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Ending foreclosure profiteering
This was enabled by Wall Street’s bottomless appetite for financing home loans, lenders’ lax standards and corruption among mortgage brokers and appraisers.

Three into one won’t go
To build or not to build, that is the question. The answer will depend not on the review of high school facilities needs underway at School District 186. It will be determined by the voters — appropriately, if you are concerned about democracy, inappropriately if you are concerned about education.

“Local” goes loco
In the past few years, “local” has become an important commercial term, as small businesses have proudly attached it to their products, services and presence in the marketplace. The term differentiates them from the gigantism, plasticity, aloofness and frequent abusiveness of faraway, big-box, chain operations.

LETTERS
In my opinion, the completed project has been well designed and executed, and is a very positive addition to our city. The street is now colorful and inviting and the plantings, sidewalk additions and benches add interest and perhaps even a pastoral and serene atmosphere.

couldbeworse poem # 1
david visiting his folks with his two small children in tow took them to the barn horses he’d known all his life he patted badger’s nose badger bit him bit off the end of his ring finger right hand a plastic surgeon had to sew him up cover the stump...

Look who’s Pat Quinn’s new best friend
As you already know, Hynes is running against Gov. Quinn for the Democratic nomination. Hynes recently refused to process several million dollars worth of state payments for tourism programs and various consulting contracts. Hynes said he’ll pay them only if Gov.

Helping parents get their kids back
“It’s ridiculous what they put you through. They tell you one thing, but do something totally different. It seems like the harder you work, the more they keep adding things for you to do. All the while, your kids just sit in the system,” said Spain, who as a child was removed from her parents and placed in foster care.

Redesigning high schools from the inside out
“Small learning communities,” also called academies or pods, will be built around specific career interests in each school. Students will pick a community and remain there with the same teachers and fellow students for all four years.

Educator: Springfield needs more charter schools
During a presentation hosted by the Illinois Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research and education organization, Hardy contended that charter schools — open-enrollment public schools usually operated by independent nonprofit and community organizations — provide students with a more comprehensive education and better prepare them for college.

How will people with disabilities get to Southwind?
Bridget Gilliam, UCP’s children’s services manager, says that many families are eager to explore Southwind Park, an 80-acre “all-abilities” venue near the intersection of Interstate 55 and Toronto Road that’s set to open next spring [see “How to build partnerships,” Aug.

Springfield’s shrinking state workforce
The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 filed a lawsuit against the state in August to stop Quinn from cutting 2,600 state workers and mandating 12 unpaid furlough days for many of the state’s remaining workers. The AFSCME lawsuit said Quinn’s proposal violates their contractual right to bargain.

Here’s what’s sweet about sweet potatoes
Sweet potatoes, native to Central and South America, have been grown in the United States for hundreds of years. In 2008, 1.8 billion pounds of sweet potatoes were sold in the United States. North Carolina is the top-producing sweet potato state, growing 47,000 acres.

Springfield’s universities co-host Russian artist’s American debut
In 1988, Sergei Chepik, a 35-year-old Russian, arrived in Paris, France, carrying only a canvas, his father’s easel and a painting banned from exhibitions in his homeland. A sign of things to come, that painting, “House of the Dead,” went on to earn public acclaim and awards at Salon d’Automne, an important Paris art show.

Springfield’s destination diner
Cozy Dogs’ creator, Ed Waldmire, had eaten an unusual sandwich on a trip to Muskogee, Okla., during his youth: a weiner baked in cornbread. Returning to Illinois, Waldmire told a fellow student at Knox College about it, saying he wished he could make something similar that would cook faster.

Zombieland: Flawed but bloody good fun
Story? Fleischer don’t need no stinkin’ story when he’s got thousands of zombies to kill and Woody Harrelson around to rend the screen as Tallahassee, a displaced soul who’s finally found his place in life, namely dispatching reanimated corpses to their final resting place.

Movie times
PLEASE NOTE: Kerasotes listings are for Friday, Oct. 2 through Thursday, Oct. 8. Bracketed show times are Saturday and Sunday only matinees or Friday and Saturday only late shows. All times are subject to change. For updates on Kerasotes films, call 1-800-FANDANGO.

Bedrock 66 and a political statement
Kicking off the month on Friday, Oct. 2 is a stellar Bedrock 66 concert series show at the Hoogland Center for the Arts. The heritage of Chris Scruggs, one of the featured artists, makes for easy associations and name-dropping.

BAND SPOTLIGHT
Vernon Harrington grew up on Chicago’s West Side surrounded by blues music and other facts of life in the area. His father, a preacher by trade, also ran a blues and gospel record label, allowing young Vernon a direct window into the world of musicians and music of the 1950s and ’60s.

PUB CRAWL
Submit calendar listings at www.illinoistimes.com.

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

COMEDY
Jerry Seinfeld bursts upon Sangamon Auditorium stage Friday, Oct. 9 at 7 p.m. Hailed as “the best comedian of our time” in a Washington Post.

DANCE
Sangamon Auditorium, UIS comes to life Wednesday night as the Virsky Ukrainian National Dance Company highlights the beauty of its native Ukraine presenting a diverse concert program stocked with bright-colored costumes, a wealth of traditions and energetic, fast-paced and elevated dance moves.

MUSIC
International Irish music phenomenon, Celtic Woman, graces Sangamon Auditorium for the second leg of the “Isle of Hope” tour. Named number one top world music artist by Billboard Magazine,.

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 10th day of September, 2009 a Certificate of Ownership of business was filed in the Office of the County Clerk of...

NEWS QUIRKS
Police in Hinton, W.Va., accused attorney Matthew Don Reed, 32, of trying to steal Social Security numbers and other personal information by impersonating West Virginia’s governor. State Police Sgt. T.L.

THE ADVICE GODDESS
My online dating profile clearly indicates that I’m a vegan. A woman I’ve been communicating with informed me that she eats a healthy diet, but enjoys meat and fish. Fine with me, but our first phone conversation became an inquisition about whether I would attempt to make her a vegetarian.

LOCAL BIZ DIRECTORY
recipes are straight from Chiapas. Bargain lunch buffet, great Margaritas and salsa dancing Saturdayís. 2nd Jefferson (217) 541-6292 http://www.mayabuffet.com.