Fletcher Farrar

 In his appearance at the Presidential Library Tuesday, one of the great liberals of Illinois politics, Abner Mikva, set many of us to reminiscing as he told stories from his 10 years in the Illinois House, 8 years in Congress, 16 years as judge on the federal Court of Appeals and two years as White […]

 Don’t close the museum, continued. The one and only public hearing on Gov. Bruce Rauner’s crazy proposal to close the Illinois State Museum is 4 p.m. Monday in Room 212 of the Capitol. Those who wish to speak must contact in advance the Commission on Government Financing and Accountability at facilityclosure@ilga.gov. The written comments posted […]

 Look out, Gov. Bruce Rauner is really mad now. He’s throwing hundreds of thousands of his own dollars at House Speaker Mike Madigan by means of a statewide TV ad campaign. “Mike Madigan and the politicians he controls refuse to change,” says the ad. “They’re saying ‘no’ to spending discipline, ‘no’ to job-creating economic reforms, […]

 People who don’t follow Statehouse debates closely, which is probably most people, likely didn’t realize that Gov. Bruce Rauner’s property tax freeze, voted down in the House this week, actually went far beyond freezing property taxes. The proposed legislation included provisions for local governments to bypass prevailing wage requirements and to limit collective bargaining rights […]

Now, out of the blue, Gov. Bruce Rauner is threatening to close the Illinois State Museum in his effort to persuade Democrats to vote for workers compensation reform and other parts of his personal “turnaround” agenda. Stop it. The museum, which dates to 1877, has a miniscule budget of about $6 million, and if the […]

Just when we start to think we understand the game now being played at the Statehouse, we learn something that makes us not so sure. At first the Democrats’ position seemed to make perfect sense – that it’s wrong to hold the state budget hostage to win approval for the governor’s “Turnaround Agenda,” which we’d […]

It looks like Gov. Bruce Rauner and the legislature may not get to see summer this year. They’ll likely be at the Statehouse playing politics, which may be good for Springfield restaurants if bad for the poor, state workers, Amtrak riders, nursing home residents and on and on. The rest of us can make the […]

 Here we go again on Hunter Lake. The outgoing City Water, Light and Power chief says that Springfield needs a second lake to serve as a backup water supply, something former mayor Mike Houston said often. New mayor Jim Langfelder says a second lake would make a swell place for recreation, even if it’s not […]

Gov. Bruce Rauner was front and center at the Lincoln funeral reenactment events last weekend, proclaiming his admiration for Abraham Lincoln and his ties to Springfield where, the governor said, Lincoln grew up. This is the governor who is proposing major funding cuts for state history programs and elimination of the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. […]

For the Funeral Reenactment weekend, there is a lecture about 1860s underwear (3:10 p.m. Saturday at Benedictine) and another on how Springfielders did their laundry 150 years ago (3:40 p.m. Saturday at Benedictine). There is something scheduled for many interests, from historic home tours in Enos Park (see p. 38) to an Illinois Symphony Orchestra […]