Illinois - James Krohe Jr | Thursday, April 4,2013

Empty chairs

Why so little public interest in serving the public interest?

The nation laughed when Clint Eastwood debated an empty chair at the Republicans’ national convention, but it wasn’t funny in Illinois. More and more of the seats on Illinois’ town c

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

Unplugged

Why is Illinois’ Internet service so backward?

By James Krohe Jr.

We all live in a brave new world, but the future is happening sooner in some places than in others. As you might expect, the planet is home to many nations where connections to the Internet, the highw

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

Nurse! Nurse!

Relief for Medicaid’s financial ills?

By James Krohe Jr.

Illinois faces two challenges in providing decent medical care for the many among us who stubbornly refuse to follow the example of our social betters by getting rich. One, endlessly “debated,&r

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

A penny here, a penny there…

Will a monumental Lincoln penny bring in tourist dollars?

By James Krohe Jr.

I read with dismay – I always read with dismay, like some people always sleep with their cat – that the president would like the federal government to stop minting pennies. They can buy vi

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

Hearing loss

What might a museum of Springfield sounds include?

By James Krohe Jr.

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