cops charged you with drunken driving? What if you were a 160-pound man and drank more than two …
Editorial: The hollow promise of a better school
In deciding whether to shutter Manierre Elementary School near the old Cabrini-Green housing project, the CEO of the Chicago Public Schools was given a long list of considerations she was allowed to take into account — or ignore. There is, for one, a multi-generational history …
Editorial: Questions galore on McCormick arena plan
Should Chicago do more to attract conventioneers and tourists? Sure. We see great promise in that. Is McCormick Place a notoriously cold space with a Goldilocks problem — sometimes too big or too small — that could use some warming up, beginning with a couple …
Editorial: A fair draw on guns
No one is happy with a bill permitting the concealed carrying of weapons that passed out of the Illinois Senate Executive Committee Thursday by a 10-4-1 vote. But the bill — the result of a months-long effort by state Sen. Kwame Raoul to find a …
Editorial: Hazing doesn’t happen if adults do their jobs
Hazing in high school athletics, whether relatively minor or rising to the level of criminal assault, happens only when adults fail at their jobs. In a healthy culture of student sport, principals and coaches send a constant message that every athlete is to be treated …
Editorial: CPS invited lawsuits
The vote to close 54 Chicago public schools hasn’t even happened yet and the first lawsuits already were filed in federal court on Wednesday. No surprise there. What is surprising is how willingly CPS invited these suits. For months, this page has argued that no …
Editorial: Angelina Jolie uses her celebrity to promote option of making informed choices
Is Angelina Jolie a hero? No. But she never set out to be one, which makes her choice to go public about double mastectomy in a New York Times op-ed on Tuesday that much more admirable. Jolie, who revealed she underwent the preventive surgery this …
Editorial: Right call for the CTA’s Red Line
Back in the 1990s, all 20 miles of the Green Line were shut down for a year and four months of rehabilitation. That puts the upcoming five-month partial shutdown of the Red Line’s Dan Ryan branch into perspective. The work is scheduled to be finished …
Editorial: Check out all abuse claims against one cop
In Brooklyn, the district attorney’s office has ordered that about 50 murder cases — all linked to one detective — be reviewed because of questions about the officer’s tactics. Cook County, which also has a number of controversial cases linked to a single detective, should …
