In “Unplugged” I wondered why Illinois’ internet service is so backward. I probably should have specified Downstate Illinois. These days Comcast customers in suburbs can get se...
This week in the print edition of IT we reran an old Prejudices column of mine about the brief sojourn of rock guitarist Adrian Belew in mid-Illinois. That version of the column had to be edited...
In 2014, in "Where is Illinois?" I stuck my big nose into the issue of regional identity. You would think that the one inarguable fact about Illinois is that it is a Midwestern place. Wal...
In "Back on the roads again," I noted that Mr Rauner's proposed budget would cut funding for public transit in the Chicago area (in spite of increased demand). I asked, is it wise ...
U.S. Rep. John Shimkus (R.-Paranoia) is a sponsor of the SAFE Act, recently passed in the House by representatives fretting that members of ISIS might gain entry into the U.S. disguise...
In “With 772 you get eggroll,” we re-ran excerpts from a 1981 column that examined the immigration issue as it appeared in the Springfield of that day. I promised to post the original, m...
At the Downtown Springfield Inc. annual awards dinner in January at the Wyndham City Centre, the Springfield Mayre Jim Langfelder talked about the most recent developments in the Bluffstone LL...
Reader Jay Kitterman CHA, director of the Culinary Institute at Lincoln Land Community College, writes to remind me that the death of Indian restaurants in Springfield in 1981 I d...
Last week I remarked on a pretty good new book about corn and the Midwest from the U of I Press. (See “Where corn is god.”) I didn’t know it then, but when I became a magazine journalist ...