Books | Wednesday, July 30,2008

The forgotten Maxwell brothers

Story of two Illinois desperadoes captures the romance, grit of Old West

Everybody knows of the exploits of outlaws Frank and Jesse James, but who remembers Ed and Lon Maxwell, two Illinoisans who captured the nation's attention in the early 1880s? The broth

Guest Opinion | Wednesday, July 30,2008

Things I’ve learned

Journalism will survive the passing of some newspapers

By Roland Klose

Soon after they emigrated to the U.S., in 1954, my parents bought a fancy hi-fi radio-record player. A couple of decades later, when I was in high school, they got a new stereo and gave me t

Guest Opinion | Wednesday, June 18,2008

The Constitution wins, by one vote

Or, why the stakes are so high this November

By Roland Klose

Untitled Document After 9/11, the U.S. rounded up hundreds of foreigners suspected of having ties to Al Qaeda or the Taliban, designated them enemy combatants, and imprisoned the

Guest Opinion | Wednesday, March 5,2008

Turning things around

Despite a long hard winter, optimism blooms along MacArthur Boulevard

By Roland Klose

Untitled Document In the 1980s, when she served as this paper’s general manager and ad director, Sharon Whalen and her family lived on Dial Court, just west of MacArthur Bo

Guest Opinion | Thursday, February 7,2008

Swimming with sharks

Calming these troubled economic waters won’t be easy

By Roland Klose

Untitled Document There was a time, not so long ago, when adjustable-rate mortgages were just as unusual and as mysterious as cell phones and state-sponsored lotteries. T

Guest Opinion | Wednesday, November 28,2007

Homers

Who needs a cartoon Springfield when we’ve got Mayor Quimby and Chief Wiggum?

By Roland Klose

Untitled Document Something funny happened at City Council last week. OK, that’s hardly news. Something funny always happens at City Council. This time, how

Guest Opinion | Wednesday, September 26,2007

Missing Lincoln link

The jury’s still out on area church’s claims, professor says

By Roland Klose

Untitled Document In April 1857, the Logan County Courthouse burned to the ground and court officials temporarily arranged to hold court in nearby Lincoln Christian Church. That

Guest Opinion | Wednesday, September 19,2007

Travel to unravel

Some of my favorite places here, there, and everywhere

By Roland Klose

Untitled Document I’ve had a lot on my mind lately but not a lot of time to sort things out. That’s just the way things are. Compared with many, I don’t have mu

Guest Opinion | Wednesday, August 1,2007

Dead man talking

I have seen the past, and it works

By Roland Klose

Untitled Document As a young reporter, Lincoln Steffens learned that successful police officers had a somewhat ambiguous relationship to the law. Here’s how it worked in so

Guest Opinion | Wednesday, June 13,2007

Getting it right

Why it takes work to keep off the road to hell

By Roland Klose

Untitled Document Long, long ago, I was the host of a public-access cable-television show in St. Louis, a boring gabfest about world affairs. We had a panel of regulars — a