She was one of the strongest voices in the school reform movement, but less than a decade ago, Diane Ravitch, a former assistant secretary of education under President George H. W. Bush, had a change of heart.

A shellacking in San Francisco. James "Big Cat" Williams analyzes the Bears' Monday night meltdown against the 49ers.

Modern architect Ludwig Mies van der Rohe is the subject of a new biography. We talk with authors Franz Schulze and Edward Windhorst about the work and life of a German emigrant who changed the American landscape.

A rousing musical based on a James Joyce story? Chicago Sun-Times Theater Critic Hedy Weiss reviews The Dead, along with Sister Act, and a long-running Chicago favorite.

Check Please! Host and Master Sommelier Alpana Singh joins us with Thanksgiving wine recommendations and more.

Two members of Congress join us to discuss the looming fiscal cliff and what Congress is doing to avoid it.

Curb Your Enthusiasm's Jeff Garlin joins us -- and brings along his mother. It's an interview you won't want to miss.

We continue our conversation with Jeff Garlin and his mother in our web-extra video.

In preparation for Thanksgiving, Geoffrey Baer reflects on some local Native American history, in this week's edition of Ask Geoffrey.

Ald. Sandi Jackson is a no-show as the Chicago City Council passes Mayor Rahm Emanuel's budget by a 46-3 vote. Paris Schutz has the details.

We have both sides of the debate on the mayor's controversial proposal to have the city purchase electricity in bulk on behalf of residen

As stocks tumbled during the Great Depression, farmers in the Great Plains were dealing with the Dust Bowl -- a plague of dust storms that lasted a decade resulting in the greatest man-made ecological disaster in U.S. history.

A multimillion dollar public-private partnership has attracted donors from all over the world. We show you how it's breathing new life into old athletic fields.