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Protect community health centers
How reproductive health care is dealt with in national health care reform is no small matter. And who provides this care is still to be determined. For communities like Springfield, local health centers are where many people turn for trusted health care.

The plot sickens
The first time Renatta Frazier heard about massive grave robbing at an Alsip cemetery, she didn’t give it a second thought. A tiny village on the southwestern tip of Chicagoland, Alsip held no special meaning. It wasn’t until a childhood friend mentioned Burr Oak Cemetery that Frazier snapped.

Big bankers mounting sneak attack on consumers
Have you received your thank-you note? I’m still waiting for mine. More than a year into the Wall Street bailout, I’ve yet to get any sort of “thank you” from even a single one of the big banks that you and I propped up with $12 trillion in direct giveaways, indirect giveaways, government guarantees and sweetheart loans.

LETTERS
I would like to use your paper to broadcast an apology to someone I hope reads your paper. I mean, doesn’t everyone? Some months ago I was chatting on break with a younger male worker. I had recently read an astounding story online that I shared with him.

freebird poem #1
my drill ran out of juice I cursed it and my luck still I managed to pry out two bottom right screws bent the grill from the pane grabbed the trapped bird it flew to a nearby tree sat on a branch indignant it’s ok I didn’t expect a thank you for giving it what it deserved.

Mike Madigan’s agenda revealed
“I had it from a pretty good source as recently as Friday that she was going to run [for governor],” state Sen. Brad Burzynski (R- Clare) told Haas about Ms.

Paper vs. plastic
Pay poor tax of $15. The directive no longer applies solely to Monopoly players — it’s also happening to Illinois’ unemployed workers. Last fall, the Illinois Department of Employment Security, which pays state unemployment claims, abandoned the decades-old practice of issuing paper unemployment checks in favor of Visa debit cards.

A decree of relief
As the Illinois General Assembly grapples with a budget for the fiscal year that began July 1, Gov. Pat Quinn moved to slash funding from social service agencies, eliminating some programs and drastically reducing others.

Erin’s Pavilion at Southwind set to open this fall
Before developers installed the children’s playground at Edwin Watts Southwind Park, they spent an entire day discussing their options with representatives from United Cerebral Palsy Land of Lincoln, Sparc and the Hope Institute for Children and Families.

Service disconnected
Brenda Johnson, executive director of Helping Hands, says officials at the Springfield homeless shelter are simply “trying to control what we have control of” to adjust to a 27 percent cut in funding from the state.

Building a new life after prison
At 10 a.m. on a Saturday, RaeLynn Costa crouches next to a plastic kiddie pool, massaging oatmeal shampoo into the scruffy coat of a shelter dog named Buddy. She murmurs softly to the water-wary pooch as she rinses the soap from his fur and towels him dry.

An Illinois artist’s amazing life after death
“Too late now,” said Henry Darger, an 80something retired janitor and former central Illinois resident, as he waited for death at a Chicago charitable institution in 1973. He’d just been told that his landlords discovered the artworks he’d created over a lifetime.

The little shop that could
In the beginning, it was a store like most neighborhood groceries throughout America. Campo’s sold produce and canned goods. There were fresh flowers for bouquets or made into corsages. They baked cookies. In those days grocery stores and butcher shops were most often separate entities.

Half-Blood Prince continues Potter’s compelling spell
Yates wastes little time here, as we find Harry (Daniel Radcliffe) and his mentor Dumbledore (Michael Gambon) visiting retired professor Horace Slughorn (Jim Broadbent) in an effort to convince him to return to Hogwart’s Academy to teach.

Movie times
Kerasotes listings are for Friday, July 17 through Thursday, July 23. All times are subject to change. For updates on Kerasotes films, call 1-800-FANDANGO. For reviews of other films, visit www.illinoistimes.com..

Summertime blues
Eddie Cochran famously claimed in his 1958 classic rockabilly hit that, “there ain’t no cure for the summertime blues,” and from the looks of the upcoming blues events for central Illinois we’re in for an epidemic.

BAND SPOTLIGHT
Putting together a band is easy. Turning it into a successful venture is not. Red Letter Merchant is determined to take the idea of becoming an all original, modern rock band and make it a reality.

PUB CRAWL
9pm-1am. Abe Lincoln Continental w/ Hells Half Acre, Lucky Patterson

THE CALENDAR
Submit calendar listings at www.illinoistimes.com.

FESTIVAL
The Sweet Corn Festival is known for its good-to-the-last-bite buttery ears of corn and its infamous Illinois Championship Cow Chip Throw, once demonstrated by a Jaycee on “Late Night with Conan O’Brien.” Other highlights include a children’s area, a Sweet Corn Pageant and lots of great music both days.

SENIORS
The Senate Special Committee on Aging says there may be as many as 5 million victims of elder abuse each year. Besides the obvious physical warning signs, changes in the senior’s personality or behavior may be a signal that a problem exists.

PUBLIC NOTICES
NOTICE UNDER ASSUMED BUSINESS NAME ACT STATE OF ILLINOIS COUNTY OF SANGAMON TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: Notice is hereby given that on the 23rd day of June, 2009 a Certificate of Ownership of business was filed in the Office of the County Clerk of Sangamon County, stating that MARCI J.

Real Estate Foreclosures
IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE 7TH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT SANGAMON COUNTY-SPRING- FIELD, ILLINOIS DEUTSCHE BANK NATIONAL TRUST COMPANY, AS TRUSTEE FOR FIRST FRANKLIN MORT- GAGE LOAN TRUST 2005-FFH3, ASSET-BACKED CERTIFICATES, SERIES 2005-FFH3, PLAINTIFF vs.

NEWS QUIRKS
People on the government’s terrorist watch list tried to buy guns 963 times last year, according to a report from the Government Accountability Office. Federal authorities approved 865 of those purchases, including one case where a listee was able to buy more than 50 pounds of explosives.

THE ADVICE GODDESS
My boyfriend of eight months is 38, with two kids. I’m 27 and divorced. He has unofficially moved into my apartment, but he isn’t pulling his weight. He pays $500 a month in child support and $400 for his apartment — that he doesn’t live in. (All of his utilities were shut off for nonpayment.