Equal rights for all

Mr. Rat is Back!

Racist outrage

Mitt Romney is out of touch

Trayvon

Afghanistan war casualties

Sell and destroy that's our ploy

Working in corporate America where profit trumps quality

Inquiring mind wants to go

Nosy writer has been inspired by place where the powerful sometimes trample the innocent

Just about seven years ago, I moved here from Texas to find out whether I could still do journalism. I had worked for major mainstream newspapers in Dallas and in Anchorage (yes, Alaska),

The plot sickens

Former SPD cop learns her mother’s Burr Oak­­­ grave was likely plundered, resold

The first time Renatta Frazier heard about massive grave robbing at an Alsip cemetery, she didn’t give it a second thought. A tiny village on the southwestern tip of Chica

Shades of gray

Friends of bicyclist who died in a crash are haunted by new DUI charges against motorist

Mark Jennings spent more than 20 years serving his country in the U.S. Army Airborne. When he retired around 2002, “Sarge,” as he was known, enjoyed gardening, cooking out and

Teching things to extremes

A view inside opposing camps of the gizmo revolution

Two years ago, Todd Green was happy with his Blackberry. Or so he thought. Then he went to his son’s basketball practice, where another dad hanging out in the bleachers was showing

Boy wonder

Young state police director changes troops’ attitude, but not much else

It’s been less than three months since Jonathon Monken became director of the Illinois State Police, but already he has jolted the agency. Which is sort of what troopers were hoping he would d

Peace begins on Hazel Lane

Hope Institute and its neighbors are talking. There’s hope for the world.

I now believe there will be peace in the Middle East. I also believe that the Illinois legislature will someday ratify a budget before the fiscal year ends, and Dick Cheney will appear on

High-octane intervention

Parole officer’s near-death experience sends him searching for “the gas-pump lady”

From the kitchen table where he was eating supper with his family, Jeff Hart saw the clouds change direction. They rolled east, then shifted suddenly west, like they had just de

Putting the leader in cheerleader

At Lanphier High, three brave boys add fresh bounce to the rah-rah squad

You’ve seen these guys before. OK, maybe not this specific trifecta of testosterone, but you’ve undoubtedly seen guys just like them, clowning around on the sidelines at the f

To get fresh teachers, grow your own

Nikki Moore “belongs in a classroom,” but she didn’t know that at first

A few years ago, someone in the Chicago public school system came up with a brilliant way to help Riley Higgins, who was then about 3 years old and living in Springfield. Why would anyone

The long road

Deidre Lockhart, now a professional with a master’s degree, reflects on her colorful past

Ask Deidre Lockhart how tall she is, and she will tell you she’s just under 5-foot-10. You don’t even have to verbalize the follow-up question. With a tone that says “I ge

What’s wrong with the New York Times?

Placing faith in the archaic notion that journalism sells

I love the New York Times. I quote it so often my kids think I don’t know anything I didn’t read there. So naturally I was drawn to the long piece in May’s Vanity Fair on NYT publish

Archaeology and a newspaper editor

Dishes dumped “out back” yield stories of a friend of Lincoln in early Springfield

A plain white pitcher, a bowl, a broken plate and a whiskey bottle from the mid-to-late 1830s are among the finds from Floyd Mansberger’s digs on the block where the Abraham Lincoln

The questionable future of FutureGen

Political clout may not be enough to make this project work

When U. S. Energy Secretary Steven Chu met with the FutureGen Alliance on Monday to discuss whether to proceed with a large-scale coal gasification demonstration plant near Mattoon, he fa

When the Crime Stoppers dumpster came to my street

Is this good police work, or a substitute for it?

When I first heard about the new Crime Stoppers drug dumpster, I found it amusing. A trash dumpster, welded shut, painted orange, is stenciled with, “A suspected drug house is in thi

For local banks, Springfield is a good place to be

Shielded from the worst of the chaos, they ride out the recession with confidence

As America looks around for someone to blame for the current economic mess, bankers are the easiest target in sight. “No one wants to hug a banker,” reads a recent Newsweek hea

The lies and demise of Roland Burris

We need a higher standard than telling the truth

It is a sad and sickening sound, that of another good reputation gurgling down the drain. Only a few weeks ago, Roland Burris was remembered as a trailblazer in Illinois politics, who had

Two strong women I knew

The people, the animals and the stories that shape our lives

Georgina Blair died last week at 92. When I visited in her home on the family farm in Virden a few years ago, she showed me this picture of her and her father with one of his prize mules,

What if things are as bad as Obama says?

