Editor’s Note

When a southern Illinois Republican state representative got a court to exempt himself from the governor’s stay-at-home order, Gov. JB Pritzker didn’t have to get all mad. The governor played into Rep. Darren Bailey’s hands by calling the cheap political stunt a “cheap political stunt.” He then rushed the State of Illinois into appellate court […]

For Earth Day and its season, friends of the planet are celebrating the life of Woody Woodruff, 59, the central Illinois conservation hero who died earlier this month after a long struggle with cancer. He had worked as a Sangamon County Soil and Water Conservationist, and recently as a soil health educator for Illinois Stewardship […]

Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot called it a “call-to-action moment” when she announced statistics showing that African Americans in Illinois are getting sick and dying from coronavirus-related illnesses at a disproportionately high rate. In Illinois this week, 43 percent of those who had died from the disease and 28 percent of those who had tested positive […]

Monthly I drive to a board meeting an hour away, meet for two hours, then drive home – four hours. We zoomed the March meeting, and because of the virus tightened the agenda. After 45 minutes business was done and I was home. Our church attendance is up, now that we’re zooming. When one zoom […]

Politicians seem bent on getting through the national health crisis without discussing health. Now that Michelle Obama is history, the only exercise we’re asked to do is wash our hands. Governors get excited about having a daily press briefing to order us around without going through the legislature. But that is getting old. What if […]

The pandemic shutdown is a reminder of how much Illinois Times depends on and partners with bars and restaurants, theaters, galleries and museums. Usually we spend most of our pages and energies trying to entice readers to get out and engage rather than stay home and be socially distant. But, like other local businesses (see […]

At first authorities were saying the virus-vulnerable were older people with “underlying health conditions.” Now the language often morphs into the vulnerable are older people – sometimes all those over 60 – with no mention of underlying conditions. But isn’t the real issue not age but health? If so, we should be targeting the unhealthy […]

Now Democrats are left with two or three old white guys trying to inspire women, minorities and the young without losing the old white guys who haven’t gone over to the dark side with Donald Trump. Maybe the candidates can inspire with a message as simple as make America good again, which seemed to work […]

My father used to like to say, too often, “There are two kinds of parents in this world – those who have trouble with their kids, and those who are going to.” Dad’s joke was not funny. But it can comfort parents going through family problems to know they are not alone, while reminding others […]

We who thought Blagojevich’s sentence was excessive are being pretty quiet now that the unpopular, but correct, decision has been made. The only other never-Trumper I know who feels this way, U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin, who is up for re-election this year, put it this way: “Former Governor Blagojevich betrayed the people of Illinois and […]

Frank Edwards was the aw shucks alderman, known for the common sense he gathered at his auto body shop and a reputation for integrity he earned as a firefighter. Because of his character, fellow aldermen turned to him to fill in as mayor after Tim Davlin’s death. If he made too much of being mayor […]

Frank Edwards was the aw shucks alderman, known for the common sense he gathered at his auto body shop and a reputation for integrity he earned as a firefighter. Because of his character, fellow aldermen turned to him to fill in as mayor after Tim Davlin’s death. If he made too much of being mayor […]