Chicago Sun-Times :: Today's Columists ::

Red-light cameras could take a turn for the better

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 04:00 CST

Sen. John Millner says that if it were put to a vote, he expects most people in Illinois would favor getting rid of red-light cameras altogether.

Picture this: An 'only in Illinois' week

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 04:00 CST

After the last, bizarre week in politics, what with the hooker and pawnbroker, razor-thin victories and narrow defeats, the toppling of the Stroger legacy, and a Republican primary for governor up in the air, I asked myself is there anything at all that I know for sure.

Fighting words: In the name of Allah

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 04:00 CST

In Malaysia last month, there was vicious rioting after high court judge Lau Bee Lan issued a ruling on the proper naming of God. A complaint had been lodged by Muslim groups that local Christians were using the word Allah in their services and publications. (In the Malay language, that happens to be the word for God, a term Christians find it hard to do without.) The high court finding was very narrowly drawn; it said that the Catholic Herald could say Allah in its Malay-language edition, provided that the paper was sold "only on church grounds and bearing the label FOR NON-MUSLIMS ONLY." Even this restriction was too lenient for the Islamists. Several churches and convents have been firebombed and defaced. According to an Associated Press report, the authorities believe that "making Allah synonymous with god may confuse Muslims and ultimately mislead them into converting to Christianity." The danger of this seems small -- most of Malaysia's 2.5 million Christians are ethnically Chinese or Indian, and indeed there is a slight but unmistakable racist tinge to the Malayan Muslim demand for an ethno-linguistic monopoly on the word for the deity.

If a business cares, it�ll shovel

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 04:00 CST

On big snow days in Chicago, you get a barometer of how much a business cares when you see its response to the storm.

Patrick Daley had talked of re-upping in Army

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 04:00 CST

War games . . .

Michelle Obama vs. childhood obesity

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 04:00 CST

WASHINGTON -- First lady Michelle Obama kicked off her "Let's Move" drive on Tuesday, an agenda of nutrition and exercise programs designed to eliminate "the epidemic of childhood obesity" in a generation.

Ridding schools of junk food

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 04:00 CST

A major focus of first lady Michelle Obama's "Let's Move" anti-obesity drive is encouraging schools to serve healthier school breakfasts and lunches. The aim is to combine voluntary and mandatory programs to rid schools of junk food. An important driver of change is through the federal Child Nutrition Act, up for reauthorization in Congress this year.

Sibling discord rattles foundation of family

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 04:00 CST

David Roeder: Since its founding in 1927, Kenny Construction Co. of Northbrook has been one of the premier problem-solving firms in Chicago. It was the company Mayor Daley called to help with the freakish "Loop flood" in 1992. From its expertise in construction and public works, the parent Kenny Industries expanded into an empire that included about $100 million in real estate assets. But the company couldn't fix a problem within itself. Its family owners have torn themselves apart.

Hawks, Wolves trigger hockey revival in Chicago

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:01 CST

Carol Slezak: They say this is a football town first, followed by baseball, then basketball. Hockey? A distant fourth. It has been that way for the last couple of decades or so. Maybe forever. Hockey, bringing up the rear in Chicago. A niche sport, nothing more. But it's time to reconsider that notion.

Duo driven by gold rush

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 00:01 CST

Chicago native Ben Agosto and Tanith Belbin ended a 30-year U.S. Olympic ice-dancing medal drought when they won silver at Turin in 2006.

'Candide' on tap for Goodman

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 04:00 CST

Hedy Weiss: Mary Zimmerman, who has been stirring up audiences at New York's Metropolitan Opera House in recent seasons, heads back to Chicago next fall with a new take on "Candide." The production, along with four others announced today, will be part of the Goodman Theatre's 10th season in its Dearborn Street home.

Next negotiates rugged battleground in 'Haifa'

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 04:00 CST

One can only begin to imagine the endless micro-calibrations discussed as Evanston's Next Theatre prepared to present the world premiere of M.E.H. Lewis' play, "Return to Haifa."

'Desperate' time for Levi

Wed, 10 Feb 2010 04:00 CST

Bill Zwecker: Following up on his posing for Playgirl, Levi Johnston reportedly is expanding his "acting" horizons. Word has it, Sarah Palin's daughter's baby daddy will have a three-episode arc on "Desperate Housewives." No word on a plot line, but Johnston supposedly will be a boy toy for one of the long-running series' main characters.

Abstinence should be first -- but not only -- sex education option

BY DR. LAURA BERMAN drberman@bermancenter.com — Wed, 10 Feb 2010 04:00 CST

The debate over sex education was heightened last week as a result of a new study that found that abstinence-only sex education might be effective in preventing teenage sexual activity.