Guest Opinion

More than 700,000 Americans are released from prison each year. We expect them to reenter society and be law-abiding, but we make it extremely difficult for anyone who has served time to ever become gainfully employed, even though they have paid their debt to society. A barrier that needs to be removed is that box […]

 I’ve been a Democrat all my life. I believe in the party’s values, I’m pleased when its candidates win elections and I’m persuaded the country is better off when Democratic ideas get a fair shake in the public arena. But none of this means that I favor a weak Republican Party. Indeed, just the opposite. […]

 Ovarian cancer touches all women. It does not discriminate based on age, race or ethnicity. More than 22,000 mothers, daughters, wives and sisters will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer this year. That includes more than 920 in Illinois. September is designated as National Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month and is a time to come together to […]

Nancy Flood wrote this article 35 years ago when she was a young teacher in Springfield School District 186. She says if she were teaching today she’d want to say the same thing. Dear students,I’ve been welcoming you to my class for 13 years now and somehow the beginning of a new school year never […]

In 1935, It Can’t Happen Here, by Sinclair Lewis, was published. Lewis tells the story of how a populist demagogue with strong authoritarian leanings becomes president and eventually a dictator. Some parallels to this year’s presidential election campaign are striking. Written as fascism was taking hold of Germany and Italy, the novel served as a […]

The Trans-Pacific Trade Partnership, to be voted on by Congress soon, is a quilt of many colors, disparate pieces stitched together. This is a complex bill which you probably will support if you believe it will strengthen U.S. leadership in the world, but you will oppose if you think corporations should not be given excessive […]

 The Springfield mayor and city council should be commended for discussing a variety of needs facing the city. Infrastructure, a city planner, Hunter Lake and the mansion block, to name a few. The bottom line, unfortunately, seems always to be a lack of resources to make anything happen. Initiatives need to be discussed and prioritized, […]

 I stumbled across a documentary about Barack Obama’s ’08 presidential campaign the other night while browsing through Netflix. “Perfect,” I thought, and settled back in anticipation of a pleasant trip down memory lane. I was 28 years old when Obama won the Iowa primary. Like much of the country, and most of the people in […]

 Eugene Robinson’s recent commentary following the shooting deaths of five Dallas police officers is profoundly insightful:  “Black lives matter. Blue lives matter. Both statements must be made true if the heartbreaking loss of life in Dallas is to have any meaning.” Commenting on the Dallas Police Chief’s successful efforts to reduce the use of deadly […]

 IT readers and Springfield residents in general have lost a good friend with the untimely passing of Illinois Times guest columnist Phil Bradley. Bradley, 72, of Chatham, died June 27. At one time he headed the Illinois Dept. of Public Aid and was once director of the Illinois Dept. of Rehabilitation Services. He was a […]