30 YEARS YOUNG
Two mainstays of solid public-affairs reporting in
central Illinois, WUIS (91.9 FM) and Illinois
Issues, mark their 30th anniversary next
Thursday, Feb. 24, with a reception and program at the Executive Mansion.
Kevin Klose, president and chief executive officer of
National Public Radio, and Mike Lawrence, director of the Paul Simon Public
Policy Institute at Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, will deliver
keynote addresses.
WUIS, the local NPR affiliate, and Illinois Issues, a monthly that
focuses on public policy and Illinois government and politics, are both
part of the Center for State Policy and Leadership at the University of
Illinois at Springfield.
The event is open to the public, but the deadline for
reservations was Feb. 14.
THINKING PERSON’S FAHRENHEIT 9/11
Two local peace groups are sponsoring a screening of Hijacking Catastrophe: 9/11, Fear & the Selling of
American Empire. Narrated by Julian Bond, the
film makes a case that neoconservative Republicans used the trauma of the
Sept. 11, 2001, terror attacks to transform U.S. foreign policy and curtail
civil liberties.
Hijacking Catastrophe will
be shown at 7 p.m. Wednesday, Feb. 23, in the Carnegie South Room of the
Lincoln Library. A discussion after the screening will be moderated by
Proshanta Nandi, emeritus professor of sociology at UIS.
Pax Christi Springfield and the Middle East Peace
Project are co-sponsors of this event. For more information, call
217-544-3997.
THE PRICE OF OIL
Sgt. Jessica M. Housby, killed Feb. 9 by an
improvised explosive device that was detonated near a supply convoy, became
the 63rd soldier from Illinois to die in Iraq since the United States
started hostilities.
The 23-year-old Housby, a member of the 1644th
Transportation Company of the Illinois National Guard, was a resident of
Rock Island. She enlisted in 1999, while she was still in high school.
As of Wednesday, Feb. 16, 1,464 members of the U.S.
military have died in Iraq.
This article appears in Feb 17-23, 2005.
