Guest Opinion | Wednesday, January 7,2009

Back to the future in Enos Park

We need city cooperation to go from blight to bright

In the late 1800s it was known as the “Jewel of Springfield”! A hundred years later in 1997 it was officially classified as a “blighted community” qualified to establish its ow

Guest Opinion | Wednesday, December 31,2008

Say yes to Hunter Lake

A lake would solve more problems than gravel pits and wells

By Reg Davis

There are at least two sides to every story. The Hunter Lake story has been going on for over 40 years and the following is another side of it [See “Say no to Hunter Lake,” by Fletcher Fa

Guest Opinion | Wednesday, December 24,2008

Make fuel-efficient cars legal in Illinois

Urban electric cars are available, but you can’t drive them here

By David Brunson

Suppose you’re feeling patriotic. Maybe you’d like to finally do something to help America reduce its addiction to foreign oil. Perhaps you’ve thought about buying an extremely fuel

Guest Opinion | Wednesday, December 17,2008

Don’t close library branches

These precious community resources are needed now more than ever

By Patricia Erford

Today we hear that 1.55 million jobs in the U.S. were lost during the last six months, and 3,000 jobs were lost within Sangamon County during the last five years. People have been hit hard and incom

Guest Opinion | Wednesday, December 10,2008

Bold education strategy at St. Pat’s

Helping children from poverty succeed in school

By Tom Bayer

Faith Sanderson at the Regional Office of Education works with many families in school districts throughout Sangamon County who are in crisis. We should listen to Faith because she has many years of

Guest Opinion | Wednesday, December 3,2008

India must not follow the U.S. example

By Claude Salhani

Reeling from the terrible shock of the attacks on India’s commercial capital last week, the authorities of the world’s largest democracy may find it logical to follow in the footsteps of a

Guest Opinion | Wednesday, November 19,2008

Barack Obama’s confident humility

By Thomas March and Darcy R. Fryer

Senator Barack Obama ran a successful campaign about change, and in many ways his election to the presidency marks a revolution in American politics — but it also marks a return. The Fou

Guest Opinion | Wednesday, November 12,2008

Minding the store at New Salem

We bring the past alive. But we can’t keep doing it with volunteers alone.

By Peter Ellertsen

Since the full-time interpreters were laid off in August, I’ve been minding the store at Lincoln’s New Salem State Historic Site. For 10 years now, I’ve been a volunteer interpret

Guest Opinion | Wednesday, October 29,2008

Rebuild Springfield High at its current site

Sell the Koke Mill land and invest in the city’s central core

By Bill Castor

Maybe it was a full moon that prompted the overwrought howls of outrage being directed at ACORN by John McCain and a pack of his right-wing cohorts. Either that or just raw partisan nuttines

Guest Opinion | Thursday, September 18,2008

I’m a 9/11 survivor living in Springfield

Still looking for some conservative compassion

By Williams Wikins

I am a 9/11 survivor living in Springfield. I was born and raised here, and after completing college in Chicago, I lived and worked in New York for 22 years. On Sept. 11, 2001, I escaped fro