The year 2011 was a scary year for nuclear reactor sites. The summer floods threatened to encroach on reactors in Nebraska and Iowa, an earthquake and a hurricane happened in quick succession to rattle and flood the East Coast, and the continuing...

The National Park Service has released its final general management plan that sets the parameters for development and preservation at the Lincoln Home National Historical Site for at least the next 15 to 20 years.

If you need a symbol of how America’s decade-long war is going in this faraway land, look no farther than the beautiful fields of red poppies flowering so bountifully there. Unfortunately, that bounty symbolizes a failure of an ambitious Western initiative against the Taliban forces.

QUINN, GAMBLING KING Gov. Pat Quinn recently rattled his sword in support of a casino in Chicago and four other sites in Illinois. He also touted the feds giving the OK for Illinois to begin selling lottery tickets online. Then he said with enthusiasm that video poker would be ready to start later in 2012.

What are our options in the meantime? Some have raised the possibility of reprocessing – a false promise to “solve” the waste problem, but in reality an option too dangerous to pursue. Reprocessing raises global security and proliferation issues. It guarantees greater waste problems and safety hazards at huge potential costs.

Moody’s cited Illinois’ “weak management practices” as one reason for its ratings downgrade. Its failure to implement any pension funding reforms and to pay off its mountain of overdue bills were the two top reasons for the downgrade. But Moody’s moved Illinois from a “negative” to a “stable” outlook for the future.

Despite a history of lawsuits and payouts, Cullinan’s company, called Health Professionals Limited, is still used by sheriffs throughout Illinois, some of whom have accepted campaign contributions from the firm.

The Taylorville Energy Center project, planned by Omaha, Neb.-based Tenaska, Inc., would be the first power plant of its kind to capture a significant amount of its carbon dioxide emissions and “sequester” the CO2 deep underground.

Publisher Walt Lafferty on Tuesday told employees that the newspaper’s copy desk, which designs pages, proofreads copy and writes headlines, will be eliminated this summer, with GateHouse Media, the corporate parent, establishing a central desk outside Springfield that will handling copy editing and headline writing for several publications.

The problem is twofold. First, there currently isn’t a way to determine if the individual ever receives their summons or notice to appear in court, which is leading to an increasing number of people being put in jail for their debt. Also, collection agencies have resorted to questionable tactics, by using the courts, to collect debts.

To call Tom Irwin a fixture on the Springfield music scene would be something of an understatement. Beginning in the mid-1970s as a bass player and eventual frontman for various local rock bands, straight through to his present status as an...

Tom operating at a high water mark of creativity. No longer constrained by the requirements of aspiring rock stardom, his writing seemed to naturally drift away from the angular, postpunk style of Condition 90 towards something closer to the country music of his rural upbringing.

If you aren’t interested in gastronomy, you probably haven’t heard of Charlie Trotter. If you are, you know that Trotter exploded onto the dining scene 25 years ago. His Chicago restaurant, Charlie Trotter’s, soon became one of the top – many said the.

Some 10 years later, we’re still trying to come to terms with the attacks of 9/11. Perhaps the most important aspect of art is that it allows us to examine tragedies of this sort in an attempt to understand their impact and perhaps take some steps towards healing from them.

The production features towering performances by Michelle Boone, Kellan Fant, Josh Ratz and an ensemble of terrific voices, with vocal direction by Steve Rotello and choreography by one of the best up-and-coming artists, Anna Bussing. This Springfield Theatre Centre production is playing at the Hoogland Center, 420 S.

A St. Louis native who took to working at Tower Grove Music fresh out of high school intent on making music a lifelong endeavor, Mike Zito plays the blues like nobody’s business.

Blues Expressions Band - International Blues Finals Send-off.

The problem stems from the schedule switch I attempt to accomplish each week as the nighttime weekend gigs finish and the daily chores arrive in the regular morning hours. Anyone who’s worked a late night shift for a few days then gone to daytime mode understands the dilemma facing mind and body of getting used to this and going to that.

Pondicherry Lodge/ Sherlock Holmes Society.

An impressive Civil War exhibit fills the first and second floors of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library during 2012. Weekdays, visit the display titled, “Illinois Answers the Call: Boys in Blue.

The Molly Schlich 2012 Film Series begins Sunday, Jan. 22, at the AMC Parkway 8 movie theater with the viewing of the inspiring American film The Hammer..

Sandwich Potluck. Prairie Land Dance Club, 650 Matilda St, Illiopolis, 217-428-1560. Warm Winter Wishes Dance.

How To Create A Better Community Through Local Economy.”, The Pharmacy, 401 South Grand Avenue West, 217-487-4948..

Thomas Rohde, hosted by The Medicine Shoppe Holistic Pharmacy. RSVP preferred. Erin’s Pavilion, Southwind Park, 4965 S. Second St, 217- 525-0058. Reiki for Cancer Patients.

Families are invited to Lincoln Library for a literacy fair that looks to the skies to propel children into the incredible world of reading and writing. Sponsored by the Junior League of Springfield, “Time to NepTUNE into a Good Book” includes crafts, face painting, games, and readings by local celebrity guest readers.

IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE SEV- ENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT SANGAMON COUNTY, ILLINOIS ESTATE OF: DOROTHY Z. SHEEDY, Deceased, No.: 2011-P-660 CLAIM NOTICE AND NOTICE TO UNKNOWN HEIRS NOTICE IS GIVEN of the death of Dorothy Z. Sheedy. Letters of office were issued on December 29, 2011, to John G.