Chicago Tribune Opinion newsletter
Read the latest editorials and commentary curated by the Tribune Opinion team
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Chicago Tribune Opinion

Friday, September 4, 2026

Happy Friday, Chicago!

Summer is officially over this weekend, but the mayor’s race continues to heat up. Campaign funds in the last mayoral race included over $700,000 from firms holding city contracts, Bryan J. Zarou from the Better Government Association points out in his op-ed today. Zarou would like to see changes to city ethics laws to set a cap of how much money a business with city contracts can donate. City Council will have an opportunity to pass this reform and others in the coming days.

Chicago had the fewest homicides this summer than any year since 1965. But the city “still has a long, long way to go to be the ‘safest, most affordable big city in America,’ as Mayor Brandon Johnson frequently states is his goal,” the board writes.

We will have more for you to read over the long weekend at chicagotribune.com/opinion.

I hope you get a chance to relax and perhaps let your children or grandchildren roam free.

Thanks for reading.

— Grace Miserocchi, opinion editor

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Bryan Zarou: The City Council has a chance to push ethics reform forward in Chicago

Chicago officials are making another push for City Council to pass a long-delayed package of updates to the ethics ordinance.

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Editorial: Chicago had the fewest summertime homicides in 60 years. Good but far from good enough.

Homicide numbers have fallen in Chicago. But we must look to our peer big cities.

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Elizabeth Shackelford: Nepal’s disaster is today’s terrifying climate change reality

Warmer temperatures are destabilizing glaciers, such as the one in Nepal, that have stood for tens of thousands of years.

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Editorial: Let our children roam

“I can do it myself” should be music to parents’ ears.

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Human rights advocates: Is Qatar encouraging antisemitism on college campuses?

Qatar’s influence on American universities deserves particular scrutiny in light of its antisemitic stance.

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Jodi Bondi Norgaard: Companies taking action after Good Good Golf ad is evidence of accountability

Using violence against women to sell a product is appalling. Why was this Callaway and Good Good Golf ad approved?

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Letters: Executive orders reversing the previous president’s executive orders are no way to govern

This continual whipsaw of changes in which the opposite party wins the White House has never been a productive way to govern. I

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