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End greed, invest in healthy economy
This greed and excess is what got us into the worst economic recession since the Great Depression. It defies good business and core American values to pass this burden on to increasingly vulnerable working families, and to our children and grandchildren.

Mad politics
I have little doubt about what we all ought to talking about after Tucson. The most pressing social issues revealed – again – by these shootings is the absence of a workable system to identify and help the many manifest loonies wandering our towns, and of a reliable way to keep guns out of their hands in the meantime.

Power from the banks and to the people
But Thomas Hoenig, president of the Federal Reserve Bank of Kansas City, truly is a rarity. Firmly rooted in small town Iowa and Kansas, he has never aspired to be part of the Wall Street-Washington power elite, and he has no hesitancy to challenge their financial orthodoxy and obsequious kowtowing to the preening barons of big banking.

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LETTERS
The Springfield Consolidated Railway was organized in 1893 and a further reorganization in 1903 created the Springfield Railway & Light Company, in 1922 becoming the Springfield Gas & Electric Company, then becoming the Illinois Power Company.

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Stormy weather ahead for tax-increase Democrats
Ironically enough, Republicans may have been the happiest. The state’s horrific structural deficit was finally addressed, which is good news all around. And since they didn’t put any votes on the tax hike bill, the Republicans now get to use it as a wicked political hammer against the Democrats.

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SINGING VALENTINE
14 will split up into groups of four to deliver songs – including “Love me tender,” “I love you truly,” and “Let me call you sweetheart” – wherever star-crossed lovers send them. Along with a card and a rose from the sender, the singers arrive on scene with a photographer in tow.

FREE TAX HELP
With tax season right around the corner, the Center For Economic Progress is giving low- income families and individuals a head start and a break. Free tax help is available on a firstcome, first-served basis beginning Saturday, Jan. 22, from 9 a.m. to 1 p.

Kids get up close with Cubs
Second grader Taylor Kennedy sits crosslegged in the front row of her classmates as Chicago Cubs second baseman Blake DeWitt reads about Abraham Lincoln’s hat. Leaning forward in his chair, a pair of camouflaged Oakley sunglasses slip from his shirt collar and into the 8-year-old girl’s lap.

Victory in court nears for developmentally disabled
Rick Wilson of Springfield never thought it was asking too much for his daughter, Jennifer, who has cerebral palsy, to live in a comfortable environment. But when the Wilsons asked the State of Illinois to place Jennifer in a supportive living arrangement for adults with disabilities – instead of an institution – they were repeatedly denied.

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Spending cap will ‘strangle’ state services
The tax increase “won’t come anywhere near” fully funding public services, said Ralph Martire, executive director of the bipartisan Center for Tax and Budget Accountability (CTBA), in a hearing before the Illinois Senate Revenue Committee shortly before the increase passed both chambers.

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State education funding woefully inadequate
EFAB, which earlier this month issued its first findings since 2005, is charged with recommending to state lawmakers an appropriate “foundation level” – the minimum amount to be spent on each student from local tax money and general state aid combined.

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From death row to hero
At the State Capitol, former death row inmate Randy Steidl became the improbable champion in the successful campaign to get the General Assembly to abolish the death penalty. Now he is trying to persude Gov. Pat Quinn to sign the repeal into law. He traveled a long road from death row to Springfield’s halls of power.

From death row to hero
I headed to Chicago. That evening, I appeared before the board of directors at a meeting of the Illinois Coalition Against the Death Penalty. They were there to discuss plans to organize a candlelight vigil outside the Governor’s Mansion for John Wayne Gacy, whose execution was set for May 10, 1994.

From death row to hero
The next event organized by law professor Larry Marshall was in November 1998. I was invited to speak about Randy’s case at The National Conference on Wrongful Convictions and the Death Penalty, an event that became the prelude to the creation of the Center on Wrongful Convictions.

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From death row to hero
Callahan resisted pressure from above to whitewash his review of the file. He became a believer that Steidl, and his co-defendant, Herb Whitlock, were innocent. When he requested permission to pursue an investigation of other viable suspects who were politically connected, Callahan received a lateral transfer by former Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s new director of state police. He was removed from investigations and transferred to the traffic division. His book, Too Politically Sensitive, provides a detailed account of what happened behind the scenes at ISP.

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New kid on the block
The year was 1969 and Sheila Simon remembers fidgeting in her seat as her father, the late U.S. Sen. Paul Simon, was sworn in as lieutenant governor of Illinois. Nearly eight years old at the time, Sheila Simon was “one of those squirmy kids who wouldn’t sit still,” she told a crowd of nearly 5,800 at the Prairie Capital Convention Center Jan.

