John Kass
John Kass has covered a variety of topics since arriving at the Chicago Tribune in 1983.
The son of a Greek immigrant grocer, Kass was born June 23, 1956, on Chicago’s South Side and grew up there and in Oak Lawn. He held a number of jobs — merchant marine sailor, ditch digger, waiter — before becoming a film student at Columbia College in Chicago. There, he worked at the student newspaper and caught the attention of Daryle Feldmeir, chairman of the journalism department and former editor of the Chicago Daily News.
Feldmeir and journalism professor Les Brownlee helped him obtain an internship at the Daily Calumet in 1980, where Kass worked as a reporter until he left for the Tribune.
In 2004, Kass was awarded the Society of Professional Journalists’ Sigma Delta Chi national award for general column writing, the Scripps Howard Foundation’s National Journalism Award for commentary, the Press Club of Atlantic City’s National Headliner Award for local interest column writing on a variety of subjects, and the Chicago Headline Club’s Lisagor Award for best daily newspaper columnist.
In 1992, Kass won the Chicago Tribune’s Beck Award for writing.
Kass lives in the western suburbs with his wife and twin sons. His column appears on Page A2 of the Chicago Tribune every Wednesday, Thursday, Friday and Sunday.
Recent Work
Have you ever wondered what happens to flat-earthers? Not all spend their days eating pudding with plastic spoons and rewatching... Read More
Have you ever wondered what happens to flat-earthers? Not all spend their days eating pudding with plastic spoons and rewatching old sitcoms — or as fabulists hanging at the end of the bar, boasting of their heroic exploits until closing time. Some become president of the... Read More
Have you read, heard or seen that important news story about an Asian American federal judge — born in Taiwan... Read More
Have you read, heard or seen that important news story about an Asian American federal judge — born in Taiwan and subject to discrimination growing up — who confronted and denounced those who discriminate by race? No? With all that’s been in the news lately about... Read More
When I was a boy about 11, I committed a crime that changed my life. I stole a book. I... Read More
When I was a boy about 11, I committed a crime that changed my life. I stole a book. I was a book thief. I found it in another kid’s desk and began reading, hiding it behind some boring textbook, and couldn’t give it up. And... Read More
In the pre-COVID-19 days, there were those large, intergenerational Sunday dinners when nothing was off the table for discussion in... Read More
In the pre-COVID-19 days, there were those large, intergenerational Sunday dinners when nothing was off the table for discussion in America. Even now, if we were sitting down together, we’d talk of President Donald Trump lying to his supporters about overturning the election, before he incited... Read More
“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need,” said Marcus Tullius Cicero. Old Marcus could... Read More
“If you have a garden and a library, you have everything you need,” said Marcus Tullius Cicero. Old Marcus could have been talking about coping with these pandemic lockdowns, but he wasn’t. Happily, I have a home library, but no garden. And I can’t possibly go... Read More
My mother is 90 years old, one of the elderly isolated in nursing homes, unable to hug and kiss her... Read More
My mother is 90 years old, one of the elderly isolated in nursing homes, unable to hug and kiss her children, alone because of the pandemic. And this will be our first Christmas apart. She lived with us for 25 years. But after her stroke, she’d... Read More
Attorney General William Barr, vilified witlessly and unreasonably for years by the left — and most recently by conservatives —... Read More
Attorney General William Barr, vilified witlessly and unreasonably for years by the left — and most recently by conservatives — has just performed two critically important services to the republic: After the election, Barr refused to put his name or the Department of Justice behind any... Read More
When we were kids on the playground and there was an angry dispute, someone would always shout “majority rules.” And... Read More
When we were kids on the playground and there was an angry dispute, someone would always shout “majority rules.” And we’d vote. If the losers didn’t like the outcome, there were two options: punch the winners in the stomach or take the ball and go home.... Read More
President Donald Trump’s failure to loudly and forcefully condemn white supremacists in his debate with Joe Biden was an unmitigated... Read More
President Donald Trump’s failure to loudly and forcefully condemn white supremacists in his debate with Joe Biden was an unmitigated disaster that may have cost him a chance at reelection. What Americans witnessed in the chaotic dumpster fire of a debate was this: an angry, stubborn... Read More
In The News
Health
Voting
More From The Well
WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday rolled out the Biden administration’s first government-wide policy intended to mitigate the... Read More
WASHINGTON — Vice President Kamala Harris on Wednesday rolled out the Biden administration’s first government-wide policy intended to mitigate the risks associated with artificial intelligence while still enabling its use to advance the public interest. The new policy, which is... Read More
WASHINGTON — Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II, D-Mo., is the new Democratic co-chair of the House Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency... Read More
WASHINGTON — Rep. Emanuel Cleaver II, D-Mo., is the new Democratic co-chair of the House Renewable Energy and Energy Efficiency Caucus. He was invited to serve as co-chair by Sens. Jack Reed, D-R.I., and Mike Crapo, R-Idaho, the co-chairs of... Read More
PALO ALTO, Calif. — A new study suggests that a one-time treatment that modulates the composition of a type of... Read More
PALO ALTO, Calif. — A new study suggests that a one-time treatment that modulates the composition of a type of immune cell could potentially revitalize the immune systems of the elderly, helping their bodies better react to viral and bacterial... Read More
WASHINGTON — Seven of the nation’s largest health insurance companies are expanding access to so-called “navigation services” to help patients... Read More
WASHINGTON — Seven of the nation’s largest health insurance companies are expanding access to so-called “navigation services” to help patients and their families navigate the myriad challenges that might arise during treatment for cancer and other serious illnesses. The insurers... Read More
When you woke up this morning, you probably turned on the light, maybe looked at your phone or went to... Read More
When you woke up this morning, you probably turned on the light, maybe looked at your phone or went to get a glass of water, all without much thought. Electricity, phone service and running water are all essentials that we... Read More
CONCORD, N.H. — Rep. Annie Kuster, D-N.H., who, among other things, is the current chair of the New Democrat Coalition... Read More
CONCORD, N.H. — Rep. Annie Kuster, D-N.H., who, among other things, is the current chair of the New Democrat Coalition in the House, revealed Wednesday that she will not seek reelection to Congress this year. In a lengthy statement released... Read More