Ordinarily, I would be thrilled that so many people were discussing the merits of the ongoing historical restoration of the Illinois Capitol. Except they aren’t. They’re discussing “excessive flourishes,” $80,000 chandeliers and $600,000 ornamental doorways. They haven’t found any gold-plated toilet fixtures yet, but I’ll bet they’re looking. “They” is people like Chicago State Senator […]
James Krohe Jr.
Posted inOpinion
The people’s art museum
Soon, the West Wing of the Illinois Capitol will emerge after two years inside a cocoon of plywood and tarps. The structure was closed off, paradoxically, to make that part of the building both newer – by upgrading the building’s mechanical systems and making access and safety improvements – and older, by restoring it to […]
Posted inOpinion
The Baffler
The University of Illinois tells us that enrollment for the fall term at its Urbana campus is nearly 43,400 students, the most in the school’s history, thanks in part to the second-largest number ever of incoming freshmen. That’s progress for the university. Whether it will mean progress for all those freshmen is another question, writes […]
Posted inOpinion
Southern pride
“The people of Southern Illinois will be extremely pleased with who my running mate is,” said State Sen. Kirk Dillard when he announced who would run with him as he campaigns for the governorship in the Republican primary. She is Rep. Jil Tracy of Quincy, who was born in Carbondale, lived in Anna, and took […]
Posted inOpinion
More about learning-by-doing
In “Do by learning” (Aug. 15, 2013), I examined the case for providing alternatives to college prep as a path to a high school diploma. Among the pieces I drew upon for that column was Alex Tabarrok’s “Tuning In to Dropping Out “ in a recent issue of the Chronicle of Higher Education. I described, […]
Posted inOpinion
Three-way traffic
“A place for everything and everything in its place, I say, and a park is not the place for cars.” That was me, ranting in this paper in 1978. I promised then that it would be my last word on the subject, and it was for 35 years. That’s a long time for me to […]
Posted inOpinion
Shereikis remembered
There is a new stone bench on the UIS campus dedicated to the late Rich Shereikis, a founding faculty member of UIS’s predecessor school and a long-time contributor to IT. (See “The right combination of sensibilities,” April 11, 2013.) The bench adorns the berm where West Lake Drive meets the campus ring road. The spot, […]
Posted inOpinion
The profit motive
A year ago I ventured an opinion about one of the chronic ailments suffered by U.S. health care — expensive, ineffectual or unnecessary treatments that are partly a result of incentives built into our perverse system of paying for such things. (See Just what the doctor ordered, August 23,2012.) On August 19 Tyler Cowen pointed to […]
Posted inOpinion
Another woman’s story
I recently spent a pleasant weekend in the company of a handsome widowed lady named Christiana. She did most of the talking, which was fine with me, as what she had to say was well-observed and often wryly funny. Besides, I couldn’t have interrupted her if I tried, she being dead for the past 141 […]
Posted inOpinion
Here comes the neighborhood
Back in 2011 I chastised Springfield officials for the city’s failure to take steps necessary to slow the rot that has been spreading through east side housing for years. Having damned officials then, it is only fair that I praise them now. The manager of the city’s building department recently announced that 63 dilapidated buildings […]
Posted inOpinion
Do by learning
The other day the Springfield School District 186 board took a break from discussions about finding a new superintendent – which it is not in a hurry to do – and heard a few things about something they ought to be in a hurry to do. Capital Area Career Center director Bob Klingborg informed the […]
Posted inOpinion
Why cities die, continued
If you enjoy the grisly autopsy scenes in your favorite cop drama, you might like to poke about a bitin the corpse of the City of Detroyt, as I did in Dancing around the issue from the Aug. 8, 2013 paper. Since that piece appeared, J. Eric Wise added to the discussion in this City […]
