Is it safe to eat cloned animals?
Cloning has been controversial ever since Scottish scientists announced in 1996 that they had cloned their first mammal, a sheep they named Dolly. While Dolly lived a painful, arthritic life and died prematurely, possibly due to the imperfections of cloning, industry nonetheless began seeking ways to capitalize on the new technology. Meanwhile, critics bemoaned cloning…
Cap City
Untitled Document THE MEEK SHALL INHERIT THE CLERKEveryone knows that Sangamon Circuit Clerk Tony Libri is a humble guy. But we were underwhelmed by Libri’s reelection campaign yard signs, which began sprouting all over Springfield last week. Libri’s posters consist of a white background imprinted with blue lettering bearing the candidate’s name and the slogan…
Putting out the flame
When Buff Carmichael started his own monthly newspaper in 1996, he took it to the closest printer he could afford, in a town just about 25 miles away. The printer agreed to produce Carmichael’s paper on one condition: that Carmichael deliver his flats by 6 a.m. on production day, and depart with his bundles of…
Letters to the Editor
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. PAY IT BACK! Just a word of advice to some of last week’s letter writers complaining about SallieMae: the reason it’s called a…
Professor Bush’s economic nostrum
Working families across our land are struggling. To help us understand how it came to this, let’s reflect on the profound insight of that eminent economic theorist, George W. Bush. While campaigning for president in 2000, he explained his approach to economic policy with this theorem: “We ought to make the pie higher.” What the…
George Ryan and the politics of corruption
Former Gov. George Ryan is remembered for two things. First, that he went to prison after being convicted on corruption charges. Second, that, in his final days in office, he cleared out death row by commuting the sentences of everybody in Illinois sentenced to death. Are the two related? That’s the question taken up by…
Burn delights with its idiotic take on life
The Coen brothers have gotten a great deal of mileage out of turning cinematic conventions on their heads. You could argue that they’ve built their careers on this strategy and their latest, Burn After Reading, not only takes this method to its furthest extreme, but winds up being the funniest Coen film since Raising Arizona.…
People’s poetry
lakepoem #10 it seems sort of futile to be cleaning off one’s roof with a spoon like the maiden in the fairy tales who had to empty the pond with a teacup a spatula works too the broom comes later after all the needles leaf litter green puffs of entrenched moss are loosened they feed…
Hug, shrug
Gov. Rod Blagojevich showed up late to the Democrats’ national convention in Denver. Most folks arrived before Monday’s official kickoff, but Blagojevich waited until Tuesday, just in time to attend a reception and then a Wednesday morning breakfast sponsored by organized labor. You all know what happened next. At the Tuesday evening reception, Blagojevich and…
Letters to the Editor
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. STUDENT LOANS SYMPTOM OF SICK SYSTEM The problem with student loans is they hurt the very people they are supposed to help [Amanda…
Regarding Sarah
A friend of mine recently called Barack Obama. Just dialed his cell number, then fell off his chair when the potential president actually answered. My friend freaked and clicked off without saying anything — stunned that the Democratic nominee for POTUS would personally pick up the telephone. That’s how it is here in Illinois: most…
Bad bridges due to bonehead budget cuts
The Associated Press did a nationwide survey of bridge conditions in 2007, and recently a follow-up piece to assess progress. The first report found that 20 heavily traveled Texas spans were classified “structurally deficient” by highway authorities. A year later, only one has been fixed. Engineers apply the term “structurally deficient” to bridges that are…
Flower power for fall
Just when you think that the perennial garden is starting to fade, fall-blooming anemones add a splash of color to the garden. These prolific bloomers will continue blooming for up to five weeks. As a group, the genus Anemone consists of 100 species of plants, including spring, summer and fall blooming flowers. The fall flowering…
Critical condition
t’s the first day of the fall semester and Cynthia Maskey, associate dean of nursing at Lincoln Land Community College, has already lost one of her teachers. An adjunct nursing instructor gave up the part-time teaching position in Springfield for a full-time job with benefits in another city. Despite the instructor’s departure coming in…
House Bunny shines during holiday weekend
W.C. Fields once offered up a piece of sage showbiz advice for those worried about having a scene stolen from them. He warned never to act with dogs or children. Were he alive today, he might add Anna Faris to that list. The young actress oozes charm in the right role and when she’s on,…
Carrying on the song
My recent interview with Eric Taylor, a legendary songwriter and irascible character, got off to a lovely start. While explaining I wasn’t a real journalist, just a musician writing a column for much fun and little profit, he told of a recent exchange with a genuine professional writer. “Some other journalist from your town called…
Cap city
TROLLEY TALES Red cable cars rumble through the hilly streets of San Francisco, and even around Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood, on a daily basis. On Sunday, one of our own downtown trolleys will make a special appearance in Harvard Park. The Springfield neighborhood celebrates its 100th anniversary with trolley tours of its historical architecture, including brick…
Disease outbreak
When Don Hunt started surveillance of sexually transmitted diseases for the Sangamon County Department of Public Health in 1995, his primary concerns were human immunodeficiency virus (HIV) and syphilis. Since other local organizations stepped in to help fight against HIV, and the health department’s 10-year plan nearly eliminated syphilis, Hunt now battles an arguably more…
Fostering despair
Thousands of neglected and abused wards of the state of Illinois will have to go without specialized mental-health treatment as a result of cuts ordered by Gov. Rod Blagojevich, according to the Springfield-based Community Behavioral Healthcare Association. Blagojevich removed a total of $71 million in funding from the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services,…
Home for the holidays
Untitled Document For more than a year, volunteers from Hope Evangelical Church and Loving God Out Loud ministry have been working to restore the 16th Street home of Dorothy Milford, a 71-year-old grandmother who is legal guardian over six grandchildren, ages 6 to 15 [see Dusty Rhodes, “The way back home,” April 5, 2007]. Milford…
New faces at CWLP
Doug Brown stepped up to the plate last week as City Water, Light and Power’s new project manager, and despite fears surrounding former manager Brian Fitzgerald’s departure, he’s not worried. “Brian’s definitely a loss for the utility, and he had more experience than I have — but that’s nothing that I feel I can’t make…
Hope School benefit brings Boka’s brilliant chef
When I wrote about St. Louis Chef Gerard Craft earlier this summer [“Finding a Niche in St. Louis” June 12], I had no idea that it would be the first in a series. But when I opened the invitation to this year’s Hope School Celebrity Chef Benefit and saw its Celebrity Chef, I knew I’d…
