ArcaMax

History is most clearly observed through the rearview mirror. Leaders can more accurately be judged by the impact of their speeches, actions or inaction, beliefs and accomplishments not by eulogies but after an adequate amount of time has passed for a more objective assessment. Yesterday’s lauded heroes may have legitimately earned the ...Read more

Can we ever make peace with our regrets? That is the question I asked myself while reading Tom Casey’s "Unsettled States" (Heresy Press), which begins with a raw portrait of familial fracture. Bradley’s visit to his mother, Eleanor, opens the door to a past steeped in warmth now shadowed by regret.

Eleanor, a once-spirited woman, is now ...Read more

A week after giving birth to her second daughter, Amelia Laytham's focus was on baby Jocelyn's and big sister Vera's sleep schedules; on breastfeeding her newborn; on the balancing act that parents navigate.

The morning she was scheduled to bring Jocelyn to the pediatrician for her first checkup, Amelia woke up feeling like someone was sitting ...Read more

CHICAGO -- South Loop’s FAME Center started in 2018 in what founder Sheila Fortson called “a broom closet” with just a few students and a piano. The nonprofit is now looking to become a major music and arts education landmark in Chicago with the purchase of a 56,000-square-foot historic building.

Matthew Thomas, 14, remembers that when he...Read more

'DEN OF THIEVES 2: PANTERA'

Rated R for pervasive language, some violence, drug use and sexual references.

What it’s about: A sequel to the 2018 heist movie that takes the action to Europe and the world of diamond thieves.

The kid attractor factor: Not much, this is an adult crime thriller.

Good lessons/bad lessons: As always, in crime, ...Read more

CHICAGO -- As a mom of three girls, Khallilah Watkins isn’t new to the process and preparation it takes to breastfeed a baby outside of the house.

One time with her second daughter, she had to hunker down in a restaurant bathroom for a few minutes to pump.

“That was my first experience pumping in a restaurant and inside of a smelly public ...Read more

Q.My ex and I split up six months ago and our children go back and forth between our new homes. We don’t have a formal parenting plan -- the split was amicable; we just share the kids every few days. They are 5 and 7. It seems to be working OK, but I have recently met someone new. I am afraid this will complicate things, and their mother will...Read more

"Stay tuned for a weather impact update," says the man on the television.

I have problems with the word impact and not just because it's one of those words that can be both a noun and a verb. Impact always reminds me of when my brother was a toddler and shoved a Red Hot up his nose. The Red Hot was impacted and our mother had to carefully ...Read more

The best romance novels often work off the dichotomy between the story’s meant-to-be and can’t-possibly-work elements. Kay Cove’s latest novel, "Snapshot," delivers beautifully on both, with plot twists and outside characters that seriously threaten a happily-ever-after ending. For added depth, Cove intertwines two love stories, one from a...Read more

Ashley Boyea had asthma, so she wasn't surprised when she got breathless at work. But when she began gasping for air just walking around, the then-25-year-old sales associate went to her pulmonologist for a checkup.

The doctor had her wear a heart monitor for a few days. It showed her heart was beating too fast. More testing revealed that, in ...Read more

With only four minutes of exercise a day, middle-age women might reduce their risk of cardiovascular problems by nearly half. It’s the latest discovery from University of Sydney researchers, whose study was published in the British Journal of Sports Medicine.

“We found that a minimum of 1.5 minutes to an average of 4 minutes of daily ...Read more

BALTIMORE -- Laura Hutton has taken in everyone from a baby born weighing a pound and a half to a pregnant teenager, children whose needs ranged from feeding tubes to mental health therapy.

With a background as a special education teacher, Hutton, 55, has become something of a go-to foster parent for children whose medical, emotional or ...Read more

-- A company uses an AI system to streamline its hiring process, but the system favors certain demographic groups over others.

-- A hospital employs AI to diagnose patients but might miss rare conditions or produce false positives.

-- A bank uses AI to determine loan eligibility, but the system starts denying loans based on certain data ...Read more

There’s nothing better than being lost in a book and letting a story overtake you. Some fiction is life-changing and permanently alters your worldview. Other books bring you to tears and consume your thoughts for the subsequent days or weeks. If you’re a reader who seeks out the kinds of books that will have a long-lasting impact on you, ...Read more

Navigating the world as the parent of a child with a unique or difficult-to-pronounce name can be a constant source of frustration.

When I named my daughter Chiara, I never considered that people would struggle with its pronunciation. Her name, which means “light” or “clear” in Italian and is deeply rooted in our family’s heritage, is...Read more

We have smoke detectors that warn of fire, dashboard icons that warn of low fuel and dying batteries, and health hazard warnings are printed on every pack of cigarettes.

In 2024 we were given a clear and resounding warning for cell phones. It came in the form of a thick book titled “The Anxious Generation” (How the Great Rewiring of ...Read more