Chicago Tribune Editorial Board
Welcome to the Facebook page of the Chicago Tribune editorial board. Catch us online at www.chicagotribune.com/news/opinion. Join us on our blog at www.chicagotribune.com/voxpop. and follow us on Twitter at www.twitter.com/Trib_ed_board.
Information
Founded:
June 10, 1847
 
Chicago Tribune Editorial Board

Chicago Tribune Editorial Board According to teacher evaluations, the Chicago Public Schools are a bit like Lake Wobegon, a place where all teachers are good. Is that reality, or just a cozy fiction?

Source: www.chicagotribune.com
How many Chicago public school teachers do their jobs well?Would you say ... 99.7 percent?That's how many teachers were rated superior, excellent or satisfactory from 2003 to 2008. Yes, it sounds a bit like Lake Wobegon.Apparently, teachers all around the country are doing just fine. ...
Dave Lundy
Dave Lundy
And you wonder why there's rampant grade inflation in the classrooms...
2 hours ago
Jack Spatafora
Jack Spatafora
Hits the nerve most educators fear -- not only firing poor teachers, but hiring/rewarding great teachers. Unions say bonuses aren't workable, but then why do they usually produce the best quarterbacks & CEOs?
about an hour ago
Chicago Tribune Editorial Board

Chicago Tribune Editorial Board Does your workplace make you pay for being sick?

Source: www.chicagotribune.com
Got your H1N1 flu shot yet? Chances are the answer is no. There's a mad scramble for flu shots, which are in short supply across the country. Many doctors and health departments complain they can't get ...
Chicago Tribune Editorial Board

Chicago Tribune Editorial Board As the flu season gets going in full force, employers should encourage workers who are sick to stay home, and ensure that they won't have to sacrifice their paycheck when they do. Don't make employees choose between their health and their paycheck.

Source: www.chicagotribune.com
Got your H1N1 flu shot yet? Chances are the answer is no. There's a mad scramble for flu shots, which are in short supply across the country. Many doctors and health departments complain they can't get ...
Chicago Tribune Editorial Board

Chicago Tribune Editorial Board Mayor Daley's refusal to fully account for TIF spending feeds the complaint that he's operating a vast, off-the-books piggy bank. Open the books, Mayor!

Source: www.chicagotribune.com
Desperate times call for desperate measures. To bridge a $520 million deficit in the 2010 budget, Mayor Richard Daley says he'll cut 220 vacant jobs, require city employees to take unpaid furlough days ...
Chicago Tribune Editorial Board

Chicago Tribune Editorial Board Cook County's sales tax hike may soon be repealed. But the tax-happy crowd in county government is preparing another big tax hike. This time, the target is hospitals.

Source: www.chicagotribune.com
Last week, state lawmakers approved a bill that could finally lead to the repeal of Cook County Board President Todd Stroger's sales tax increase.There are still some hurdles before the tax is repealed. ...
Chicago Tribune Editorial Board

Chicago Tribune Editorial Board Inept, sometimes corrupt governance is funny only until you realize that, as a taxpayer, you're the rube footing the bill.

Source: www.chicagotribune.com
Wall Street Journal, July 25, 2009On Tuesday, voters in one of the nation's bluest states fired their Democratic governor, Jon Corzine. The stench of public corruption and the jobs-crushing impact of high state and local taxes had grown too onerous for the people of New Jersey. ...
Chicago Tribune Editorial Board

Chicago Tribune Editorial Board What's the best way to deal with Iran's continuing non-answers about whether it will accept a U.S.-EU-Russia offer to transform its low-enriched uranium into nuclear reactor fuel for a small medical reactor? Cut off the. Implement a gasoline embargo. An embargo is a better option than a military strike on Tehran.

Source: www.chicagotribune.com
Here's a quiz: What was Iran's answer to the U.S.-led proposal to ship much of its nuclear material out of the country?A. Yes.B. No.C. Maybe.D. All of the above.If you answered D, you are right. Or at ...
Chicago Tribune Editorial Board

Chicago Tribune Editorial Board Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley's definition of long term: "Until I want it -- and then it's gone."

Source: www.chicagotribune.com
For close to two centuries, the City of Chicago has been building and acquiring municipal assets owned by the public -- the people. In a much shorter time frame, though, Mayor Daley has cashed out some of those assets. ...
Chicago Tribune Editorial Board

Chicago Tribune Editorial Board The 3.5 percent growth recorded in the third quarter of 2009 is not grounds for celebration, but it is cause to breathe a sigh of relief. Growth, at last.

Source: www.chicagotribune.com
The burst of economic growth in the third quarter reported last week was notable for all the gripes and worries it elicited from commentators. It was dependent on temporary government programs, they said. ...
Jack Spatafora
Jack Spatafora
Sometimes hard to wait, but job growth almost always follows economic growth. Einstein once said it this way: "The only sure sign of life in the universe is growth."
November 2 at 1:38pm
Chicago Tribune Editorial Board

Chicago Tribune Editorial Board Pat Quinn channels his inner Blago and meddles in transit legislation, calling for a moratorium on fare hikes. So transit can borrow money, but it can't balance its budget. Back off governor, silence your Blago voice, and let lawmakers do their jobs.