Stirring words are welcome in troubled times

People are so ready to be relieved of the Bush presidency, and to end the Iraq war, that Barack Obama could have said anything, or nothing, in his inaugural address and it would still be

The homeless taking care of business

With clear goals, H.U.C. goes to work

At this business meeting of homeless people, some of the speeches are long and rambling, but that’s no different from many of the church and professional meetings I sit through regu

It’s the stupid economy

Rough days lie ahead. How we react will make the difference.

The national economic crisis brings a sense of foreboding to a small city like Springfield. Sometimes the nation’s worst weather bypasses here; the coasts get the hurricanes, fires a

Justice for black farmers

The 180-day period for monetary claims by black farmers against the United States Department of Agriculture (USDA) expires this month. May 11, 2012 was the last day for black farmer claimants to file

Commemorating Springfield’s Lithuanians

Thousands in Springfield today are descended from the flood of Eastern European and Southern European immigrants who arrived during Sangamon County’s coal boom. Among those turn-of-the-century i

Buffett Rule still makes Main Street sense

As a music store owner, the Buffett I’m usually concerned with is Jimmy Buffett of Margaritaville. But a bunch of lobbying groups who claim to represent small business are making me mad. They&rs

A caring economy would invest in children

We’re being told that fiscal responsibility requires big cuts in education, nutrition and health care for millions of children. This shortsighted and uncaring thinking is not only a nightmare fo

This small business needs health care reform

When we started our business, Jay’s Professional Automotive, buying expensive health insurance seemed completely out of reach. With so many start-up costs, there were many things we did without.

School discipline: A better way

On March 6, the Department of Education’s Office for Civil Rights released data from a national survey of more than 72,000 schools, covering a range of issues that included school discipline. Th

A ferry for the mentally ill

I could not sleep last night for quite awhile, thinking about her.Limping carefully, the young woman in the faded blue scrubs and hooded sweat shirt put one sock-covered foot in front of the other, fr

Boycott cynicism and fear

One recent evening, I participated in a discussion about crime and punishment with a large group of civic-minded professionals. In such discussions, people’s thoughts inevitably explore matters

Keystone pipeline can bring prosperity to Illinois

The Obama administration recently announced its decision to reject construction of Keystone XL – a planned, state-of-the-art petroleum pipeline to carry crude oil from the oil sands of Canada to

Window panes and the state’s fiscal pain

I was a painter in my younger days. With my dad, uncle and brother, we maintained many of the buildings in the Sangamon Valley back in the forties. I started when I was 17, making 50 cents an hour and

Fountain of death

Sangamon County shows the nation how to die young

How did that song go again? I had it right on the tip of – oh yeah. “I hope I die before I get old.” Apparently you have a good chance to doing just that if you live in Sangamon Coun

A double shot of urban-type feel

Building real urbanism in the medical district

“Everyone wanted it to have an ‘urban’ type feel,” said one focus group participant to the State Journal-Register about the new supermarket that Niemann Foods Inc. plans to bui

Topping off the tank

Setting federal highway spending back to 1993

As I understand it, the Republican position on gasoline prices is to save drivers money by refusing to raise the excise tax on gasoline that pays the federal share of building roads and bridges. As th

Springfield visited

Novelist Evelyn Waugh lectures the capital in 1949

No doubt some members of the of the Springfield Diocesan Council of Catholic Women settled into their seats at the Centennial Auditorium in March 1949 looking forward to being instructed by their invi

Sputnik moments

Can the U.S. win another race to beat the world?

In the fall of 1957, the then-Soviet Union put into Earth orbit the world’s first artificial satellite. The news excited me – I was a geeky 9-year-old who looked forward to the next issue

Made in the shade

Turning car parks into real parks

I think that I shall never see a car park lovely as a tree. Not in Springfield anyway. You’d have to travel to the Gobi to see expanses of treeless terrain to match the city&

Faith, hope and statuary

Today’s heroic public memorials trivialize heroism

The vandalism being perpetrated in Washington, D.C., it turns out, is not confined to the nation’s finances. Perhaps you read of the House subcommittee that met in March to hear arguments agains

All aboard

Will a transit center take Springfield where it wants to go?

