by admin | Feb 4, 2026 | Chicago, Climate, Coastal Management, Disaster, Florida, Hurricanes, Insurance, Iowa, Journalism, Movies, Parks, Personal history, Restaurants, Sports, Tornado, Urban Planning, Weather
It was about 11:15 a.m. on Sunday, January 25, when my United Airlines flight from Sarasota, Florida, landed at O’Hare International Airport, and I finally started getting text messages again. The very first one was from Angel, our 22-year-old grandson, whom I had...
by admin | Jan 15, 2026 | Activism, Chicago, Civil rights, Crime, Death, Government, Immigration, Minnesota, Personal history, Politics, Public safety, Racism, Terrorism, Volunteerism
The Grinch paid an early visit in an attempt to steal Christmas in Chicago, but Customs and Border Protection (CBP) Chief Greg Bovino did not stay long after a surprise return from warmer haunts down south. In my previous blog post, “Moral Blowback in Chicago,” I made...
by admin | Aug 26, 2025 | Crime, Death, Government, Personal history
Most of us have had some experience in dealing with bullies, either directly as objects of their behavior, or indirectly in perhaps assisting or defending someone else who was the target. The subject has taken on new urgency since the most recent presidential...
by admin | Feb 19, 2025 | Activism, Blogging, Books, Christianity, Civil rights, Government, History, Immigration, Movies, Personal history, Politics, Racism, Religion, Russia, Volunteerism, War, Writing
It is early in the morning as I begin to write this—too early in the view of most people I know. I awoke just before 5 a.m. in part because Tyson, our big Husky-German Shepherd mix, seemed to want to go outside in the bitter cold. (He did not; he merely wanted water,...
by admin | Dec 26, 2024 | Careers, Climate, Disaster, Disaster Recovery, Education, Floodplain management, Hazard Mitigation, History, Iowa, Natural Hazards, Personal history, Public policy, Resilience, Retirement, Texas, Urban Planning, Weather
About the time the rising Cedar River crested in downtown Cedar Rapids, Iowa, on June 13, 2008, a torrential downpour from an incoming thunderstorm joined forces with it to create the perfect flood. In the previous flood of record in the city, the river had reached 20...
by admin | Nov 5, 2024 | Activism, Books, Crime, Government, History, Immigration, Personal history, Political philosophy, Public policy, Public safety, Russia
Some time in 1997, I undertook a reading experiment I have never regretted, which was to begin to read, sequentially, biographies of U.S. presidents. I am not sure exactly when I picked up Cincinnatus: George Washington and the Enlightenment by Garry Wills, but it...
