We have been hit hard with celebrity deaths recently.

The Chicago Teachers Union president was recently elected president of the Illinois Federation of Teachers. State legislators haven’t appreciated aggressive advocacy by CTU allies in the past.

I will share this recipe for Monster cookies this week. It is also in my cookbook “The Cherished Table.” This recipe does not have any flour in it, so it has not been omitted.

The Illinois Coalition for Immigrant and Refugee Rights held a statehouse lobby day last week to push its far-reaching veto session agenda.

This is Lovina’s daughter, Verena, writing. The leaves are changing color more and more. It is always such a beautiful view once the leaves change to such pretty colors.

Who were my teachers?

On Wednesday, my sister Emma, my husband Joe and I attended the funeral of his Uncle Jonas in Hicksville, Ohio

The announcement last week that the Illinois AFL-CIO was withdrawing from the “agreed bill process” at least 40 years after its inception took almost everyone by surprise, but nobody was really shocked.

My mother penned the Amish Cook column for 11 years. I was a teenager at home when she started writing. After her sudden death on Sept. 17, 2002, I started writing.