JAMES WARREN
James Warren is a news columnist for the Chicago News Cooperative. He formerly was managing editor and Washington bureau chief of the Chicago Tribune and the publisher of the Chicago Reader. The veteran journalist is also a political analyst for MSNBC and a contributor to The Atlantic.
Jim came to Chicago in 1977 to join the financial section of the Chicago Sun-Times, where he worked as a general-assignment reporter and wrote about business, legal affairs and labor issues. In 1984, he moved to the Chicago Tribune as its labor and legal affairs writer. He later became the paper’s media writer and editor of its Tempo lifestyle section.
Recent Contributions
by JAMES WARREN | Feb 20, 2012
Since American politics now meets the Webster’s definition of gridlock, the entire Congress should descend on busy Route 53 at the Cook-Lake county border. There, lawmakers could meet long-dueling parties who may end a 50-year-old policy dispute and show what can happen when deep differences change to constructive regional vision. “Perhaps this will be a
by JAMES WARREN | Feb 17, 2012
As Newt Gingrich urges putting students to work as paid school janitors, a Chicago charter network may one day mull having them pay to sweep and clean toilets. Goodbye, corporal punishment. Hello, capital punishment. Improved performance and new revenue streams may be on the education horizon, complete with cash registers outside detention halls. A news-media
by JAMES WARREN | Feb 13, 2012
Let’s invite Clint Eastwood to the Chicago Automobile Show and see if a dumb argument breaks out over the role of government. The nation’s largest auto show opened Friday, and the throngs will include political conservatives. Some were clearly outraged over Chrysler’s “Halftime in America” Super Bowl ad featuring Eastwood, the Oscar-winning Hollywood tough guy
by JAMES WARREN | Feb 10, 2012
Chicago gnashed its teeth as the New York Giants won the Super Bowl. It should do the same over crime. More notable than the Giants’ unforeseen playoff run is a stunning decline in crime in New York that shatters many assumptions about law enforcement and could serve as a road map for Chicago. It explains why Franklin
by JAMES WARREN | Feb 6, 2012
As a somber Gov. Pat Quinn gave his State of the State address last week, I imagined him, a White Sox partisan, sitting forlornly in his upper deck seats and praying for the magical improvement of both a disappointing team and disastrous state finances. Could Adam Dunn, a $14 million-a-year Samson whose hair was apparently
by JAMES WARREN | Feb 3, 2012
The Tea Party may disdain government but still need Coast Guard life preservers to save Joe Walsh, one of its improbable icons. Walsh, a freshman Republican who represents the suburban 8th congressional district, is testament to the potential political toxicity of ideological consistency when it blends with the prosaic realities of redistricting. In 2010 Walsh
by JAMES WARREN | Jan 30, 2012
If Rahm Emanuel can prepare Chicago’s public school students for life as well as he prepares for press conferences, our prayers will be answered. The mayor served loyally in both the Clinton and Obama White Houses as the commanders in chief rehearsed for major public appearances and left little to chance. He’s brought this oratorical
by JAMES WARREN | Jan 27, 2012
President Obama should have invited Mary Dempsey to the State of the Union address. Along with other guests, who were used as symbols of a skewed tax system and the need to retrain workers, she could have made another point: government can work. Dempsey is the Chicago Library commissioner, who is stepping down after an
by JAMES WARREN | Jan 23, 2012
Since members of the African Hebrew Israelites of Jerusalem venerate the Old Testament, they probably know that the Book of Judges includes a reckless Samson telling Delilah that if his hair were cut, his strength would disappear. Bad move. It was probably stupid, too, for a prison guard to order the forcible shearing of the
by JAMES WARREN | Jan 20, 2012
Joy Ebere and Chicagoans from 45 nations jammed a federal courtroom on Tuesday to take the oath of citizenship in a poignant ceremony with children and adults proudly holding small American flags. “I can’t really explain how I feel, it’s been such a long journey,” said Ebere, a nurse who lives in Arlington Heights and
