What good are public libraries?
A library used to be one of the first things to be established by any town that wished to call itself advanced. Of late, spending on the library is one of the first things a town cuts back. Many a mayor faces fiscal dilemmas such as those that once prompted Springfield’s Mr.

China could bring us together
Pick your problem – unemployment, global warming, debt, the looming revenue shortfall for entitlement programs, trade with China – and you can find any number of commentators, experts, or concerned citizens offering smart solutions. Unfortunately, you also find too many political leaders pandering for votes.

Executive excess: The rewards of being bad
One of the richest of the ragers, Steve Schwarzman of the Blackstone Group, sees Obama’s proposal as an outrageous intrusion into the suites of the elite, comparing it to “when Hitler invaded Poland.

ballad to a biker’s buddy:
This service is available at no charge to anyone living in a single family or duplex home that has paid garbage service. People who live in apartments, town houses and mobile homes can have curbside recycling if property owners or managers arrange for this with a waste hauling company.

China could bring us together
We also have failed to graduate enough students from high schools and colleges to give most Illinois counties a decent chance of prospering in a globalized economy. Data from the 2000 census is illuminating. In Morgan County, 79.9 percent of the population over 25 held a high-school diploma and 19.

Speaker Madigan acts like he’s running scared
But to give you an idea of how truly strange Madigan’s reaction is, the longtime House Speaker’s personal direct mail program is pretty much on par with what’s being done for Madigan’s most politically vulnerable Democratic incumbents.

Springfield man celebrates 25 years with transplanted heart
“My mom asked me what happened, and I just said that I had gotten tired,” says the 32year-old Louis, recalling a race that he ran near the end of kindergarten. “She had never heard me say that before; I was pretty hyperactive. But in her mother’s intuition, she said, ‘I think there’s something wrong with you.

DIABOLICAL DIARY
Those of us who sported the gradeschool bowl cut hairdo (with optional rattail) know humiliation as well as those who donned tight-rolled jeans as teens in the 1980s.

Feds censure state on farm waste
In a report released in late September, the U.S. EPA says the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency has not fully implemented a federally mandated program meant to regulate the discharge of pollutants from confined animal feeding operations (CAFOs).

Ponzi scheme benefited Senate Dems’ lawyer
Victims of Springfield Ponzi scheme operator James U. Dodge are calling for his son, a lawyer for the Illinois Senate Democrats, to pay back the money gained from the scheme that his father spent on him and his family. Dodge’s son, James W.

Cross-country runner
Radich started his coast-to-coast run from the shores of the Pacific Ocean in Santa Monica, Calif., on July 4, making his way east on Route 66.

Censored in a brave new world
The world was a different place in 1976 when Carl Jensen, a professor of communications at Sonoma State University, founded Project Censored to highlight important national news stories that were underreported or outright ignored by the mainstream press.

THE TOP 10 CENSORED STORIES OF 2009-2010
Huff and Phillips noted that they are not part of the so-called 9/11 Truth Movement, arguing that urging mainstream coverage of that particular set of questions is just a small piece of their wider body of work.

New York Times
“The absence of a real-time database tracking people in ICE custody means ICE has created a network of secret jails,” Stevens writes. “Subfield offices enter the time and date of custody after the fact, a situation ripe for errors ... as well as coverups.

60 Minutes
9. Human rights abuses continue in Palestine While there is a great deal of news coverage about the Israeli-Palestinian conflict, Project Censored highlights human rights abuses as a little-discussed aspect.

How chefs with families get both their jobs done
When I called Curtis Duffy, the 2010 Hope School Celebrity Chef, to arrange an interview, I assured him that I’d work around his schedule. But Duffy, executive chef of Chicago’s Avenues restaurant and the youngest four-star chef in America didn’t see a problem.

Lincoln didn’t sleep here
No, Lincoln didn’t sleep here. And, in the case of Edwards Place, the Springfield Art Association’s antebellum Italianate mansion, Lincoln didn’t court here. Abraham Lincoln actually called on Mary Todd at the home of her brother-in-law, Ninian W. Edwards, and married her there on Nov.

