Chicago Tribune Opinion Wednesday, August 13, 2025 | | |
| | Good morning, Chicago. President Donald Trump declared a national emergency in Washington D.C. on Monday and mobilized National Guard troops to patrol our nation’s capital. The president also threatened to do the same in other big cities like Chicago while trashing our city in a way that feels all too familiar. The Tribune Editorial Board reminds Trump that he has no legal standing to take over law enforcement in Chicago in its first piece today. Larry Snelling and the Chicago Police Department are perfectly capable of fighting Chicago crime and the president should support them. “Trump should cease and desist trashing America’s great cities. The mouth of the man is a talking emergency for Chicago. We’ve got our own problems to address without having to defend ourselves simultaneously from our own president,” the board writes. One of Chicago’s many problems is a looming transit budget deficit, which two writers opine on today. The CEO of Access Living writes about how disabled Chicagoans will be affected if the CTA has to cut services. And in his piece, Micky Horstman warns that transit service could remain lackluster even if Springfield finds a way to fill the funding gap. Horstman provides several smart recommendations to improve the CTA, Metra and Pace. Also in our section today, Harold Pollack has a touching and important story about losing a friend to suicide right after he finished researching the topic. Tribune Opinion is joining the rest of Chicagoland in cheering for the Clarendon Hills Little League team in the World Series today. Read more about this “special team filled with talent” in the editorial board’s second piece. Have a good Wednesday! — Grace Miserocchi, opinion editor Submit an op-ed | Submit a letter to the editor | Meet the Tribune Editorial Board | Subscribe to this newsletter | | President Donald Trump is making noises about taking over law enforcement in Chicago, as he has (for now) in the nation’s capital. He should back off. | | | For disabled Chicagoans transit is a way to get to work, attend school, access medical care, visit family and be part of the community. | | | Throwing more taxpayer money at Chicago-area mass transit isn’t going to help anyone waiting for a train at 10 p.m. | | | We middle-aged and older men face higher suicide rates than are found among our teenage sons and grandsons, or among women at any age. | | | As a kid from the Chicago area, there’s nowhere else you’d rather be than out there on the field with your best friends. This summer, Clarendon Hills turned that dream into a season to remember. | | | Rock Island is an epicenter of prized wilderness, with centuries of calculated and caring engineering along one of the world’s longest rivers. Keep the marshes please | | | | Scott Stantis | |
|