Murder has never been a strong enough word to describe what happened to Karyn Hearn Slover. She was young and beautiful, just 23 and on her way to becoming a model. One fall Friday in 1996, after she ]]> What price would you put on the smile of a child? How much would you pay for the pitter-patter of little feet? What about the singular sensation of a baby instinctively squeezing your finger]]> It’s the only national forest in our predominantly agricultural/urban state, and it offers a great escape from our daily routines. Located down in the southern tip of the stat]]> Untitled Document Bill Warner never knew how close he came to dying. After clocking out at the Mount Olive, Ill., waterworks around midnight, he decided to walk home by way of th]]> As soon as the morning-after pill Plan B came on the market several years ago, downstate-Illinois pharmacist Peggy Pace knew that she’d never dispense it. “It]]> Believe it or not, Bulgaria may be responsible for the most common carnival ride at any state fair. "Pleasure Wheels"--powered by strong men cranking large wooden rings with riders sitting on attached]]> When Shelley Pethy started college in the early '80s, the process seemed simple.]]> Four years ago, Springfield Clinic had fewer than 140 physicians. Today the number sits at 175, and it’s about to grow. Thanks to a $30 million expansion project approved last w]]> What an embarrassment our national government is. Mired in the sickening muck of corrupt corporate money and right-wing ideology, our so-called leaders continue to divert our public treasury]]> I love to dance. Since my return to Springfield I've been out a few times, but only to one place -- The Station House, the gay dance bar downtown where the music is great and you can dance for a while]]> Untitled Document Early one morning, about a quarter till seven, Larry Washington heard a knock at his front door. When he looked out, he saw a phalanx of Springfield police offi]]> Untitled Document Do you feel the love?” asks Bill Homann. He is sitting in an easy chair in the living room of his modest suburban tract home in Valparaiso,]]> The gospel choir has finished its hymns and the pastor is well into his sermon when a tall, gaunt man with short-cropped hair and a handsome baby face appears at the edge of the dais. The pastor, fer]]> Gene and Betty Hoots bought a successful ice-cream stand in Mattoon in the early 1950s. A few years later, the young couple decided to expand the business by adding hamburgers, french fries and ]]> llinois. It is a land of more than corn. From the gritty sprawl of Chicagoland to the silent forests of the Shawnee National Forest to the rolling western plains, Illinois encompasses 55,000 sq]]> In Springfield:Lost Bridge Trail begins at the Illinois Department of Transportation, at Ash and Dirksen Parkway, and wends for five miles on a shady, tree-lined asphalt path to Rochester. At]]> Don Durbin wistfully recalls his early years on the family farm. He stalks through the tall, windswept grasses and points to areas where his children once brushed ponies and petted hogs. ]]> On the morning of April 11, 2007, David Lewis appeared before a Vermilion County grand jury in response to a subpoena. As a part-time police officer for the village of Belgium, Il]]> Julie Rea has told this story hundreds of times. But no matter how many times she tells it, the story never makes sense. She was asleep in her own bed when she heard a child scream. This child sound]]> Historians Against the War has just published a 24-page pamphlet titled “Join Us? Testimonies of Iraq War Veterans and Their Families,” edited by Carl Mirra, of the State Univers]]>