James Warren

A study of Illinois traffic-stop data shows that police are more likely to ask to search cars driven by African-Americans—but whites are more likely to have contraband.

President Obama's perfect, four-hour homecoming Thursday included exulting in a Chicago White Sox no-hitter and raising around $3 million. But what was in it for your garden variety rich American? Well, at the North Side home of Penny Pritzker, a close Obama chum and super fundraiser, there was a large, if culinarily unimaginative, early-evening buffet dinner, according to resourceful Mike Flannery, a reporter for Chicago's WBBM-TV and the best political… More »

When it comes to Barack Obama's U.S. Senate seat, the movie might be called "Sex Degrees of Separation." Admittedly, the nation's cable-fueled interest in Illinois politics expectedly waned after the resignation of Gov. Rod Blagojevich; his wife's exit as a contestant on a reality TV show; and the announcement by truth-challenged Roland Burris, the well-meaning mediocrity selected to fill Barack Obama's Senate seat, that he won't run for a full term next year. … More »

LONDON -- The American print industry, both newspapers and magazines, is convulsed by an eroding business model, notably with advertising in free fall, and with executives scrambling to belatedly mull alternatives. Most notably, there's the inspection of different models of charging for online content. At the end of a quickie trek to a nephew's wedding in Cambridge, and with unceasing rain allowing too many hours of newspaper consumption, I'm also reminded about… More »

As the well-orchestrated hearing for Sonya Sotomayor hit the luncheon break Tuesday afternoon, replete with righteous pontificating so often disguised as rigorous inquiry by onetime lawyers on the Senate panel, one again viewed the Charade of the Empty Vessel. The political strategy for any nominee who appears before the Judiciary Committee is crystal clear: Say as little as possible about your actual views of cases or your personal opinions. Of course, you… More »

Roland Burris, please meet Ralph Tyler Smith. While waiting for a prosecutor friend in the Everett Dirksen Federal Building in downtown Chicago Friday, I noticed the small dedication plaque in the lobby. It indicated that the Mies van der Rohe-designed structure was actually rededicated in 1970 to honor the legendary U.S. Senator from Illinois after his death the year before. The only other person mentioned is U.S. Sen. Ralph T. Smith, who was in attendance that… More »

African-Americans and Hispanics confront the near certainty of sharply reduced retirement savings than whites and Asian Americans because they participate less in 401(k) plans and are more likely to withdraw money from them when they do, according to a study of racial and ethnic disparities in savings and investing behavior. A provocative study of about three million Americans, mostly employed at Fortune 500 companies, is being unveiled Tuesday and was overseen… More »

The United States on Sunday barely lost, 3-2, to legendary Brazil in soccer. It came in a relatively inconsequential tournament in South Africa. But a soccer-crazy planet was surely stunned after a first half in which the low-rated U.S. was winning, 2-0. And it was all the more telling since we'd reached Sunday's tournament final by stunning the current best team in the world, Spain. If you don't know soccer, and maybe don't really care a whole lot, our beating… More »

The United States national soccer team stunned the soccer-loving planet by upsetting the best team in the World, Spain, and ending Spain's amazing streak of 35 consecutive games without a loss, including 15 straight wins. No matter how convulsed some here may be by Mark Sanford's tale of his distinctly foreign adventure, nothing will match the horror in Madrid, Barcelona and other capitals around the world. The U.S. beat Spain?! For sure, it was in a tournament in… More »

Eastman Kodak Co. announced Monday that it's bidding farewell to Kodachrome, its oldest and the first commercially successful film. At first, it seemed like another moment to engage in brief, Pavlovian nostalgia of the rotary telephone or monophonic record album sort. There were pro forma histories of the film and mention of its invention by two young musicians; its early use by Hollywood; how sales are just a smidgen of Kodak's total sales; and how it's so… More »

Only the most heavily-medicated American partisans would not have felt humiliated Thursday when the U.S. national team was embarrassed, 3-0, by Brazil. This followed a similar, 3-1 spanking the other day at the hands of Italy. We displayed technical inferiority, tactical confusion and gross immaturity. For the second consecutive game, an American was thrown out of the game for a dumb foul, forcing his team to compete with one less player. So, given the state of… More »

How Manchester United, the best team in the world, teamed up with a Chicago reinsurance firm

Even non-sports fans may have had a difficult time avoiding word of baseball slugger Sammy Sosa being inducted into the Cultural Hall of Shame late Tuesday. Now, please, take one or two steps back and consider this tidy example of how our news is made and consumed. Word spread Tuesday evening that the New York Times, citing unnamed lawyers, disclosed that Sosa "is among the players who tested positive for a performance-enhancing drug in 2003." There was… More »

You surely don't know the name nor should you, really. But Jawad Jabbar Sadkhan Al-Sahlani was quietly given his freedom Thursday by the U.S. Government and finally allowed to exit the prison at Guantanamo Bay. "Our client, Jawad Al-Sahlani, was released from GTMO today," Chicago lawyer Jeffrey Colman informed me late in the evening. "He should never have been there." His client was never charged with a crime after being labeled an enemy combatant as a result… More »

If you're a Republican, or a Democratic Wall Street executive receiving bailout funds and fretting over compensation, be informed that there are limits to Obama administration cravings for stiffer regulation. You'll be especially pleased if you love July 4th fireworks. The Federal Register, which is the most alluring and largely unread document in English, informs us that the Federal Motor Carrier Safety Administration, a division of the Department of… More »

With a single image, the New York Times made news Thursday---a day not lacking in the eventful, given President Obama's speech in Cairo. We all know the photos of the defiant "tank man" standing in Tiananmen Square in Beijing on June 5, 1989. Now, The Times has stumbled upon a previously-unseen photo of him and given the world a different, and more complex, perspective on an iconic confrontation. We knew less than we realized. More »

On Monday morning, the young Latina and husband approached the bench in Cook County Eviction Court, taking their place by the sign marked "Plaintiff." A few feet away was a scruffy, string bean of an even younger man, an Iraq War vet, standing before the "Defendant" marker. "What's going on here?" said a semi-incredulous Judge Diane Shelley, looking at the woman. "You're filing against your brother?!" Indeed, sister is trying to evict brother from a house she… More »

Here's a story the newspaper industry's upper echelon apparently kept from its anxious newsrooms: A discreet Thursday meeting in Chicago about their future. "Models to Monetize Content" is the subject of a gathering at a hotel which is actually located in drab and sterile suburban Rosemont, Illinois; slabs of concrete, exhibition halls and mostly chain restaurants, whose prime reason for being is O'Hare International Airport. It's perfect for quickie,… More »

Just before a small Memorial Day parade in Chicago, I was reminded of life's many unreported acts of bravery and decency; and of how little we may know about even those near and dear to us. It was via an email I forgot to open the past week from a New York banker, Job B.B. Sandberg, a big executive with ING. It was about World War II and a part of his life apparently little known even to close friends and business associates, but about which I'd stumbled onto… More »

You can cringe over the media's Pavlovian penchant for lists and still love the June issue of Fast Company and its "100 Most Creative People in Business." My favorites include Stephen Chau, 29, a former Goldman Sachs banker who moved to Google and discerned how to incorporate photos into online maps, giving us the wonderful Street View. Then there's Alexandra Patsavas, 41, the owner of Chop Shop Music Supervision, who has a knack for matching just the right song… More »