Source: www.chicagotribune.com
Just when it looks like lawmakers have mustered up the courage to end the gratuitous free-rides-for-seniors program, Gov. Pat Quinn has thrown a monkey wrench into the works.With a bill meant to ease the ...
Jim Strong
Jim Strong
Seldom does sanity prevail over demagoguery in Springfield. Gov. Pat Quinn and some Senate Democrats deserve credit, not abuse, for calling the bluff of the CTA and other transit agencies in moves to scrap free rides for seniors. Quinn and others exposed the exaggerated impact of free rides when the transit agencies conceded the savings could not ... Read Moresupport guarantees of a temporary moratorium on fare hikes. Transit agencies and the Tribune have been caught in the old "them against us" hysteria using bogus figures and phony examples of riders abuses.
October 30 at 3:27pm
Najeeb Khan
Najeeb Khan
Jim Ryan for 2010!
November 1 at 11:46am
Chicago Tribune Editorial Board

Chicago Tribune Editorial Board Washington Democrats probably wish that U.S. Rep Mike Quigley, D-Ill., would just keep quiet and toe the line. He won't. Keep up the good work, Congressman!

Source: www.chicagotribune.com
U.S. Rep. Mike Quigley, D-Ill., made his reputation in Chicago politics as the guy who wouldn't go along to get along. As a Cook County Board member, he got in the face of regular Democrats. He spent a ...
Chicago Tribune Editorial Board

Chicago Tribune Editorial Board Why grousing over Evanston's Grey Park can feel downright unneighborly:

Source: www.chicagotribune.com
Walk your dog or push your stroller for half a mile in any direction from the corner of Ridge Avenue and Main Street in Evanston, and you're bound to pass a public park or two. Or several. A community play field here, a tot lot there. ...
Jack Spatafora
Jack Spatafora
Once you work with the mentally ill, you learn they're usually not the fearsome to be chained up, more the shy to co-exist with. Evanston has a pretty good track record in knowing the difference
October 28 at 2:56pm
Chicago Tribune Editorial Board

Chicago Tribune Editorial Board The U.S. Supreme Court recently declined to give police one more tool to stop drunk drivers. That was a very bad move. Allowing someone who might be drunk "one free swerve," as Chief Justice John Roberts put it, could cost a life.

Source: www.chicagotribune.com
Suppose you're out for the evening and you see someone stagger out of a tavern, get in his car and pull away. If you're a good citizen, you'll immediately call 911 and give police a description of the ...
Thomas Westgard
Thomas Westgard
This case honors the United States Constitution and supports a small government. It limits the power of government to use a flimsy basis to overcome our Fourth Amendment Constitutional rights against unreasonable search and seizure. You conservatives use "small government" rhetoric to bitch about regulation of industry, but when it comes to protecting the rights of individuals, you're all in favor of invading privacy. Hypocrites!
October 27 at 9:02am
Rob Canas
Rob Canas
I agree with the Court's decision. This case boils down to the police having the power to preemptively stop and search an individual without justifiable Probable Cause. If we applied this law to other legal situations, then one would see that this "tool" once given to police, has the potential to systematically infringe of Fourth Amendment ... Read MoreConstitutional rights and also be used as a "tool" for other purposes, i.e. profiling... I also don't get how conservatives are against this. This ruling is totally consistent with their longstanding small government/ individual rights crusade, which makes them HYPOCRITES...INCONSISTENCY = HYPOCRISY = INACCURACY = ILLEGITIMACY...
October 27 at 1:30pm
Chicago Tribune Editorial Board

Chicago Tribune Editorial Board Illinois Democrats' idea of campaign finance reform: limit contributions from everyone except for party leaders. The upshot: those leaders gain control over rank-and-file lawmakers. This doesn't sound like progress to us.

Source: www.chicagotribune.com
Democratic legislative leaders are OK with the idea of limiting how much money you can contribute to a candidate's campaign, but no way are they going to sign off on limits on how much they can contribute. ...
Jack Spatafora
Jack Spatafora
Lets face it -- "progress" and "politics" in Illinois just don't fit together. Start with 1837 & the city record proves it...
October 26 at 9:58am
Wendy Rector
Wendy Rector
You know what also doesn't sound like progress? Destroying the Los Angeles Times!!!!!!!
October 26 at 1:00pm
Mark Arnold Fredrickson
Mark Arnold Fredrickson
How do you keep multi-millionaires from self-funding campaigns & overwhelming incumbants who are trying to do a good job in Springfield?

The Democrats are going to challenge State Representative William "Bill" Black (R-Danville) next year. Representative Black has been railing against government spending & waste but his re-election is now jeopardized.
October 26 at 9:22pm
Chicago Tribune Editorial Board

Chicago Tribune Editorial Board Independent health professionals take control of the Cook County health system. They find waste. They cut waste. They save millions of taxpayer dollars. But the panel's term expires in 2011. To the Cook County Board: Make the panel permanent.

Source: www.chicagotribune.com
Let's see, the pols or the pros. Which group can best cure Cook County's health care system?For decades voters have trusted Democratic politicians who dominate the Cook County Board to do the job. In return ...
Thomas Westgard
Thomas Westgard
Hmm, yes, elected Democrats have a lot to answer for in their mismanaged health system. Of course, if Republicans had their way, the only people able to afford health care would be Sam Zell and Bill Gates.
October 23 at 9:27am
Mark Arnold Fredrickson
Mark Arnold Fredrickson
Please, more of the same!
October 23 at 10:38pm