It's nice to be back in the flatlands after a quick trip to the Upper Peninsula for some skiing and sightseeing.

There already seems to be a lot of interest in the Democratic county board primary in District 9 where Bob Kirchner and Lisa Bell are challenging incumbents Steve Beckett and Barbara Wysocki.

Talk about giving, here's a gift that costs not a penny, requires less than an hour, is a remarkably selfless gesture because it's virtually anonymous and is truly a gift from one's own body and, perhaps most of all, there's a chance you might be saving a

AVAILABLE SOON: 3,668-square foot, two-story Italianate house, built just after the Civil War and around the time that the Illinois Industrial University was opening its doors a mile away. On a beautiful 190-foot by 210-foot lot. Just across the street fr

Chicago Democrat Edwin Eisendrath told me today that he's going to challenge Gov. Rod Blagojevich in the March 21 Democratic Party primary.

It hasn't been above freezing all month (nine consecutive days) and there doesn't seem to be any chance of getting above 32 degrees before Monday. The cold and snow are putting my streak of 19 consecutive months of golf play at risk.

Remember all the complaining three years ago about how out of balance the Illinois Democratic Party slate was -- nothing but Chicagoans from governor to treasurer?

There on pages 52 and 53 of Sunday's (Dec. 4) New York Times Magazine is a photograph of what presumably is the computer monitor of the late writer Susan Sontag. (It's never actually identified as such but that's the impression the reader is left with).

From upcoming N-G Area History column: