The city has announced that one of its programs to combat youth violence this summer will be to step up enforcement of the 11 p.m. curfew for children under the age of 17 on weekends. But in certain high-crime districts, those weekend curfew violators will not go directly to jail. They will go to the park.

What happened to the Illinois capital plan? I remember reading about the 439,000 jobs it was going to create and the $31 billion it was going to invest in communities across the state.

We are at the four year crossroad, where we have an opportunity to elect a governor and a United States Senator, able to address these calamities that are upon us. There are those who want you to think that your only options are either Brady or Quinn; a Democrat or a Republican “Tweetlee Dee” or “Tweetlee Dum.”

Some experts and policymakers believe our country could do more to prevent problems before they occur.

The current debate over increasing class sizes in Chicago Public Schools is just another example of the Chicago school district and its teachers posturing and threatening, while students suffer.

Most of the crime statistics that are reported for the City of Chicago tend to focus on crimes against our young people. They usually point out that both the victims and the perpetrators of violent crime tend to be under 40 years old, many of them in their teens.

The Memorial Day break is over and it’s time for Congress to immediately fix the 21.3 percent cut in Medicare payments to physicians that took effect June 1.

Please, we have to do all we can for these animals. They are part ofthis world, and were here long before we arrived. They are defenseless and need our help, to get their homes back, and to get cleaned and fixed up.

In the life of our nation, there are few more sacred places than our national cemeteries – around the world, at Arlington and our national cemeteries across the country.

The massive oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico is turning out to be one of the worst environmental disasters on record. The leak is spewing millions of gallons of oil into the Gulf, threatening wildlife, the fishing industry and jobs.

What happened to Mr. and Mrs. Gaston is very sad. Unfortunately, there is no foreseeable way their accident could've been prevented without the intervention of family and/or friends.

The question becomes, what will it take?

More than 300 concerned community residents attended a recent Town Hall Meeting on the West Side to discuss the proposal to deploy the Illinois National Guard in Chicago. Many described how crime and unemployment are affecting their families.

Elena Kagan has been a trailblazer throughout her career. She’s recognized as one of the brightest legal minds of her generation.

For the price of a tube of toothpaste, a life is lost.

I have been asking myself and others, “Where has the Movement gone?” Where are we as a people headed? It appears in many ways that we are running in place or even going backwards.

In the long drawn-out battle over Walmart in the city of Chicago, there have been few winners.

President Barack Obama kisses Dr. Dorothy Height during a meeting on Martin Luther King Jr. Day in the Roosevelt Room of the White House, Jan. 18. President Obama met with a group of African American seniors and their grandchildren on the legacy of the civil rights movement.

There are some who feel that the digital divide has been breached, and everyone who wants access to the Internet can have it without problem.

In the centuries since African Americans first arrived on our shores, they have known the bitterness of slavery and oppression, the hope of progress, and the triumph of the American Dream. African American history is an essential thread of the American narrative that traces our nation's enduring struggle to perfect itself.

In an unexpected show of force and backbone, Black members of the Democratic State Central Committee have fired off a letter to Illinois State House Speaker Michael Madigan, challenging him on his proposal to eliminate the office of lieutenant governor.

Young people should know that no matter what they are doing, somebody is watching.