Tax gambling to fix the state budget
Gambling companies arguably owe the Illinois Treasury between $10 billion and $47 billion dollars. The Illinois legislative leadership needs to exercise its integrity and collect these billions of dollars. While an Illinois state senator during the 1990s and thereafter as a U.S. Senator, Peter Fitzgerald, R-Ill., repeatedly joined with a legislative minority to complain about…
A Christmas like no other
“It takes a worried man to sing a worried song,It takes a worried man to sing a worried song,It takes a worried man to sing a worried song.I’m worried now but I won’t be worried long.” Mr. Hoskins hummed this tune over and over, thinking things would surely get better soon. But his luck wasn’t…
HE’S BAAAACCK
When Springfield last saw Frederick George Celani, he was ’splaining to a federal judge the flimflam known as Kayport Package Express. Oldtimers (and by that we mean anyone who remembers the early 1980s) will recall Celani bamboozled a good part of the city by setting up Kayport, which he vowed would rival Federal Express in…
Wreck-it Ralph’s clever odyssey
My father always used to say that he hated taking us to Disney animated films, yet I remember him being the one who laughed the most at what was happening on the screen. Of course, that’s the secret where making a full-length cartoon is concerned – you need to appeal not only to the kids…
DISCORD IN THE DISTRICT
Following a lengthy and contentious meeting of the Springfield school board in which Superintendent Walter Milton proposed cuts to several popular programs to balance the Springfield Public Schools budget, at least one upset person took their frustrations to the Internet. An unidentified person who didn’t respond to an interview request created a Facebook group on…
Carry debate carries on
Before last Friday’s horrific school shooting in Connecticut, people on both sides of the concealed carry debate were saying privately that they did not expect Attorney General Lisa Madigan would appeal her major loss at the hands of the U.S. Court of Appeals. As you already know, a 7th Circuit panel in Chicago voted 2-1…
The Seething Coast
In 2006 when “Springfield’s beloved indie pop band Resident Genius abruptly imploded at their peak,” The Seething Coast incarnated from the resulting tumult. Guitarists, singers and songwriters, Jay Vanselow and Jason Perry, scrounged the fresh moniker from a song by the band the Mountain Goats and carried on the soul and style of RG with…
My gift
My gift This poem was written by my mother,Vera Wardner Dougan, to my father,for their first Christmas together, 1924. I am repeating it from last year, for it is so simple, appropriate and tender. If I could give to you one only gift To hold forever, in remembrance of me T’would be the peace that…
Firearms, medical pot and gay marriage, oh my!
When Illinois lawmakers return to Springfield early next year, they’ll face three issues more divisive than even the ongoing pension battle. But like the pension issue, these battles have been brewing for years, and conditions now seem ripe for big changes. The issues are concealed carry of firearms, legalization of medical marijuana and legalization of…
The sky’s the limit
As the nation hurtles toward a fiscal cliff, the Illinois Department of Transportation has released a study showing that airports are economic catalysts. The study’s authors, it seems, have never seen an airport that they did not like. From O’Hare International in Chicago to Grandpa’s Farm just outside Mendota in LaSalle County, airports large and…
No joking matter
A Springfield man has sued officers from Springfield and Jerome, claiming that police used excessive force while arresting him a year ago. A police microphone captures officers Michael Brown and Chance Warnisher of the Springfield Police Department and Steven Stirmell, then an officer with the Village of Jerome, in a jovial mood immediately following the…
Most detested holiday tradition made delectable
Does anyone like fruitcake? You know, that stuff with the candied fruits: green and red glacéed cherries and candied citron peel with a half-life equal to that of uranium. For me, the citron is the deal-breaker. I’m not alone. Citron, a type of citrus fruit, has been around a long time; the ancient “foodie” Theophrastus…
Lousy socialists
“The word ‘socialism,’” said Illinois governor John Peter Altgeld in a speech 115 years ago, “is used as a term of derision only by the ignorant or the servile.” Springfield has been the scene of an experiment in the public ownership and management of the means of production of a vital product since the days…
End of the world or end of the world ending?
With nothing else worth discussing this week other than the much purported and often promulgated “end of the world” coming on Dec. 21, 2012, here we go. I reasoned that spending, as Bob Dylan called “my precious time” on the subject, makes sense because, if the world does end on that date, then I missed…
Hark the holiday
The Hoogland Center for the Arts will present four performances of an old-fashioned Christmas revue, A Very Hoogland Christmas, featuring the talents of many local performers. Listen to “Merry Christmas, Darling” by Mary Kate Smith and other holiday favorites and sacred tunes by Nathan Carls, Mary Jo Curry, Gus Gordon, Debbie Ross and Matthew Vala. Thursday…
Letters to the Editor 12/20/12
FREE SOCIETY IS GUN-FREE Our plague of semi-automatic gun massacres shows us that America faces a crucial conflict in how we have always interpreted the freedoms of assembly and personal expression with what a newer interpretation of “freedom to bear arms” means in today’s culture. They can totally oppose each other. We must find a…
Unlucky in shove
My husband was a heavy-drinking, drug-taking skirt-chaser who worked only sporadically, so I divorced him three years ago. He quit drinking and drugs, renounced skirt chasing, and was constantly professing his love for me, so I took him back on the condition that he contributes financially. He soon started behaving badly. He does no housework,…
Glowing tradition
One of Springfield’s most beloved sites at Christmastime is the Dana-Thomas House State Historic Site on Luminaria Evening, set for Saturday, Dec. 22, from 4-8 p.m. Approximately 1,000 luminaria will shine along the sidewalks and ledges of the 12,600 square-foot structure. Tours are offered by the inviting light of decorated Christmas trees and warm, glowing…
The mass media favorites fall out of favor
Let us address the declining fortunes of today’s mainstream mass media. The honchos of America’s establishment media are quick to blame such external causes as the Internet for their problems. But if they looked internally, they might notice that they’re damn near eaten up with a bad case of conventional wisdomitis. The problem with conventional…
Art for every need
“We’re grateful that we still have this nice space to be in. It’s really made a big difference to what we’ve been able to deliver to the community,” says Janet Seitz Carlson of the Prairie Art Alliance. This time last year, the Hoogland Center for the Arts, which houses the PAA’s handsome HD Smith Gallery…
Winter wonderland
Looking for that last-minute holiday activity to share with the family? The Springfield Park District’s Henson Robinson Zoo has been featuring its 17th annual Holiday Lights at the Zoo in December. There’s still time this weekend to take the walking tour to see thousands of lights and light displays. You also get to see Santa…
