Walter Jacobson's Perspective

Now that both political conventions have come and gone, how about thinking back to those magical days of the Olympics on TV, the amazing athletes, their skills and sportsmanship and friendships in picture-perfect Paris. Just what we needed to interrupt that terrible news about war in Ukraine and Gaza. The wildfires in California. Unbearable heat […]

The night before the Democrats convened their presidential convention in Chicago, there was a civil rights Rainbow PUSH convention going on in honor of the Reverend Jesse Jackson of Chicago. An event not as spectacular as the Democrats. But for me, something extra special to think about because, in Chicago politics, Reverend Jackson and I […]

Just four days now until the Democrats begin their presidential nominating convention in Chicago. Many months after City Hall in Chicago has been agonizing over what may happen here next week, hoping it’s not what happened during the Democrat convention here in 1968, 56 years ago. Horrible things that still hurt to remember but are […]

Thanks, but no thanks, to Donald Trump and Kamala Harris and to the Olympic athletes in Paris who are causing me to watch a lot of television that is clarifying for me a trick of the television trade to make money. More and more money. We’re all watching that trick. You know, those never-ending television […]

Oh, so wild are the politics of campaigning for president. If you’ve had enough of it by now, you might turn your attention to the US Supreme Court and some good news you may be missing. The court has declared it will not rule, or even consider, a request by the national gun lobby to […]

The shock and terror of an attempted assassination of Donald Trump and another weekend of gun violence in Chicago. I’m trying to find something good to think and feel about. How about the 20th birthday of Millennium Park, also known as Millennium Campus? It’s been 20 years since it all began and has now become […]

In our windy, wonderful Chicago, the only thing more powerful than a politician is a newspaper. Specifically, the Chicago Tribune being read every day by hundreds of thousands of people. Which means that what the Tribune says matters. A lot. Three days ago, on page one of the Tribune’s opinion section, its columnist Laura Washington, […]

Summertime is trouble time and a good time to say “bravo” to a Chicago Alderman trying to prevent trouble. That’s Alderman Brian Hopkins of the 2nd Ward, which includes part of the downtown business district and West Loop, River North, and Streeterville. Hopkins has proposed an 8:00 PM curfew for children under 18 walking those […]

Finally, finally, tonight, the presidential debate live on cable TV, CNN. If you have cable and plan to watch, what are you thinking? What are you hoping to see and to hear? Like millions of people around the world, I’m hoping to see and hear if Trump and Biden are healthy and clear-headed enough to […]

The bad news about Justice Clarence Thomas of the US Supreme Court is getting worse with more revelations of Justice Thomas keeping a secret that he has received hundreds of thousands of dollars’ worth of gifts from a billionaire political donor suspected of buying votes on issues that are, or soon may be, considered by […]

For as long as I can remember, the Sunday morning newspapers for me have been an every Sunday must, because in addition to behind-the-scenes politics, there are all kinds of news. Like last Sunday, the news about Harold Terens and Jeanne Swerlin of Florida traveling to France to get married on the 80th anniversary of […]

Heads up, everybody! Heads up! Kim Foxx, the State’s Attorney of Cook County, wants us to know she is instructing prosecutors in her office not to prosecute people who are driving cars that are stopped by police for routine traffic violations, then searched for illegal guns and drugs. She says too many people are stopped […]

Like so many people, I am glued to news about Donald Trump. But right now I’m thinking about a famous political person here in Illinois who is every bit as well-known as Trump because he was for so many years our Secretary of State. Of course, I’m thinking about Jesse White, whose name and no […]

It’s not a surprise, not at all a surprise, that the Chicago Bears are wasting no time at all to cash in on Caleb Williams, the recently-drafted college superstar quarterback Caleb Williams. The Bears owners and managers in Halas Hall appear to be charging the cost of hiring Caleb Williams to Bear fans, especially season […]

There’s big news being made by the Boy Scouts of America, changing their name from Boy Scouts of America to Scouting of America, a change halting a treasured tradition of more than 100 years calling that group of elite young men the Boy Scouts of America. I never made it to the Boy Scouts, but […]

There are so many ups and downs in the news about the Chicago Bears. Good news about the Bears drafting a superstar college quarterback and a superstar college wide receiver. Very good news. But, for the Bears, there’s bad news about their plans to build a $4,700,000,000 stadium on Chicago’s beloved lakefront, a plan that’s […]

The NFL Draft being done, the football fuss is winding down, so let’s talk baseball. My thoughts are on the Cubs because I forever have been a Cubs fan. I’m a little guy, about 5’5” and 140 lbs, but a very big Cubs fan. In fact, 72 years ago, when I was 15 years old, […]

In the wild world of professional sports, for many months now in Chicago, thousands, possibly millions, of eyes and ears have been waiting to know what will happen in the National Football League, the NFL Draft, that begins tonight at 7:00 in which our Bear Down, Chicago Bears are expected to choose a new quarterback […]

I don’t know very much about the songs of Taylor Swift. But I’m learning a lot about her skill at making herself world-famous. My latest lesson is right now, right here in Chicago, a short walk from where I live. It’s in River North on Grand Avenue at Dearborn, a great big mural of a […]

Hey there, everybody, heads up! The campaigns for membership on Chicago’s first-ever publicly-elected Board of Education are now underway. Dozens of political newbies are declaring or planning to declare their intentions to take control of the education of a quarter of a million children in our public schools. To become candidates for a Board of […]

It’s been almost a month now since the Chicago Bears came up with a new idea about where they want to play football and where they want us to watch them play. The Bears are planning to build themselves and us another new stadium. Not way, way away in Arlington Heights, but in the city, […]

Those always-relentless tough guy federal prosecutors are now in tough pursuit of Apple. Oh, not the apple my mother told me to eat once a day to keep the doctor away, but the Apple Company that’s worth nearly $3 trillion and is one of the most famously profitable companies in the world. The US Department […]

It’s for sure and forever in Chicago that the biggest decisions being made in City Hall are swayed by politics. Like the recent decision by Mayor Johnson to evict thousands of migrants who’ve been living in city shelters for 60 days or more. That is a problem. Where do evicted migrants go? How much does […]

There is a big smile on my face this morning because I have something good to say about big business in Chicago. Specifically the JPMorgan Chase big banking business in a 60-story skyscraper on South Dearborn St., two blocks west of the Art Institute, best known as the Morgan Chase Office Tower. 2,000,000 square feet […]

In presidential politics, this week is prime time. Two days ago, on Super Tuesday, 15 states voted in party primaries. And tonight, during a joint session of the Congress, President Biden will deliver a State of the Union address, painting a pretty picture of his three years in office. How fine a job he’ll say […]