Guest Opinion

As Republicans in Congress move forward on their tax plan, it’s worth remembering one thing: whatever the legislative particulars, keep your eye on the plan’s impact on the federal debt. Our debt load is already worrisome. It’s almost certainly going to get worse. There are a lot of different ways to characterize our fiscal situation […]

 One of the gifts of living in a representative democracy is that voting is only one of the rights it confers. For ordinary people who want to make change – who in some way want to alter their neighborhood or town or state or even the nation – the promise exists that by dint of […]

 I have some experience with economic development efforts in Springfield. This backstory lends credence to my cynicism about why the new economic development corporation, formed in response to the economic development study commissioned and recently released by Sangamon County government, is destined for failure. In September 2015 I launched a small nonprofit called the Urban […]

 The opening statement in the Burns-Novick TV documentary series is accurate. The U.S. was overconfident, its policy was based on a fateful misunderstanding of the Vietnam conflict and the U.S. found it easier to muddle on than to face the truth that it was unwinnable. This 10-episode story of the Vietnam War shown recently on […]

 When Springfield City Council members repeatedly accept large campaign contributions from the same serial donors year after year, they invariably compromise their impartiality and subordinate the general interest to special interests. Last month, several serial givers held a “thank you” event for a quorum of aldermen. The event was exceptional in its boldness, notoriety and […]

The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum was lit up in teal last month in honor of National Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month. The month was dedicated to raising awareness about ovarian cancer and honoring those women who have lost their lives and who are still fighting this deadly disease. This was the first time a community in […]

 For the last year I have been disheartened by the steady stream of police shootings that have been witnessed where there seems to be minimal provocation. For example, on Sept. 4 a man in South Carolina was standing outside his car when asked by a state police officer to produce his license. When he reached […]

 In May, the Sinclair Broadcast Group – one of the largest owners of TV stations in the country and owner of WICS-TV in Springfield – announced plans to spend $3.9 billion to acquire Tribune Media, parent company of 42 TV stations located in larger markets like Chicago and Los Angeles. The resulting merger would create […]

At hurricane force even this White House can see which way the wind blows. So of course Washington cobbled debt-ceiling relief with disaster relief. Every Democrat in Congress saw the needs and voted accordingly. On the majority Republican side, a mash-up of these two issues did free members loudly opposed to deficit spending to vote […]

Once again Springfield’s U. S. senator, Richard Durbin, is in the national spotlight for being ahead of his time. Before there was DACA – Deferred Action on Childhood Arrivals – there was Durbin’s Dream, legislation he introduced 16 years ago to try to protect children brought to the United States by parents who entered illegally. […]

Electricity is easy to take for granted. But imagine the disruption to our lives if we could not charge our iPhones that connect us to the rest of the world or flip a light switch with the guarantee that power was at our beck and call. Power reliability, however, has been top of mind for […]

 This past Saturday morning I encountered four homeless men in a matter of moments. The first slept like a tossed baggie of water on the stoop near the entrance to my building. A few minutes later I walked past the same stoop and was greeted by two other homeless men. I nodded in greeting to […]