Michael Sneed

A sister and brother spent almost two years in an Alton orphanage before they were reunited with their parents. “The bond we formed when we were alone, in a strange country, without our parents, was never broken,” Grace Dickler said after her brother's recent death.

An elite volunteer corps of therapy dogs is being dispatched to soothe federal, state and city law enforcement agencies waiting to handle any emergencies that occur during the Democratic National Convention.

The CBS News legend was arrested during the 1968 Democratic National Convention in Chicago while reporting. Now, the widow of one of the arresting officers tells Sneed, “The mayor was very upset that he was bad-mouthing his city, so he wanted him arrested and removed from the floor."

I was a street reporter for the old City New Bureau of Chicago in 1968. Battalions of anti-Vietnam War protesters were marching on our city streets, and blood was flowing. Some of us watched in real time the marching of hippies, yippies, women’s libbers and anti-Vietnam War vets morph into mayhem.

Sneed is told President Joe Biden was actually warned a year and a half ago by a top Dem pollster that his reelection was in the doghouse with young voters. Gov. J.B. Pritzker was being urged to run in a primary in case Biden pulled the plug.

My travels to every continent but Australia were not driven totally by my efforts to see the incredible light show. But for years, I had quietly chased the northern lights, It’s at the top of my bucket list — still.

Now that I am 80 years old and climbing an actuarial table, Mom’s memory blossoms in my garden of her favorite pale pink roses, creeping into the quiet of my living room at dusk. I’m flooded with memories of her boundless affection, strict but quiet parenting, and some of the questions I had failed to ask.

It was a stunner this week when news hit that former White House aide Hope Hicks may testify as a prosecution witness in former President Donald Trump’s latest trial. It prompted a flashback to a 2016 Sneed column involving a phone call between Trump and Ditka that Hicks thought would cost her her job.

It began in 1970 with the death of Illinois Secretary of State Paul Powell, a colorful old school downstate pol known for cutting deals that benefited southern Illinois — and himself. And the long tawdry saga could soon see its final chapter with the expected sale of a country home in Vienna, Ill.

The Book Stall in Winnetka said it canceled Highland Park native Brett Gelman’s March 20 book signing because they didn’t think they “could guarantee the comfort and security” of attendees. The actor and comedian believes his appearance could have drawn protests due to his support for Israel. “It was heartbreaking. Infuriating,” he told Sneed.