Were a boom car to drive past city hall while Springfield’s city council was in session, the din would make it impossible to hear what the aldermen were saying. This is the sole public advantage of allowing the super-amped hip-hop-mobile to roam the capital’s streets at will, but anyone who has been following the debate […]
Opinion
Posted inOpinion
Golden anniversary of the pill
This month marks the 50th anniversary of the approval of the birth control pill by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration in 1960. As even golden anniversaries go, this is a big one. The pill, which was first manufactured in Illinois by G.D. Searle and Company, literally changed everything for women. This anniversary should both […]
Posted inOpinion
Yielding to nonsense
A General Assembly unable to pass the laws that are needed must pass something, and so busies itself passing laws that are not. One of these is Illinois House Bill 43, which in round figures demands that drivers must stop to allow a pedestrian to cross a street via any crosswalk. As I write it […]
Posted inOpinion
Making room for the Huangs
In 2002, the government of the People’s Republic of China banned a book of oral history interviews with the sorts of people that the West does not hear about, and that the Chinese authorities do not wish it to. The compiler was one Liao Yiwu, a dissident writer who had been marginalized himself by the […]
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How to gut renewable energy
For the third consecutive legislative session, myopic legislators have introduced illogical, almost surreal rationalizations for why they should repeal one state law that has successfully protected Illinois for 23 years, and sabotage a second that promotes zero-carbon, sustainable and less-polluting energy. I refer here to attempts to repeal what has become known as the “nuclear […]
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Don’t be duped by nuclear power
Nuclear power has never lived up to the promises of its backers. Their latest claim — that nuclear energy represents an easy answer to global warming — has as much validity as that old industry chestnut of producing energy “too cheap to meter.” Let’s not be duped again. Four decades ago, when I served as […]
Posted inOpinion
The Presidential museum turns five
Abe World opened five years ago this month, on April 19. Drawing on all the dark arts of electronic hucksterism, the new museum was to transform Springfield into a Mecca for patriots who would make their hajj by the millions in their Caravans and Odysseys. Has it? Has it returned a decent profit on the […]
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Will Illinois ignite a biotech boom?
In early May, nearly 20,000 biotechnology industry leaders from around the globe will gather in Chicago to discuss the future of the life sciences sector. The issues addressed at this year’s BIO International Convention could have lasting effects on the Illinois economy. The biotech industry is already a source of lucrative jobs and an engine […]
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Cloudy thinking from the Sunshine State
Illinois was demographically if not geographically a Southern state in its early years, and has long suffered from innovations in the civil realm imported from the land of molasses and mosquitoes. These include Black Codes and courthouse politics, but we would have had to add to that list if a proposed school reform bill in […]
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Reuniting learning and labor
Facing nearly half a billion dollars of unpaid bills from the State of Illinois, the University of Illinois says it will probably have to raise tuition nearly 20 percent over the next four years. Taking a page from the General Assembly accounting textbook, the university will pay its immediate bills by borrowing against tuition and […]
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Revoke city’s library card
Libraries are an important part of our society. They provide a variety of choices in books, music, movies, audio-books and research tomes as well as public Internet, children’s reading programs, meeting places and quiet places for reading or study. Through inter-library loan programs, you can order items that your library does not carry. In harder […]
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Eat out for a good cause
We would like to make an offer to our friends and neighbors in Springfield that we hope they can’t refuse. Would you rather attend a stuffy fundraising dinner with a group of people you don’t know, or enjoy a delicious meal with family and friends at a great restaurant in your area and still support […]
