Illinois - James Krohe Jr | Thursday, May 12,2011

All history is personal

Why a place’s past comes to matter

The Sangamon County Historical Society turns 50 years old this year. Judged by such new initiatives as a Web-based encyclopedia of area history, the Society is – it pains me to say this –

Illinois - James Krohe Jr | Thursday, May 5,2011

Betting the farm

Is Illinois farmland the next real estate bubble?

By James Krohe Jr.

Central Illinois farmland doesn’t usually return a fat harvest until the fall. These days it’s doing so all year long. Sales prices for prime farm acreage around Springfield rose roughly o

Illinois - James Krohe Jr | Thursday, April 28,2011

Celebrating success

Politics and Americans’ ambivalence about wealth

By James Krohe Jr.

Hosni Mubarak, Egypt’s modern pharaoh, and his two sons were “detained” in mid-April for questioning about corruption and abuse of power by Egyptian prosecutors. No one knows how muc

Illinois - James Krohe Jr | Thursday, April 21,2011

The bridges of Sangamon County

What to do when a bridge can carry more history than traffic?

By James Krohe Jr.

Usually, making a Top 10 list is cause for congratulation, but not when it’s Landmarks Illinois’ annual list of most endangered historic sites. In March, the preservationist group named to

Illinois - James Krohe Jr | Friday, April 15,2011

Undercount

Does low turnout threaten representative government?

By James Krohe Jr.

Forget one-person-one vote; we are moving toward a one election-one vote future. The turnout of registered voters in Peoria for April’s municipal elections — and remember that not all qual

Illinois - James Krohe Jr | Thursday, April 7,2011

Relying on Senator Santa

Wishing won’t get a new rail corridor built

By James Krohe Jr.

The prospect of free money leaves even a Republican Chamber of Commerce stalwart like Mike Houston sounding like a spoils-oriented ward alderman. “Sen. [Dick] Durbin is a very powerful senator,&

Illinois - James Krohe Jr | Thursday, March 31,2011

Big deals about little games

Looking back on high school sports rivalries

By James Krohe Jr.

Finally. The Springfield High girls beat Glenwood at soccer the other night, after nearly a decade during which Chatham girls played Mike Madigan to the conference’s legislative rank and file. T

Illinois - James Krohe Jr | Thursday, March 24,2011

‘I’m all right, Jack.’

Reflecting on the Forbes billionaires

By James Krohe Jr.

Years ago, when I kept an office downtown, prurient curiosity caused me to drop by the PO every once in a while to check out the creeps on the FBI’s latest Ten Most Wanted list posted in the lob

Illinois - James Krohe Jr | Thursday, March 17,2011

Chicagoland, Chicagoland

The rise of the Chicago city-state

By James Krohe Jr.

While the pundits debate whether Illinois is leaning to the left or the right, the U.S. Census Bureau, deciding on better evidence supplied by the 2010 population count, has concluded that Illinois is

Illinois - James Krohe Jr | Thursday, March 10,2011

A school by any other name

The perils of naming public buildings in a fastidious age

By James Krohe Jr.

The good people of Chatham have built themselves a second public elementary school, to give their young the skills they will need to someday leave Chatham. The usual sorts of names for the new school