Left, Former Vice President Spiro Agnew and right, Hon. Stephen A. Douglas, Ill Spiro T. Agnew came to Springfield in September of 1970 to make a speech. To that approximately half of the public not yet born in 1970, I must explain that Mr. Agnew was a vice president of the United States, meaning he […]
James Krohe Jr.
Posted inOpinion
A poet of fact
Lee Sandlin PHOTO BY FRANK BLAU PHOTOGRAPHY The man who arguably was Illinois’ best writer died not long ago, and hardly anyone south of the Loop noticed. Lee Sandlin, belle-lettrist and critic, was among the contributors to Chicago’s Reader who did best what the Reader became known for doing best – long-form journalism, essays of […]
Posted inOpinion
Home court disadvantages
Executive Mansion PHOTO BY TEEMU08 VIA WIKIPEDIA.ORG “I look forward to living in the Governor’s Mansion,” said candidate Bruce Rauner to the Associated Press, “and would consider it an honor.” More than 216 miles separating Winnetka from Jackson Street in Springfield, and the promise to abandon the former for the latter might prove to be […]
Posted inOpinion
Wrong in principle
Quick – how big a part of Illinois’ population in recent years has consisted of unauthorized immigrants. Ten percent? Fifteen? Twenty? In 2012, according to the Pew Hispanic Center, it was 3.7 percent. Not exactly a teeming horde, yet President Obama’s recent executive order to prevent the unnecessary deportation of such people – humane in […]
Posted inOpinion
Deer me
I read that Illinois hunters killed 52,000 deer in the first weekend of the season, and that’s just those using firearms; the muzzleloaders and spear-throwers have yet to get their crack at the state’s whitetails. And vehicle drivers have an open season on deer all year round; collisions on the roads account for another 15,000 […]
Posted inOpinion
Why did the pedestrian not cross the road?
GRAPHIC BY TRIBUNE NEWS SERVICE Most unexpected turns to the right put someone in jeopardy – the Republicans’ insistence on spending cuts for federal health research is but one example – and that is as true on the streets as in Congress. Merchants and property owners in downtown Springfield have been fretting out loud about […]
Posted inOpinion
Honest, officer, I didn’t see it coming
Note to readers: Like our governor-elect, I am a businessman, and to be successful, a businessman must know how to make his product stand out in a crowded marketplace. Which is why this week I have chosen to be the only opinion-monger to not burden his readers with my opinion of events that have not […]
Posted inOpinion
The real Jim Krohe
James Krohe Sr. PHOTO COURTESY JAMES KROHE SR. I can only barely keep time, but while I could never be a drummer I love to talk with my father about the drummer’s craft. He’s worked as a professional musician for 76 years now – he’ll turn 90 this week – which means he’s been supplying […]
Posted inOpinion
Stone magic
It was August and the ripening corn stood taller than we did. The field was bounded by the old Illinois Terminal tracks, South Grand, Cook and the 66 bypass, as it then was still known, Everett Dirksen not having done anything to merit it being renamed in his honor. In that time of year, of […]
Posted inOpinion
Charity cases
ILLUSTRATION BY TRIBUNE MEDiA SERVICE The debate that Illinois ought to be having about government finance is not how much property owners should pay in taxes, but which property owners should pay. Large quasi-corporate nonprofit corporations such as private hospitals and universities behave like their profit-making cousins, and are among the biggest land-owners in many […]
Posted inOpinion
Putting parks in their place
The problem in a city that likes to think of itself as forward-looking is that it seldom looks back long enough to learn from its own past. That, anyway, was the conclusion I came to after thinking about the proposed redevelopment of the YWCA block in downtown Springfield. So far, all we know about how […]
Posted inOpinion
Lane changes
South bound bike lane on Second Street between Edwards and Cook Streets. PHOTO BY DAVID HINE It isn’t quite ISIS crossing the Mexican border, but from the way that some people reacted to it, you’d have thought that the arrival of bicyclists on Second Street threatened our American Way of Life. Which it did, if […]