I suppose the question to the Springfield City Council ought to be phrased this way: If they come, will you build it? “It” is a multimodal transit center, a nice plan for which was unveile

Going on... and on

One writer struggles with prolixity, and loses

A while back – a long while back – I undertook to write a smallish book about a large topic, the history and culture of Illinois. I was certain that after more than 30 years spent reading,

True unbelievers

Ought religious freedom to exclude atheists?

In February, the New York Times’ Timothy Egan nominated Roger Williams as the true founding father of America’s religious freedom. It was Williams who, in 1636, established a new colony at

Letters to the Editor 05/17/12

RETIREMENT SOLUTIONI think I may have come up with the solution for current and future state retirees and our concerns about health insurance and retirement. I think we should just operate under the s

Letters to the Editor 5/10/12

City infrastructure and SURS

NO POT OF GOLDI read with interest the article on the city infrastructure written by Bruce Rushton [see “Plan? What plan? Still no fix for city infrastructure,” May 3]. The city inherited

Letters to the Editor 5/3/12

Pension reform, political funding and and parking

PENSION RIGHTSI’m all for paying my fair share. However, proposed Illinois state pension reform goes beyond fair share into highway robbery. The current $32,000/year average (also the U.S. avera

Letters to the Editor 04/26/2012

WOMEN AGAINST REGISTRYJerry Sandusky is at the center of the Penn State sex abuse scandal. Jerry Sandusky was not on any sex offender registry, which is the case in more than 95 percent of sexual offe

Letters to the Editor 4/19/12

Chicken, the Postal Service and parking lots

CHICK FIGHTMaybe if Chic-fil-A moves to Springfield we should all move out. [See “What would Col. Sanders do? Chick-fil-A generates controversy at UIS,” by Bruce Rushton, posted April 11.]

Letters to the Editor 04/12/12

COAL MINER’S DAUGHTER“Faith, hope and statuary” [by James Krohe Jr., April 5] was an overly tilted and in my case insulting piece of “work.” I admit that I have not perso

Letters to the Editor 4/5/12

Chris Britt, Truancy and Coroner candidates

NOT A BRITT FANJust recently I started to again read your weekly newspaper, which I have never been a fan of, and then here you go again, you hire another SJ-R reject, Chris Britt. Then Britt starts p

Letter to the Editor 03/29/12

OAK RIDGE FINANCESFor this reason alone, there should not be differing laws governing municipal, religious and privately held cemeteries. [ See “Buried: Oak Ridge Cemetery has serious financial

Letter to the Editor 03/22/12

WATCHDOGS LAID OFFUnbelievable. GateHouse Media executives, owners of the SJ-R, rake in hundreds of thousands in bonuses while laying off staff and outsourcing other newspaper functions [see “Pa

Letter to the Editor 03/15/12

TAMMS WORKSGov. Pat Quinn’s decision to close the Tamms Correctional Center is shortsighted at best and disastrous at worst [see “End of the line?: The governor wants to close Tamms,&rdquo

Making chemical giants happy at our expense

Thanks to the blessings of nature and good farmers, you and I can enjoy such scrumptious delights as fresh corn-on-the-cob, popcorn and many other variations of this truly great grain. And now, thanks

The stench of Bentonville spreads to Mexico – and back

Wal-Mart has long boasted of its “Always Low Prices,” but now it has confirmed that it also has “Always low morals.”The bottom line has always been THE line for Wal-Mart execut

The inequity of private equity hustlers

What are these phantasmagoric money machines that they call “private equity firms?” They’re much in the news these days, because a fellow who was a private equity magnate is presentl

The Citizens United gang

The Lone Ranger was a masked man who was out to bring bad guys to justice. Ed Conard is a masked man who is out to bring bad guys to power.A multimillionaire financier who was a top henchman in Bain C

GOP presidential contenders’ goofy greed

Even though some are out and some are in, the politicians that are/were in the GOP presidential race still are spreading their goofiness around for all the country to see.Let’s start with my sta

The cry of Congress: ‘Free Wall Street!’

