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 ...

 For a lot of people in Springfield, Decatur is just a place to stop when you get hungry on the way back from a U of I game. But people live there too – at least some still do; the city has los...

 Employers at a Springfield job fair last week tried to fill hundreds of jobs, showing cautious optimism that the economy will continue its slow recovery.More than 30 businesses – some of them ...

 Forget about recycling for a minute. Being “green” is more than just keeping glass out of the landfill.That was one message of the 10th Annual Green Symposium, a conference held in Springfie...

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Reacting to my “In defense of the politician,” a veteran State of Illinois employee told me that he thought it would be fun to work under a governor like Jerry Brown. Younger readers might be interested to know that Illinois very nearly had its Jerry Brown, in 1982 and 1986, when the 11-year U.S> Senator lost to to James R. “Big Jim” Thompson. That 1982 race saw AESIII lose by 5,074...

Republican Kirk Dillard recently raised the issue of which kind of family ought to be living in the Executive Mansion in Springfield. It is a question we ventilated in in 2009. (“Life in the Big House.) Clearly, it was not a question on the minds of the two most recent occupants of the house. Mr. Blagojevich famously disdained it (for the kids’ sake, he insists). Of late Mr. Quinn has avo...

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What does the future hold for Springfield? That depends largely on what happens with the proposal to consolidate rail traffic on the 10th Street rail corridor.If the project withers without funding, d...