Movie times Oct. 15-21
AMC listings are for Friday, Oct. 15 through Thursday, Oct. 21. Bracketed movie times are Saturday and Sunday matinees and Friday and Saturday late shows. All times are still subject to change. For updates on AMC films, call 1-800-FANDANGO. For reviews of other films, visit www.

Life an unexpected delight
Holly (Katherine Heigl) and Messer (Josh Duhamel) are thrown together when their mutual best friends die and they find out they were named godparents to their infant daughter Sophie. Finances and a bit of desperation force them to live together in order to raise the girl and it takes more than a while for them to get used to each other’s quirks.

Anne, Bucky and Mother Jones
Lots of happening things are going on this weekend like the Damwell Betters christening the reopening of Charlie’s Club under Andiamo, Russel Brazzel playing a cool classical guitar concert, Dan Keding storytelling and playing music with the Unitarians and other area delights.

BAND SPOTLIGHT | The ReJüvenilz
Not so long ago, vocalist Rod Grant, guitarist Johnny Johnson and bass player Doug Antonacci, all former members of Late Arrival (a previous winner in IT’s.

Angel Brown
Johnny the Fox, Swai, Outnumbered, Pocket Rocket, Sleeping Dogs.

“Living Downstream”
A 90-minute documentary on the connectedness between human health and the wellness of the environment, “Living Downstream” takes a scientific look at the distribution of three chemicals – atrazine, chlorine and PCBs – into the North American air, water and land and their possible link to cancer.

THE CALENDAR
Comedian John Morgan (the Rajin Cajun).

Doris Kearns Goodwin
Pulitzer Prize winning author and renowned presidential historian Doris Kearns Goodwin visits Springfield to open the new Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum “Team of Rivals” exhibit, titled after her book about Lincoln and his Cabinet. Following the 9 a.

Rabbit Row
Find out about the lost history of Springfield’s vibrant north side neighborhood from Reservoir Street from Ninth to 15th Street at the October Sangamon County Historical Society meeting at Lincoln Library. Ken Mitchell, Springfield native, businessman and writer of the book, Growing Up in Rabbit Row,.

Prairie Grapevine Concert: Dan Keding
Internationally acclaimed storyteller, folk musician and author, Dan Keding returns to Springfield sharing his vibrant music and storytelling at a Prairie Grapevine Concert taking place at the ALUUC. Not many tell it in the way Dan does; he’s powerfully engaging.

Association of Information
More events, more details in our online calendar at illinoistimes.com..

PUBLICNOTICES
NOTICE UNDER ASSUMED BUSINESS NAME ACT STATE OF ILLINOIS COUNTY OF SANGAMON TO WHOM IT MAY CONCERN: Notice is hereby given that on 22nd day of September, 2010 a Certificate of Ownership of business was filed in the Office of the County Clerk of...

NEWSQUIRKS
Mike Walton in SANGAMON County, Illinois, will on November 23, 2010, in Sangamon County Board Room, IL, at 9:00 AM, sell at public auction and sale to the highest bidder for cash, all and singular, the following described real estate mentioned in...

BUY SELL TRADE
Nite Club 2-Step - 6:00-7:00pm (Prereq: None) West Coast Swing I - 7:15-8:15 pm (Prereq: Basics) Ballroom IV - 8:30 -9:30pm (Call for Requirements) Ron Paula’s Ballroom Dancing. 217-553-0446 (www.RonAndPaulaDance.com).

REAL ESTATE
shall be sufficient to satisfy said Judgment: TAX NO. 22-07-330-015 COMMONLY KNOWN AS: 44 SQUIRES ROAD SPRINGFIELD, IL 62704 Description of Improvements: THE HOUSE STYLE IS A VINYL SIDING TWO STORY WITH A TWO CAR ATTACHED GARAGE. THE COLOR OF THE HOUSE IS TAN.

FINDLOCALBIZ
My wife has a big family, getting bigger all the time. Not only do they celebrate numerous holidays, but they have birthday parties for everyone (adults and little children). This averages out to about two gatherings a month.