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Discount-price cultural life
Back in March of 2009, Barnes & Noble signed a new five-year lease on its store in the strip mall at Wabash and Veterans where it has been doing business since it opened in 1993. The decision was a modest surprise, since word was out that the store might move to the long-vacant and larger White Oaks Cinema property.

More important than repealing the death penalty
I just finished reading the feature article on capital punishment by Bill Clutter [see “From death row to hero,” Jan. 28]. As good as the article is, Bill ignores the real challenge that is more important than repealing the death penalty. Repealing the death penalty would not have stopped Randy Steidl from sitting in prison for 17 years.

GOP gives back to its corporate sponsors
Early this month, when John Boehner was sworn in as the new speaker of the House of Representatives, he tipped his hat to the teabag activists across the country who had fueled the Republican takeover of the chamber last fall. He almost choked up as he promised to “give the government back to the American people.

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demi poem #4
so this isn’t a poem you may be weary of grief but saturday was damaris’s birthday her sisters and her nephews in the west built a big bonfire burned the clothes she died in burned a slice of the special cake we always make for family birthdays...

LETTERS
CAP CITY Springfield are you serious? Everyone knows the capital of Illinois is Chicago. Cornfields, hogs and the state fair aside, Springfield has nothing. Perhaps your fair city has considered the ramifications of the proposed city-state of Chicago? Proposed by me, of course.

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Stand for Children shows up with big bucks
All of the money raised by Stand for Children’s Illinois PAC came in five- or six-figure contributions from some very major Chicago-area business types. Members of the famed billionaire Pritzker family kicked in a total of $250,000 on Dec.

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A new reality for the east side
The East Springfield Summit featured a consortium of familiar names in Springfield – the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce, The Springfield Project, Mayor Frank Edwards, the Faith Coalition for the Common Good and more – who gathered Jan. 19 at Union Baptist Church in Springfield.

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‘Put Illinois to Work’ doesn’t always work
Judy Smith, president of Avenue Thrift Shop, signed up last year for Put Illinois to Work. She trained workers so they could advance to another job but says by the end of the program she would consider the experience with PIW trainees “a headache,” and the source of more problems than she has had in her 14 years with the store.

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Springfield blogger cleared of electronic harassment charges
The pen is mighty, says Scott Humphrey of Springfield, but he’ll be more cautious when he uses it from now on. The 58-year-old construction worker and blogger learned that lesson after his recent acquittal on charges of making threats on the Internet..

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Durbin commemorates Bloody Sunday in Lithuania
The only remnant of her journey sits in Durbin’s Washington, D.C., office – a Catholic prayer book in Lithuanian, which his grandmother had hidden inside her baggage. The book, which dates to 1863, Durbin says, was considered illegal in those days because Lithuania had prohibited any prayer books written in the native language.

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Not ready for the big time
As the University of Illinois Springfield in October 2008 made another move toward full membership in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, then-Chancellor Richard Ringeisen said the eventual achievement could only mean good things for the school’s future.

Not ready for the big time
Days later, the campus senate approved a resolution creating Hayler’s investigative committee. In the resolution, faculty stated that Ringeisen had “engaged in a lengthy pattern of unilateral actions in aggrandizing the role of intercollegiate athletics at UIS without consulting the various stakeholders in the UIS community.

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Not ready for the big time
The administration did, however, offer nonathletic scholarships to Thompson and her fellow former teammates. “I think it [the alternative scholarships] says that they know they made a mistake,” says Thompson, who accepted the offer.

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Not ready for the big time
New IAC chair Dr. Lynn Fisher, a professor of sociology and anthropology, says that the new personalities are working well together but adds that the last batch of personalities was probably not the heart of the problem. The more influential factor was likely the disagreement over the role of the IAC and how much information it should get and when.

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Vietnamese, French-style, a multicultural delight
Comingling of two cultures can occur in any number of ways, some positive, others negative. It may be through immigration, trade or proximity. Sometimes the mechanism is invasion and conquest.

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The King’s Speech is a voice of triumph
A poll I read some years back showed that the number one fear of most people was having to speak in front of a crowd. This is a completely justified response. Now imagine having to do so though you suffer with a nearly debilitating stammer and that your words would be broadcast to thousands via a new form of media technology.

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An interview with The King’s director
How can a British-made film about an English monarch that the majority of Americans know little about, be doing so well at the box office? “I think people need to see something uplifting right now,” says Tom Hooper, director of the surprise hit The King’s Speech,.

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BAND SPOTLIGHT | The Timmys
Around since 1997, the Timmys still play fast and furious fun songs in punkster fashion. Led by that fine figure of a man, Robbie Kording, on vocals, the rest of the band (as of this moment) is Brandon Carnes (bass), Tyler Orton (guitar), Wes Selinger (drums) and Ian Kelley (guitar).

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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
Angel of the Mother Road Celebration: Billy Waldmire.

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Billy’s bright blues
On Dec. 31, 2010, we lost a much-appreciated and well-respected singer and musician with the passing of Billy Waldmire. I didn’t know him very well, but after spending some time last Sunday with his family at the Cardinal Hill home of Bill and Arlene Waldmire near Rochester, I walked away wishing I had known him better.

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FILM |
Slow Food® Springfield, Abraham Lincoln Unitarian Universalist Congregation and the University of Illinois Extension show the documentary, Dirt! The Movie,.

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

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THE CALENDAR
Brown Bag Art Lecture Jan 28, 12pm, Katie Rasmussen, SAA education coordinator, presents “What’s in a Name: Signature as a Sign of Gesture or Witness?” and looks at works by Jan van Eyck, Jackson Pollock and more. Springfield Art Association, 700 N. Fourth St, 217-523-2631.

CREATIVITY | Fabulous fortes
Be wowed by the talent and creativity of 9 locals as they take to the stage and comment on 20 wall-filling frames of slides for a total six-minute and 40-second presentation each.

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DANCE | Sizzling steps Tango Buenos...
Tango Buenos Aires sizzles on the Sangamon Auditorium stage Jan. 28. The Argentinean dance company was created in Buenos Aires by renowned composer and tango director Osvaldo Requena. Its reputation has grown throughout the world as one of the most authentic and uncompromising representatives of the tango.

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THE CALENDAR
Alcoholics Anonymous Jan 27-31, Feb 01-09, Meetings daily. For times and locations visit aaspringfield.org. 24-hour answering service 525-5795, 1- 866-525-5795. Various locations.

PUBLICNOTICES
IN THE CIRCUIT COURT FOR THE SEVENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT SPRINGFIELD, SANGAMON COUNTY, ILLINOIS IN THE MATTER OF THE ESTATE OF: NANCY H. RICHARDSON, Deceased. Case No. 2011-P-10 DEATH AND CLAIM NOTICE NOTICE IS GIVEN of the death of NANCY H. RICHARDSON, of Springfield, Sangamon County, Illinois, on December 24, 2010.

CIRCUIT COURT OF THE SEVENTH JUDICIAL CIRCUIT. ILLINOIS
Dick Taylor Collision Services 2947 Old Rochester Road Springfield, Illinois 62703 (217)525-0613 NOTICE OF PUBLIC SALE OF VEHICLE Notice is hereby given that the following described Motor Vehicle(s) are unclaimed by the person or persons entitled to legal possession of them for a period of at least thirty (30) days.

NEWSQUIRKS
When a woman reported that a man exposed himself to her and her children, police in Mesa, Ariz., knocked on the apartment door of upstairs neighbor Michael Polley, 55. He answered with his pants still around his ankles. Court records noted he became “immediately angry” at being interrupted and began cursing at the officers, who arrested him.

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