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

Hard times on Civvy Street

How to really help the veteran

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

Illinois - James Krohe Jr | Thursday, December 27,2012

Pilgrim’s progress

Dave Brubeck made jazz cool

By James Krohe Jr.

I hear you’re mad about BrubeckI like your eyes, I like him tooHe’s an artist, a pioneerWe’ve got to have some music on the new frontier– “New Frontier” by Donald F

Illinois - James Krohe Jr | Thursday, December 20,2012

Lousy socialists

Can CWLP be managed for the people’s benefit?

By James Krohe Jr.

“The word ‘socialism,’” said Illinois governor John Peter Altgeld in a speech 115 years ago, “is used as a term of derision only by the ignorant or the servile.” Sp

Illinois - James Krohe Jr | Thursday, December 13,2012

Go east, young man!

Mike Madigan goes exploring in Azerbaijan

By James Krohe Jr.

I don’t know about you, but I love to hear people talk about their interesting trips to foreign places. You learn the most interesting things. What fun it would be therefore to sit down with Mik

Illinois - James Krohe Jr | Thursday, December 6,2012

Crowdsourcing presidential choice

Why did America’s densest places vote Obama?

By James Krohe Jr.

Remember Election Night? All those colored maps on TV, intended to make clear what a jumble of numbers could not. But the maps, unlike the numbers, did not add up. Such massive swaths of red on the ma

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

Flatland into flatscapes

Scenic paintings of the central Illinois landscape. Really.

By James Krohe Jr.

Earlier this year, a young English woman named Jennifer Bradley undertook, with friends, to run across the U.S. in 80 days. She thus became the first British woman (we are told) to cross the country o

Illinois - James Krohe Jr | Wednesday, November 21,2012

Draining the pool

Does a residency rule make sense?

By James Krohe Jr.

Making one’s address a condition of employment is one of those latent viruses that reside in the American body politic, and which flares up in full-blown symptoms every few decades. Residency re