Untitled Document Not long after Dan Walker took office as governor, in 1973, I interviewed him in his office in the Capitol. I was finishing a journalism degree at Northwestern ]]> Former Gov. George Ryan is remembered for two things. First, that he went to prison after being convicted on corruption charges. Second, that, in his final days in office, he cleared out dea]]> When I first heard about the new Crime Stoppers drug dumpster, I found it amusing. A trash dumpster, welded shut, painted orange, is stenciled with, “A suspected drug house is in thi]]> Untitled Document The subject of hope has gotten so much press, there was bound to be a pushback. During a recent debate, our guy had to carefully explain that hope doesn’t]]> I love the New York Times. I quote it so often my kids think I don’t know anything I didn’t read there. So naturally I was drawn to the long piece in May’s Vanity Fair on NYT publish]]> The 1821 Sangamon County commissioners established the temporary county seat on Spring Creek, so they named it Springfield. But the town's real founders — Elijah Iles, Pascal Enos and ]]> A plain white pitcher, a bowl, a broken plate and a whiskey bottle from the mid-to-late 1830s are among the finds from Floyd Mansberger’s digs on the block where the Abraham Lincoln ]]> Untitled Document The governor’s proposed gross-receipts tax isn’t as gross as you think. Ohio, Texas, Washington, and other states have each implemented a version of]]> I know parents who wish they had half as much information about the boys their daughters bring home as cattle breeders have about today’s purebred bulls. The 38th Annua]]> Untitled Document Illinois Auditor General William Holland was so angry over the Department of Healthcare and Family Services’ delays in submitting information over the pas]]> Hunter Lake is a 40-year-old idea whose time, if there ever was one, has passed. The 3,010-acre lake would hold far more water than Springfield needs. There are less expensive alt]]> As America looks around for someone to blame for the current economic mess, bankers are the easiest target in sight. “No one wants to hug a banker,” reads a recent Newsweek hea]]> When I noticed that the City Council was preparing to address the problems of homelessness, I stopped by outside St. John’s Breadline after lunch to ask the poor and the homeless, and those who ]]> Untitled Document The tour begins on the Old State Capitol Plaza, by the law office where Lincoln walked to work. He must have stopped right here to talk, about the future of the coun]]> Untitled Document At a breakfast meeting with about 100 business leaders at the University of Illinois at Springfield last week the Springfield Chamber of Commerce gave its inaug]]> The national economic crisis brings a sense of foreboding to a small city like Springfield. Sometimes the nation’s worst weather bypasses here; the coasts get the hurricanes, fires a]]> Let’s keep working on this Salvation Army issue. There has to be a better location for a homeless shelter than the site the Army has picked, out by the airport. The ]]> Untitled Document They say that time behind bars makes criminals better at what they went in for. A gangbanger makes more gang connections, and a small-time bank robber learns fr]]> Untitled Document Roland, the editor, recently told me, the senior writer, that he wouldn’t mind having an occasional piece from the Illinois Times archives as a way t]]> The Prairie Capital Convention Center is the sleeping giant of downtown Springfield. Now 30 years old and showing signs of wear, the big gray box is about to wake up and make itself known in]]>