Hallelujah, Washington has finally heard the people’s cries for jobs! In an urgent bipartisan push, Democrats and Republicans have joined hands across the aisle to pass the JOBS Act. In this tim

The truth about the U.S. Postal Service

What does 50 cents buy these days? Not a cuppa joe, a pack of gum or a newspaper. But you can get a steal of deal for a 50-cent piece: a first-class stamp. Plus a nickel in change.Each day, six days a

Banker hubris knows no bounds

Have you heard about the earthquake that has shaken Wall Street to its very core? Well, brace yourself, for this really is a shocker: Bonus payments are down.Yes, the exorbitant bonus checks pocketed

Speaking truth about power

A willingness to speak truth to power is an essential civic virtue for the well-being of a democratic-republic. Equally virtuous and essential, however, are those rare citizens willing to risk their p

Woody at 100

Where’s Woody when we need him? In these times of tinkle-down economics – with the money powers thinking that they’re the top dogs and that the rest of us are just a bunch of fire hy

Don’t let Springfield be Harrisburg, Pa.

Harrisburg, Pa., and Springfield have some interesting and frightening parallels. Like Springfield, Harrisburg is the capital city and the county seat. The city has a population of nearly 50,000 with

Suing the city

I hate meetings.The tortured kabuki theater that is your typical city council/zoning commission/pick-a-public-body meeting rarely sets hearts afire. The script is usually bad, the bureaucrats, inevita

The new 96th

Five candidates vie for Illinois House seat representing part of Springfield

Five candidates are running, but only one will win the race to represent parts of Springfield and Decatur in the new 96th Representative District. The first leg of the race is the March 20 primary ele

Ready, set, GOvern!

Mayor Mike Houston gets high marks for stability. But what about those promises?

Ward 1 Ald. Frank Edwards, never known for holding his tongue, was just getting warmed up.“We should set the goals,” the alderman declared two weeks ago as the city council pondered Mayor

Who will bring Springfield together?

Leading a community means more than balancing the budget

Every day, the rusty steel rails of the 10th Street railroad tracks carry trainload after trainload of coal, manufactured items and raw materials through Springfield. But those tracks carry more than

Aldermania!

A ward-by-ward look at the candidates and the issues, from potholes to garbage pickup, sidewalks to the city budget. Politics doesn’t get any more grass-roots than this.

Ward 1: Young newcomer challenges a familiar faceIn 2008, Ward 1 got a Wal-Mart on South Sixth Street. Meanwhile, Mike Crews and Frank Edwards got an election issue. Both alderman candidates highlight

New kid on the block

Lt. Gov. Sheila Simon arrives in Springfield with a legacy, accessiblility and a banjo

The year was 1969 and Sheila Simon remembers fidgeting in her seat as her father, the late U.S. Sen. Paul Simon, was sworn in as lieutenant governor of Illinois. Nearly eight years old at the time, Sh

The man who would be senator

Can Alexi make it to Washington, D.C.?

We meet at a trendy little café on Main Street in Peoria on a cold, sunny Monday afternoon. State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias is on the campaign trail, and he has agreed to meet me to talk abou

Chinas ethos of piracy

The year 2008 went out with a big bang for Microsoft. On Dec. 31, a court in China’s southern city of Shenzhen convicted 11 people of violating national copyright laws for manufactu

Flocking to the faith

Why Obama is wrong to pander to evangelicals

In the old days politicians would slip preachers some hundreds under the table and preachers would deliver the flock on Election Day. It was borderline illegal, but at least it left the Cons

His GOP appeal

Republican crossovers could make Obama the next president

Untitled Document Rush Limbaugh and some myopic Democrats would have us believe that most if not all Republicans who have been voting in Democratic primaries are “dittohead

The formula for global despair

Trade agreements, commodity speculators orchestrate food shortages

Untitled Document The International Monetary Fund and the World Trade Organization promised that more trade would help eradicate poverty and hunger. Food crops? Self-sufficiency

Cullerton may end legislative session May 31

Senate President John Cullerton has been telling some of his members for weeks that he was resigned to an overtime session. The General Assembly likely wouldn’t be able to adjourn by the schedul

