The year 2008 went out with a big bang for Microsoft. On Dec. 31, a court in China’s southern city of Shenzhen convicted 11 people of violating national copyright laws for manufactu]]> Five candidates are running, but only one will win the race to represent parts of Springfield and Decatur in the new 96th Representative District. The first leg of the race is the March 20 primary ele]]> Ward 1 Ald. Frank Edwards, never known for holding his tongue, was just getting warmed up.“We should set the goals,” the alderman declared two weeks ago as the city council pondered Mayor ]]> Ward 1: Young newcomer challenges a familiar faceIn 2008, Ward 1 got a Wal-Mart on South Sixth Street. Meanwhile, Mike Crews and Frank Edwards got an election issue. Both alderman candidates highlight]]> The year was 1969 and Sheila Simon remembers fidgeting in her seat as her father, the late U.S. Sen. Paul Simon, was sworn in as lieutenant governor of Illinois. Nearly eight years old at the time, Sh]]> Every day, the rusty steel rails of the 10th Street railroad tracks carry trainload after trainload of coal, manufactured items and raw materials through Springfield. But those tracks carry more than ]]> We meet at a trendy little café on Main Street in Peoria on a cold, sunny Monday afternoon. State Treasurer Alexi Giannoulias is on the campaign trail, and he has agreed to meet me to talk abou]]> The last time a statewide referendum went before the Illinois electorate, 1978, Hustler publisher Larry Flynt had just been shot and paralyzed, perennial Hall of Fame reject Pete Rose c]]> November 2006 was a month that historians will study in minute detail, day by day and headline by headline, when they attempt to reconstruct the iron chain of misery the United States has been forging]]>