A famous warplane comes to Lincoln Land

The Boeing B-17 was the world’s first long-range, strategic heavy bomber, deployed to England in 1942 to help retake western Europe from the German war machine that had invaded in 1940. Before t

How Springfield ‘landed’ the National Museum of Surveying

The official grand opening of the National Museum of Surveying, 521 E. Washington, at 10 a.m., Saturday, March 19, marks the end of a birthing long in labor. Admission on the special day is free to al

A fictional wartime journey from Carbondale to Cambodia and back

The third book in Mike Shepherd’s historical fiction trilogy of Mick Scott’s adventures as a soldier and a spy has an Illinois flavor, like the others, though it ranges to distant Cambodia

Fall classical fare

The season offers plenty of fine listening in central Illinois

Classical music is reaping rewards for listeners and practitioners alike in the 21st century, thanks to ease of accessibility provided to concert planners and fans. Increasingly part of “classic

Young swimmer makes big splash for Haitian orphans

Her Rae of Sunshine Club turns compassion into action

Raegan Koebler, a soon-to-be fourth-grade student at Vachel Lindsay Elementary School, is one of 12 Illinois $1,000 Regional Scholarship winners in Kohl’s Department Stores’ 2010 Kids Who

History of Springfield’s signature building

There was a time in this town when Second Street was today’s Koke Mill Road, at the western edge of the city. Back then the Industrial Age, nurtured for decades on the east coast, wa

Springfield’s Music Man meets Our American Cousin

Mark Gifford composed the music for play at Hoogland

Mark E. Gifford is known throughout the Midwest as a keyboard virtuoso whose concerts at Springfield High School’s restored Orpheum Theater pipe organ are always well attended. But th

Au revoir, Air Rendezvous

The organization behind the popular show winds down

Untitled Document On Oct. 30, Kim Curry packed up her office at the airport and carried out the last remnants of the Springfield Air Rendezvous. The popular capital-city air show

His secret reasons

Biography of grandfather reveals dirty laundry

Untitled Document Politics beats a big drum in Springfield, and those disinclined to march to that drum often seek more harmonious cadences elsewhere. This was true for Mark Fout

Straight shooter

Elkhart resident Bob McCue gets a kick from portraying famous ancestor

Untitled Document As a little boy growing up in Elkhart, Bob McCue didn’t know that he was related to anybody famous until organizers of a local pageant — part of the