Illinois - James Krohe Jr | Thursday, June 7,2012

New Beijings

Might immigrants come to America to farm our universities?

I have often lamented here the continuing decline in the population of Illinois’ rural parts. (See “Devoid of life,” July 14, 2011.) Like a great many readers, I have roots in centra

Illinois - James Krohe Jr | Thursday, May 31,2012

Accidental sagacity

Does the Internet mean the death of serendipity?

By James Krohe Jr.

I was looking up something else on the web a couple of months ago when I ran across a reminiscence by the veteran Tribune writer Ron Grossman. “Like Columbus, I’d start with a destination

Illinois - James Krohe Jr | Thursday, May 24,2012

Nickeled and dimed

Confusing management for governance in District 186

By James Krohe Jr.

A few years ago, the executive director of the National School Boards Association said, “In a democracy, school boards are the closest thing to the ground.” “Like dandelions in a law

Illinois - James Krohe Jr | Thursday, May 17,2012

Fountain of death

Sangamon County shows the nation how to die young

By James Krohe Jr.

How did that song go again? I had it right on the tip of – oh yeah. “I hope I die before I get old.” Apparently you have a good chance to doing just that if you live in Sangamon Coun

Illinois - James Krohe Jr | Thursday, May 10,2012

A double shot of urban-type feel

Building real urbanism in the medical district

By James Krohe Jr.

“Everyone wanted it to have an ‘urban’ type feel,” said one focus group participant to the State Journal-Register about the new supermarket that Niemann Foods Inc. plans to bui

Illinois - James Krohe Jr | Thursday, May 3,2012

Topping off the tank

Setting federal highway spending back to 1993

By James Krohe Jr.

As I understand it, the Republican position on gasoline prices is to save drivers money by refusing to raise the excise tax on gasoline that pays the federal share of building roads and bridges. As th

Illinois - James Krohe Jr | Thursday, April 26,2012

Springfield visited

Novelist Evelyn Waugh lectures the capital in 1949

By James Krohe Jr.

No doubt some members of the of the Springfield Diocesan Council of Catholic Women settled into their seats at the Centennial Auditorium in March 1949 looking forward to being instructed by their invi

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

Sputnik moments

Can the U.S. win another race to beat the world?

By James Krohe Jr.

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