Smith may give us an embarrassing circus

Call it “Blagojevich Lite,” or whatever else you want, but it became pretty darned clear last week that state Rep. Derrick Smith’s attorneys are planning the same sort of mockery of

Legislature dawdles while public opinion tanks

State Rep. Derrick Smith (D-Chicago) may have more legal troubles than his federal bribery indictment. U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald has told the House’s Special Investigating Committee that

Quiet before the Statehouse battle

“It’s so quiet,” sighed Pippin in The Fellowship of the Rings. “It’s the deep breath before the plunge,” counseled Gandalf. “I don’t want to be in a bat

Lyons of the House

Issues aside, a respected and fair legislator will be missed

Retiring state Rep. Joe Lyons, D-Chicago, said a debate on the House floor last month was his “finest hour.” He was probably right.Lyons successfully fought off five hostile floor amendmen

Jesse White reflects on the mess he made

I’ve been pretty rough on Secretary of State Jesse White lately. I have no regrets about it, and I believe I had good reason to put the onus on him to correct his mistake of appointing state Rep

Jesse White takes a tumble

It’s difficult not to contemplate how Secretary of State Jesse White has screwed up lately on so many fronts.Secretary White has managed to mostly avoid scandals throughout his life and as a res

Rep. Genius, and a kickback scheme gone awry

Appointed state Rep. Derrick Smith, D-Chicago, hasn’t been in the House very long, but few would ever have picked him as a future legislative star. He stumbles badly during debates, isn’t

Roll-your-own cigs roil Republicans

Despite a long Illinois tradition of supporting them, it’s not exactly news that Republican members of the General Assembly no longer like voting for taxes of any kind. And that attitude created

Illinois lawmakers in for unpleasant budget experience

Last year, the House was able to control the Statehouse budget process by releasing low-ball state revenue estimates early on and then vowing to stick to those numbers no matter what. The Senate Democ

Candidates of the corn

Where they stand on ethanol can make or break them — and that’s a shame

Untitled Document The Midwest is where it’s at — for corn and politics. Five Midwestern states — Illinois, Missouri, Iowa, Ohio, and Indiana — acco

Cut-and-run Democrats

New congressional leadership disinclined to beat on Bush

Untitled Document For the past week, Democrats have been beating their chests, declaring that their reclamation of Congress, as well as the majority of governorships around the n

Spoiler?

Whitney could crash the Democrats' party, and other predictions

A lot has happened for Rich Whitney and the Green Party over the past six months. With very little money, the Greens collected about 433 signatures per day between March and June, dodged a formal obje

Bellwether

Political climate will dictate who wins in the 99th

One way to measure the difference between the candidates for Illinois’ 99th House District is paperwork. Let me explain: When Republican state Rep. Raymond Poe, R-99th District, visited the off

A modest proposal

Were Obama a little less humble, he'd be perfect

It has to be tough for U.S. Sen. Barack Obama — who’s been asked repeatedly whether he’s considering a run for president or would accept an invitation to be a vice presidential candi

Juxtaposition

Whitney's participation could be a boon for Blago downstate

With less than eight weeks to go before the November general election, Green Party gubernatorial long shot Rich Whitney has 6 percent support among likely voters, a Chicago Tribune/WGN-TV poll release

So let's be fair

In Katrina blame game, media shouldn't get a pass

One year ago this week, Hurricane Katrina nearly wiped out New Orleans, one of the oldest, most culturally rich, poorest, and, indeed, important cities in America. In the weeks leading up to the anni

Life and debt

Africa needs more than just humanitarian aid

Before embarking on a five-nation tour of Africa last week, U.S. Sen. Barack Obama expressed concern about the perception that he could deliver to the continent, as he told the Chicago Tribune, &ldquo

Party Favors

GOP's Courtship of blacks appears to be working

“They may be our color, but they’re not our kind,” said the Rev. Al Sharpton, a loyal and longtime Democrat, of African-American Republicans during a television interview earlier thi

No end in sight

The roots of Mideast conflict run deeper than the West can imagine

Israel’s consul general to the Midwest, Barukh Binah, traveled to Springfield earlier this week to discuss the newest war in the Middle East, which started with the capture of two Israeli soldie