Mighty wind
Untitled Document How is wind power faring in the U.S. now? Is more of it coming online and accounting for a larger percentage of the grid? Clean and green wind energy is the new darling of alternative-energy developers, and the U.S. industry has been surging in the past three years, especially as developers take advantage…
Artful Illinois wine
Untitled Document Which state was the fourth-largest U.S. wine producer in 1900? You’ll probably be surprised to discover that it was Illinois, where the wine industry’s roots go back to the 1770s, when French settlers started making wine in the Peoria area. In 1857, Emil Baxter and sons opened a winery in Nauvoo. Five generations…
The king of lobbyists
Untitled Document Members of the General Assembly are always reading resolutions to laud somebody or something, but it isn’t common for a lobbyist to get such an honor or for lawmakers to give him a standing ovation — but that’s exactly what happened on April 2, when the Illinois House of Representatives congratulated Dick Lockhart…
Room to grow
Untitled Document Lincoln scholars and the librarians who serve them are celebrating — oh so quietly! — the newly approved plans to preserve the “Lincoln Room,” the hub of Lincoln and Illinois research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Last winter, the 25,000-volume collection was facing a bad breakup: A plan to overhaul the…
A special tax break for corporate criminals
Untitled Document If you got caught robbing a bank, the chances are excellent that you’d be facing some serious time in the pokey. But what if a bank robs you? Corporate executives and their lawyers like to claim that a corporation is a “person” with all of the rights of an actual human being —…
People’s Poetry
Untitled Document farmer’sdiary poem #1 may 11 1949this morning Istumbled on ameadow lark nestwith six eggs andtwo cowbird eggstherein may 14 1949 checked mymeadow larknest a cow hasstepped on itsic transitgloria mundi © Jacqueline Jackson 2008 I may be a little sappy, but I think that almost everyone is doing the best he or…
Speed Racer goes nowhere — fast
Untitled Document Diabetics need to be wary of Andy and Larry Wachowski’s adaptation of the cult anime series Speed Racer — the big-screen version contains so much eye candy, you’re liable to slip into a coma. These talented siblings proved in the original Matrix that they were capable of delivering eye-popping spectacle; unfortunately, the Matrix sequels…
The game continues
Untitled Document The oldest axiom in government is that it’s always easier to kill something than it is to pass something. That was proved true yet again last week when Senate President Emil Jones and Gov. Rod Blagojevich teamed up to kill off the proposed constitutional amendment for recall of elected officials. Jones gave marching…
Lost
Untitled Document The State Employees’ Retirement System is looking for former public employees who may be eligible for benefits — but if they don’t come forward fast enough, they could be out of luck. Take the case of Clint Benton Jr., a former Department of Corrections employee who now lives in Memphis, Tenn. Benton, 77,…
Your mama
Untitled Document If you are like me, you still haven’t decided what to get your mom for Mother’s Day. By far the most cherished Mother’s Day gifts are ones that young children make at school. They don’t cost much, but time and love go into these cherished gifts. As an adult, how can you make…
Cap City
Untitled Document specter of NIMBYism haunts Springfield — again All the western powers — Cobblestone and Scarborough subdivisions; Oak Park and Thornhill — have entered into an alliance against Wal-Mart Stores Inc. and the retailer’s latest attempt to erect a 205,000-square-foot Supercenter on Wabash Avenue. (Wal-Mart’s previous attempt to build on the far west side…
Killing time?
Two Kentucky death-row inmates — one convicted of killing a sheriff and a deputy sheriff, the other convicted of killing a couple and wounding their 2-year-old son — waited as nine United States Supreme Court justices filed into the room and delivered their verdict. After nearly three months of deliberation, the high court ruled 7-2…
Feeding the good wolf
Untitled Document At the beginning of class, Mary Ryan goes around the room and shakes hands with her students, calling each man by name, making eye contact, offering a smile: “Hello, Frank. How are you, Dave? What’s up, James?” It’s a casual ritual, but it’s her way of reminding the men in their prison uniforms…
Tasty paste
Untitled Document It’s used to make one of the most traditional and delectable complements for wine but also has many other guises; best known are cream puffs and éclairs. Choux paste, or pâté à choux, or — as my grandmother called it — cream-puff paste, dates back to at least the 16th century. Choux is…
Stolie rocks on
Untitled Document I caught up with Chicago singer/songwriter Stolie last week just as she was downloading material onto Sonicbids (an online promotional site for musicians). Before that she was updating her MySpace page, and next she was to work on memorizing words and music for a Bon Jovi medley that she was set to debut…
Monkey love
Untitled Document If life has taught us anything about ourselves, it is this: We love monkeys. I’m not certain why — whether it is something on the base level of evolution or it’s just fun to see them dress in kids clothing — but we love our simian brethren of the trees. Appreciation for great…
Letters to the Editor
Untitled Document We welcome letters. Please include your full name, address, and telephone number. We edit all letters. Send them to Letters, Illinois Times, P.O. Box 5256, Springfield, IL 62705; fax 217-753-3958; e-mail editor@illinoistimes.com. DIG UP HUNTER LAKE REPORT Although I have tried to avoid the subject, it seems that every time I look there’s…
Pig tort
Untitled Document When the fight involves 3,350 hogs, their excrement, a farm couple, some “city slickers,” and two lawyers, you’ve got to expect some mud to be slung — and that’s just what’s happening in the ongoing legal saga of family farmers Bob and Sandy Young, their proposed swine-fattening operation, and a few of their…
Murderers’ Row
Untitled Document Rodney Adkins Adkins, 44, was sentenced by a Cook County judge in August 2007 for the 2003 killing of an Oak Park woman during a burglary. Teodoro Baez Baez, 31, was sentenced by a Cook County judge in March 2004 for murdering and partially dismembering two people in a drug dispute. Dion Banks…
