Illinois - James Krohe Jr | Thursday, April 19,2012

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

Illinois - James Krohe Jr | Thursday, April 12,2012

Made in the shade

Turning car parks into real parks

By James Krohe Jr.

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&

Illinois - James Krohe Jr | Thursday, April 5,2012

Faith, hope and statuary

Today’s heroic public memorials trivialize heroism

By James Krohe Jr.

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

Illinois - James Krohe Jr | Thursday, March 29,2012

All aboard

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

By James Krohe Jr.

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

Illinois - James Krohe Jr | Thursday, March 22,2012

Going on... and on

One writer struggles with prolixity, and loses

By James Krohe Jr.

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,

Illinois - James Krohe Jr | Thursday, March 15,2012

True unbelievers

Ought religious freedom to exclude atheists?

By James Krohe Jr.

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

Illinois - James Krohe Jr | Thursday, March 8,2012

The Cadillac Queen drives again

Should one’s stand on dependency depend on who does the depending?

By James Krohe Jr.

Readers who were around back when Ronald Reagan was just another lying politician and not yet a saint will remember the Cadillac Queen. She was a Chicago welfare recipient who starred in Reagan’

Illinois - James Krohe Jr | Thursday, March 1,2012

Tag-teaming history

Fun and games during Lincoln’s birthday month

By James Krohe Jr.

Another Lincoln birthday month has come and gone, and this one was busier than most. We learned that the Mary Todd Lincoln that had looked down from an oil portrait in the Executive Mansion for more t

Illinois - James Krohe Jr | Thursday, February 23,2012

‘Things’ll be great when you’re downtown’

Making Springfield’s center a neighborhood

By James Krohe Jr.

Who would have thought that Petula Clark would turn out to be an urban policy seer? Perhaps you saw the SJ-R report about the “Sustainable Design Assessment Team” brought in to advise on h

Illinois - James Krohe Jr | Thursday, February 16,2012

There goes the neighborhood

Finding a new home for historic houses

By James Krohe Jr.

Buildings are like people. Even when they get too old and decrepit to work, their examples can still teach. Something like 100 buildings from the Lincoln era are thought to still stand in Springfield.