Editor’s Note

This week marks the semi-retirement of Illinois Times business manager Brenda Matheis, who has held that position for the past 18 years. Brenda has done a little bit of everything around here to keep us organized and the bills paid, while managing our print circulation and human resources. We’re happy she’ll continue part time, handling […]

With so much else going on, Abraham Lincoln seems almost forgotten on his birthday this year. A few brave Republicans are trying to rescue his party from Trumpism, and the president from Springfield is still the one most quoted in House and Senate speeches, but we’ve gotten so used to Lincoln he rarely awes us […]

Ask bureaucrats why they’re so slow getting seniors vaccinated and they’ll tell you we don’t know how to use computers, or get on the internet, or check multiple websites. They’ll say older folks are more familiar with telephones, bless their hearts, but there are already several people answering phones and adding more would be expensive. […]

It’s brilliant of Sangamon County public health officials to let 65-plusers get vaccinated if they bring an 85-pluser with them, and after their vaccines wait together the required 15 minutes. They’ll become linked for life. It’s like the driver’s ed rules that require teenagers to spend so many hours of behind-the-wheel training with their parents […]

Democracy doesn’t need an apology. But we can stop blaming Trump, Twitter, Republicans and reporters. And get back to work on vaccination, immigration, education, discrimination and a peaceful nation. Ask what your country can do for other countries. Freedom is a project not halfway done. –Fletcher Farrar, editor and CEO

A season of rapid change, as in Springfield and Washington, is not the time to shrink as though violence, disease and racism will win. It is the time, rather, to say with Nancy, JB, Joe – and now maybe Mitch, and Tim Butler, who’s finding his voice – to say we can do this, we […]

It has been heartbreaking to watch so many once-proud and honorable elected officials say they will challenge election results. They do this, staining their reputations, to remain in favor with supporters of someone who lost an election but says he won. It shouldn’t be this hard to say what everybody knows: The emperor has no […]

Here’s gratitude for Illinois Times making it through another year, and for all who helped IT do so – our readers, our writers, our newsmakers, our staff and drivers, our subscribers and donors, our advertisers and friends. Some weeks we marvel, not at how few ads we have, compared to before, but how many, compared […]

Gov. JB Pritzker is right that had his fair-tax constitutional amendment passed, allowing a progressive income tax, the budget deficit Illinois now faces wouldn’t be as dire. The incomes of Illinois’ wealthiest one percent have ballooned from an annual average of $411,177 in 1979 to over $1.45 million by 2017, while they still pay the […]

Every December day’s mail and email arrives with more fundraising appeals from arts groups, church groups, public radio and TV, helping organizations and nonprofits of every kind. Here’s an idea for dealing with all those requests: Give to as many as you can. Even a small donation provides encouragement, a welcome gift at the close […]

Some things to think about while we wait in worldwide lines for immunizations: Reducing those “underlying health conditions” that make everything worse. Changing medical care to health care. Drinking more water. Following Michael Pollan’s diet – “Eat good food. Not too much. Mostly plants.” Health is the best vaccine. –Fletcher Farrar, editor and CEO

We are used to being put on the spot by being asked to name one thing for which we are thankful. Now David Brooks suggests other questions to ask around the Thanksgiving Zoom screen. “What would you do if you weren’t afraid?” If that goes well, try, “What crossroads are you at, and which direction […]