Congratulations on your raise! On Thursday, the four-year income tax hikes that Gov. Pat Quinn signed into law will begin to roll back. You'll keep more of the money you earn.

The native prairie tallgrasses look lifeless in late December. But even in the drab sepia of winter they promise the same vivid spring brilliance as when they covered 60 percent of Illinois, some 22 million acres. Today, owing to urbanization, agriculture, invasive species and suppression of...

Talk about poking the bear with a sharp stick. Ukraine's parliament overwhelmingly voted Tuesday to rile Russian President Vladimir Putin by moving to join NATO. If that happens, another of Russia's neighbors would come under the protective umbrella of the West.

Six months ago, Gov. Pat Quinn signed a bill that, when it takes effect next Thursday, will enrich every citizen of Illinois: It adds the black bear, gray wolf and cougar to the state's list of protected species. More on that smart move in a moment.

With the U.S. Senate now the world's most prominent crusader against highly questionable American intelligence practices, Wikileaks, the site that once released whistleblower bombshells about U.S. military operations abroad and torture in the Guantanamo Bay detention camp, has been reduced to...

The following dialogue between a father and his son began over Thanksgiving dinner. What does one generation owe another? What have the retiring baby boomers achieved and what challenges do the rising millennials face to make their lives, our nation and our world better than what they have...

It used to hold some appeal, being born on Dec. 26. It was cool to open presents two days in a row and to explain why my middle name is Noel.

If I were a cartoonist, a phrase cartoonists are loath to hear, I'd sketch a chubby imp donned in a diaper, sporting a chia mohawk and munching the last Big Mac on Earth, while straddling a nuclear-armed missile that bears a striking resemblance to Dennis Rodman.

The 2013 Christmas season brought our family a bag of mixed emotions. On Dec. 17, our son took his father to the emergency room at Christ Hospital and to our surprise, he was having a heart attack. On Dec. 19, he had a quadruple bypass. By the grace of God, an excellent surgeon, surgical...

One Christmas season my best friend and neighbor, Donna, and I decided to go Christmas shopping together to the Ford City shopping center. Between us we had seven children, so we were laden down with lots of packages when we were finished. When we came out of the mall, it had started to snow...

The big day was coming. I could hardly wait to tear off the brown wrapping paper. I knew there would be a beautiful doll inside. Every year, my aunt sent my sis and me a doll apiece, knowing it was our only gift.

The worst holiday season memory I have is the year when many diverse and relatively insignificant matters prevented my entire family from being able to be together as was our respected tradition.

Hey, you in the ugly Christmas sweater. Read this:

The U.S. military has embarked on an air campaign over Iraq and Syria with a name that has invited derision — Operation Inherent Resolve. That got us to thinking about why war lingo is so strange. And what a good time to examine that — as we mark the 73rd anniversary of the Pearl...

It's nearly Thanksgiving, also known as the Olympics of Eating. But after reading these 10 examples of unusual dining, you might be inspired to cut back a bit.

When Republican Bruce Rauner claimed victory Tuesday in a bitter race for governor, his speech set off a whole new wave of controversy. He told supporters he had called Democratic legislative leaders Michael Madigan and John Cullerton, "and I said to them, 'This is an opportunity for us to work...