What good are public libraries?

A commercial ethos creeps into the stacks

A library used to be one of the first things to be established by any town that wished to call itself advanced. Of late, spending on the library is one of the first things a town cuts back. Many a may

Getting teaching right

How to develop a more professional teaching corps

Knowing what doesn’t work in the classroom may help keep a mediocre school from becoming a worse one, but only knowing what does work in the classroom can turn a mediocre school into a good one.

Still alternative after all these years

Springfield and Illinois Times after 35 years

I don’t often look at calendars – so often they remind me that there is an editor somewhere, impatiently drumming his fingers on his desk because the article draft I’d promised him i

Putting your name above the door

On Sept. 11 a grateful Springfield learned that Tony Kerasotes, head of that family’s movie house chain, had made a gift of $2 million to the YMCA building fund. It is a generous gift, graciousl

Greener than thou

Mayor Davlin wants to make Springfield the No. 1 green city

The world continues to surprise me, and never more than the day in 2008 I read that Springfield had been named one of the top 50 greenest cities in America by Popular Science magazine. Surprise gave w

Trusting to miracles

District 186 tries to excite the reluctant learner

It’s back-to-school time again – the hopeful buzz of the first few weeks when the backward and the indifferent say to themselves, “This year I’m going to get it right,” f

Faithful to the period

The National Park Service plans the next 20 years at Lincoln’s home

When your daughter pauses from her texting to ask, “Mommy, what did Voltaire mean when he wrote that the perfect is the enemy of the good?” – she might – simply drive her down

Daring to imagine the future

Mayor Davlin seeks advice on infrastructure

Mayor Tim Davlin early this month announced his appointments to the City of Springfield’s new Citizens Infrastructure Review Board, intended to obtain citizen input and guidance in prioritizing

Living in three dimensions

Seeking the scenic in central Illinois

Dave Bakke, who usually observes the world from the upper slopes of the State Journal-Register, the other day looked at it from an even higher vantage point – the cenotaph that stands on the edg

Taking the Christian out of the YMCA

The YMCA picks up a new name but sells an old idea

The American public tends to be ignorant of any history that hasn’t been the subject of a TV series, and so it was no surprise when market detectives hired by the national YMCA found members of