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IN THIS WEEKS ISSUE
News

Write wingers

While the mainstream press cuts back, conservatives step in

By Bruce Rushton

Necrophilia is legal in Illinois, and the legislature is cracking down.Who knew?The Belleville News-Democrat and St. Louis Post-Dispatch in February broke the news that state Rep. Daniel Beiser, D-Alt

History

Springfield history in old newspaper photos

By Tara McClellan McAndrew

It’s like a long forgotten, 80-year-old scrapbook of our city. It shows a bustling downtown crowded with men wearing fedoras and women in fur coats, a family brewery preparing for the onslaught

Books

Growing up in the Cultural Revolution

By Mary Bohlen

I thought I knew the story of Wenguang Huang, who will be the commencement speaker at the University of Illinois Springfield May 12. After all, I’ve known Wen for 21 years, first as my student a

Film - Chuck Koplinski

Shadows too dim to see details

By Chuck Koplinski

I have some vague recollections of the Dark Shadows soap opera. I remember NOT being allowed to watch it, that whenever I did sneak a peak around the corner into the living room that there was always

Food - Julianne Glatz

Tiny bites of love for Mom

By Julianne Glatz

They’re tiny, oh-so-sophisticated, and utterly delicious: In other words, the perfect ending to a meal or a day of homage to mothers. When I first made petit fours (the name comes from the Frenc

Music - Tom Irwin

The month of Maybes

By Tom Irwin

I once received a gift from the brilliant guitarist and songwriter Jim Schniepp, co-founder of the local, lovely band Backwards Day with Illinois Times contributor Scott Faingold. The present was a ho

News

Attorney general questions Macoupin mine permit

Concerns come as Foresight Energy announces IPO

By Bruce Rushton

While one of the state’s largest coal-mining companies prepares to go public, state regulators are examining whether one of the company’s mines near Carlinville has a proper pollution perm

News

How will retirements affect Springfield?

By Neil Schneider

Gov. Pat Quinn’s pension proposal has led to an increase in state employees applying for retirement, which could negatively affect Springfield businesses. According to the State Employees Retire

Illinois - James Krohe Jr

A double shot of urban-type feel

Building real urbanism in the medical district

By James Krohe Jr.

“Everyone wanted it to have an ‘urban’ type feel,” said one focus group participant to the State Journal-Register about the new supermarket that Niemann Foods Inc. plans to bui

News

Lawmakers vote to keep supermax prison open

Panel’s 3-7 vote against Tamms closure isn’t final word

By Patrick Yeagle

A panel of state lawmakers voted last week to keep the state’s “supermax” prison open, but the costly facility’s ultimate fate rests with the governor and the full General Asse

Guest Opinion

Commemorating Springfield’s Lithuanians

By Sandy Baksys

Thousands in Springfield today are descended from the flood of Eastern European and Southern European immigrants who arrived during Sangamon County’s coal boom. Among those turn-of-the-century i

News

Coal curriculum

What is the state teaching children about coal?

By Patrick Yeagle

Illinois is a coal state – the eighth-largest producer of coal in the nation at 33.2 million tons in 2010, according to the U.S. Department of Energy. The Illinois Geological Survey estimates Il

National - Jim Hightower

The stench of Bentonville spreads to Mexico – and back

By Jim Hightower

Wal-Mart has long boasted of its “Always Low Prices,” but now it has confirmed that it also has “Always low morals.”The bottom line has always been THE line for Wal-Mart execut

News

Should Illinois release old and costly inmates?

By Neil Schneider

In 2010, Illinois prisons held 223 C-Number inmates who had been there for more than 30 years. These inmates were a part of a sentencing scheme from a different era.C-Number inmates are prisoners who

Politics - Rich Miller

Smith may give us an embarrassing circus

By Rich Miller

Call it “Blagojevich Lite,” or whatever else you want, but it became pretty darned clear last week that state Rep. Derrick Smith’s attorneys are planning the same sort of mockery of

Advice Goddess

Mused and abused

By Amy Alkon

After my girlfriend and I split up, I wrote a creative nonfiction piece about our breakup (changing some identifying details). I published it on a popular blog and linked to it on Facebook. We’r

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