The State House Inn, designed by Henry L. Newhouse II, was the most stylish hotel in Springfield when it was built. After a 2003 reincarnation, it retains the title today. PHOTO COurTESY SANGAMON VALLEY COLlECTION AT LINCOLN LIBRARY Much in the way that human corpses become food for the worms, dead eras become food for […]
Opinion
Posted inOpinion
Race tensions at the turn of the century
Though life was slowly improving for millions in Illinois as the 20th century opened, many still struggled for fairness, including women, the poor and minorities. In several instances, racial tensions exploded into some of the landmark moments in American social history. After the Civil War, some blacks began to migrate north, looking for better job […]
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Men in uniform
In “Off the rack” I chided the governor for his too-casual choices of attire while on the job. I concede that my standards in such matters were shaped by my first tow governors, William Stratton and Otto Kerner. Stratton was a bit of a dandy, Kerner went dignified. Kerner was named Best Dressed in his […]
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Vainglory
ILLUSTRATION BY RICK NEASE/TNS Some 30 years ago I was moved by the mindless boasting of the Republican blowhard in the White House to write this column, which appeared in the Prejudices series on Aug. 8, 1985. The presidential field at the moment offers us several others of the type, so I thought my […]
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Don’t deny occupations to ex-offenders
The Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) released 29,962 prisoners in 2014, according to the department’s FY2014 annual report. Research suggests that the ex-offender’s biggest hurdle to reentry is convincing potential employers to overlook their past mistakes. All individuals with conviction records face numerous challenges reintegrating back into society, but African-Americans are disproportionately impacted. Blacks make […]
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Eggheads, again
This week I take up the governor’s choices in clothes, but I can find no fault with his grooming. I haven’t always been able to say that about Illinois’s senior politicians. In a 1990 column titled Eggheads, I examined – not a bit more closely than I had to – the topic of the comb-over […]
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Unfit
Usually when the subject is Illinois governors and someone brings up cuffs, you know what they mean. But this week I’m talking about attire, not arrests. We’ve had chief executives who preferred casual clothes – Jim Edgar comes to mind – but Bruce Rauner prefers what I call casualty clothes, because he looks likes a […]
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Off the rack
PHOTO BY PATRICK YEAGLE I took in two things during lunch the other day. One was bean soup. The other was Goethe’s observation that the nobleman “tells us everything through the person he presents, but . . . the burgher simply is, and when he tries to put on an appearance, the effect is ludicrous […]
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Social Security is critical primary issue for Illinoisans
With the March 15 Illinois primary quickly approaching, it is urgent that presidential candidates take a stand on one of the most critical financial and retirement security issues Americans face as they age: Social Security. More than 2.1 million Illinoisans receive Social Security benefits. How critical is Social Security to them? Nearly half of Illinoisans […]
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Faster., faster!
In “Unplugged” I wondered why Illinois’ internet service is so backward. I probably should have specified Downstate Illinois. These days Comcast customers in suburbs can get service with downloads speeds reliably in 125-135 Mbps range for under seventy bucks. Last month Comcast announced its plans to offer 1-gigabit-per-second Internet service to Chicago residential and business customers […]
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Seeing is believing – isn’t it?
Dearborn and Randolph, Chicago, May 25, 1909, from Souvenirs of Chicago, V.O. Hammon Co., 1915. History sleuths assert that the photographer asked traffic cops to knock off for five minutes, with the dramatic result you see here. Everyone likes picture books, and for mostly good reasons. Picture books about history are especially intriguing, in the […]
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Belew
A faithful reader was kind enough to share her own recollections of Adrian Belew in Springfield. She writes: Back in 1982 or so, I was at my parent’s house visiting. I grew up on South State. My mom was a precinct committee woman (wrong party, but I kept my mouth shut MOST of the time). She said that […]