New kid on the block
“I think the one thing my dad would cite, what he learned from his father, was about speaking up when some things may be right but not popular. I think that was a guiding principle for Dad and one that he has definitely passed on to me and my brother, that you need to stand up for what’s right even when it’s not the popular thing to say.

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New kid on the block
Simon also plays bassoon and keyboard for the bluegrass band, “Loose Gravel,” formed by several friends and colleagues in the spring of 1998. The quartet provided entertainment at her inauguration eve reception hosted by the Illinois Education Association.

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New kid on the block
A former high jumper in high school and college, Simon also trains for a small triathlon in Carbondale during the spring. She says she also tries to stay active and bike with Perry “when the weather’s good.”.

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Hurry on over to Big Belly BBQ
They’re almost impossible to resist: food trucks, or more properly, “mobile food concessions.” Many serve ethnic or regional specialties. Food trucks are starting to receive serious attention from the food world. In fact Roy Choi, chef of Kogi, a Korean taco truck and his food have been written up in Time.

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A Dilemma in more ways than one
Ronny and Nick (Vince Vaughn and Kevin James) are best friends and business partners whose company is on the verge of a major success. However, when Ronny sees Nick’s wife Geneva (Winona Ryder) in a hot embrace with a tattooed himbo (Channing Tatum), he finds himself dealing with a crisis of conscience.

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Wacked out Waco Brothers
By any estimation the Waco Brothers are considered one of the finest purveyors of punk and country, folk and rock, tradition and innovation, performing on the American scene today.

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BAND SPOTLIGHT | Joe Cooke Band
From a stint at Berklee College of Music, where he hung with fellow student and future legendary guitarist Al DiMeola, to years as Springfield’s reigning rock guitarist in the ’70s, and from a run as sideman to blues-rocker Jerry Doucette of “Mama Let Him Play” fame, to his Nashville years with St.

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PUB CRAWL
Dates, times and locations are subject to change, so we suggest calling before attending an event..

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PUB CRAWL
Burdened, Battalion, ATKM, Big Mouth, FocusedxMinds, Heavyarms.

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THE CALENDAR
Dates, times and locations are subject to last-minute changes, so we suggest calling before attending the event..

ART | Intelligent design
Make sure to visit Robert Morris Gallery, downtown, in the next month or two as local legend Jeff Williams exhibits new paintings dealing with a range of subject matters such as automatons, bike awareness and environmental issues.

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THE CALENDAR
Westminster Cooperative Preschool Open House.

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THE CALENDAR
The Capital Area Independent Business Alliance.

COMPETITION | Long live the king
Celebrate January-born Elvis Presley and shake on downtown Jan. 21-22 to the Midwest Tribute to the King Competition. Fifteen Elvis tribute artists from six states entertain and compete for prize money in one of the country’s largest Elvis impersonator contests.

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Greater Springfield Home & Builders Show
cabinet struggle with the momentous issue of war. Museum admission. 558-8934. Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, 212 N. Sixth St..

THEATER |
Small town waitresses (and want-to-be country songsters) all want to save the bar they work at by singing up lots of cash. Jo, the owner’s daughter, has her head focused on a group that will bring in a crowd, but mistakenly books a band of classical musicians.

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PUBLICNOTICES
IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE SEVENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT SPRINGFIELD, SANGAMON COUNTY, ILLI- NOIS IN THE MATTER OF THE ESTATE OF: ERROL NEEL WORKMAN, Deceased. No. 2010-P-715 DEATH AND CLAIM NOTICE NOTICE IS GIVEN of the death of ERROL NEEL WORKMAN. Letters of Office were issued on the 28th day of December, A.

MUSIC | European standards
“Cosmopolitan Classics” is the name of the next Illinois Symphony Chamber Orchestra concert under the direction of Maestra Karen Lynne Deal held Jan. 21 at St. Agnes Church. Hear famous symphonies, including Haydn’s theater-inspired Symphony No.

THE CALENDAR
Building on the Charter for Compassion.” Info on Charter of Compassion (charterforcompassion.org) and discussion on how to make Springfield a more compassionate community. 787-7810. Westminster Presbyterian Church, Walnut St, (217) 522-4415..

Case No. 2010-MR-400766 PUBLIC NOTICE...
Case No. 2010-MR-400766 PUBLIC NOTICE Public Notice is hereby given that on February 6, 2011 I will petition in said Court praying for the change of my name from LUCAS MATTHEW RHOME to LUCAS MATTHEW ORRICK pursuant to the statute in such case made and provided.

AMY ALKON
My wife and I have been married four months after dating a year. She’s 40; I’m 34. Before we married, we agreed (because of our values) that the man pays the daily living expenses (rent/mortgage, bills, taxes, groceries). She said I should never rely on her for money, but said she’d help me if I needed it.

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