Crain’s Chicago Business politics writer Greg Hinz is taking a bold stance on the health of 52-year-old Sen. Mark Kirk (R-Ill.) who suffered a severe stroke nearly three months ago. Namely, he wants to know what’s happening. It’s time, he says.

For the kid gloves. Hinz boldly went there, but managed to show some tact. An excerpt:

“I can appreciate the desire for privacy from the senator’s staff and family — and perhaps Mr. Kirk himself. He quite possibly has suffered some left-side motor damage and is entitled to work his way through the painful struggles that recovery likely requires without the indignity of having film on the 6 o’clock news. But Mark Kirk is not just any official. He’s a United States senator, one of just 100 in a body in which one vote often makes a huge difference.  …Can he do that job? Apparently not today. Will he be able to do it in a month, a quarter, or a year? No one is saying.”

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