Illinois - James Krohe Jr | Thursday, March 7,2013

Hearing loss

What might a museum of Springfield sounds include?

I am told that radio pioneer Guglielmo Marconi believed that sounds never die, and that if one could somehow catch up with old sound waves one could hear sounds made years, even centuries, ago. As The

Illinois - James Krohe Jr | Thursday, February 28,2013

Board games

Everyone loses in the Walter Milton affair

By James Krohe Jr.

The most accident-prone intersection in Springfield is at 1900 West Monroe Street where the corridor to the boardroom crosses the corridor to the superintendent’s office. There was yet

Illinois - James Krohe Jr | Thursday, February 21,2013

Hat trick

What lies beneath Abe World’s Lincoln hat?

By James Krohe Jr.

Nothing – save perhaps a shredded writ of habeas corpus – says “Lincoln” like a stovepipe hat. Abe World relies on his hats as a graphical motif – I count four of them on

Illinois - James Krohe Jr | Thursday, February 14,2013

History by the book

Spielberg almost gets Lincoln right

By James Krohe Jr.

Springfield has seen two Lincoln movies recently – Saving Lincoln, which retells the White House years from the perspective of his close friend and bodyguard and which the Abraham Lincoln Associ

Illinois - James Krohe Jr | Thursday, February 7,2013

What was that again?

Hearing sometimes shouldn’t be believing

By James Krohe Jr.

Wait a minuteMaybe my hears are clogged or somethin’Maybe I’m not understanding the English language”– “My Life Is Good,” by Randy NewmanI have concluded, after not

Illinois - James Krohe Jr | Thursday, January 31,2013

A matter of degree

Politics isn’t the only bar to merit hiring

By James Krohe Jr.

Baptists have had more success against sin in Illinois than merit-hiring advocates have had against patronage. As I noted the other day, political patronage has been a factor in hiring in State of Ill

Illinois - James Krohe Jr | Thursday, January 24,2013

Hard times on Civvy Street

How to really help the veteran

By James Krohe Jr.

Illinois legislators and governors have a soft spot for heroes. I know that because they do so much to create them. The administrators of adoption agencies that find ways to keep going when the state

Illinois - James Krohe Jr | Thursday, January 17,2013

Positive spillovers

What are public universities for?

By James Krohe Jr.

Illinois legislators aren’t the only people who have to borrow money to pay for services whose value they sometimes question. Tuition and fees at four-year public institutions in the U.S. rose n

Illinois - James Krohe Jr | Thursday, January 10,2013

A new Jerusalem

Springfield needs new attractions to draw the tourists

By James Krohe Jr.

My Christmas shopping being done, I curled up in front of a glowing space heater to catch up on my reading. At the top of the pile was the official 2012 visitors guide to Springfield, “your not

Illinois - James Krohe Jr | Thursday, January 3,2013

Arts of the patron

What Mary Lee Leahy did and didn’t change

By James Krohe Jr.

Mary Lee Leahy died Dec. 12, after a busy life working for good causes as an attorney and public servant. Perhaps unfairly, she is remembered mainly as a Holy Warrior against patronage in public emplo