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A school by any other name
The good people of Chatham have built themselves a second public elementary school, to give their young the skills they will need to someday leave Chatham.

Investigating Muslims or coming together as Americans?
My son, Mohammed Salman Hamdani, was a 23-year-old paramedic, a New York City police cadet and a Muslim American. He was one of those brave 2,976 people who tragically lost their lives in the 9/11 terrorist attacks almost a decade ago. As The New York Times.

The Kochs and the guv stir up a hornets’ nest
Thank you, Scott Walker! And you, too, Charles and David Koch! Thanks for being so ham-handed in pushing your self-serving, virulently anti-union agenda on the schoolteachers, health care workers, park rangers and other public employees of Wisconsin..

iceman poem # 2
there’s another theory out about my death I’m interested of course in how I died it was pretty sudden it’s not a new idea the basic part aristotle and plato both thought of and then velikovsky but now I’ve been added to the equation seems a meteor a...

LETTERS
I was amazed that the article by James Krohe Jr., “Living too high off the hog” [ March 3] was even considered for publication. His comparison of members of our community, often in the most vulnerable times of their lives, to soybeans is callous to say the least.

Investigating Muslims or coming together as Americans?
He seems to have forgotten that the young man who plotted to bomb a Christmas tree lighting in Oregon was turned in to the authorities by his own Muslim father. The fact of the matter is that, like all Americans, American Muslims are committed to the safety of their families, their communities and their nation.

Bad news on the budget just keeps coming
The Illinois House’s new revenue projection for next fiscal year, which begins in July, is $759 million lower than the governor’s. However, the House’s forecast is also $2.2 billion below Gov. Pat Quinn’s projected spending for the coming fiscal year..

SEVEN PANCAKES
on what amounts to a technicality, the Illuminati Motorworks crew is still working on their fully-electric four-seat vehicle, Seven, which gets the equivalent of between 119 and 230 miles per gallon. The next step is testing the car’s power and efficiency at the Chrysler Proving Grounds in Chelsea, Mich.

Mayor candidates break from the past
At a public forum on March 3, three of the four candidates for Springfield mayor addressed issues of transparency, political patronage, minority representation and more, each saying their administration would represent a break from the past.

Home birth bill takes a baby step for midwives
Every time Sheri Brinkmeyer ponders having a third child, she can't help but think that her family's recent relocation to Springfield wasn't the best move. She's afraid the state's lack of midwife licensure will mean giving birth in a hospital, like she did with her first child when she felt poked, prodded and bossed around.

Paper and perks, top issues for city clerk candidates
Democrat Frank Kunz, 3rd Ward alderman and candidate for mayor of Springfield, says “everything just moves quicker” at the city clerk’s office since Cecilia Tumulty took the helm in 2003. Kunz began his career as alderman in 1999, the same year as Tumulty.

Aldermanic candidates quizzed for answers to community problems
Doris Turner says that 65 percent of the people within the Third Ward do not have sidewalks, something she hopes to change if elected to the alderman post in the April 5 election. Infrastructure and public safety were only a few of the hot-button issues that gained traction at the Citywide Aldermanic Forum March 3.

The longest war
The medevac stood off until the Apaches, with 30mm cannons blazing, made sure that any insurgents left in the area would flee or at least hide and stop shooting. It’s strange how that sound can bring joy or dread depending on which side of the fight you’re on.

ABOUT THE ARTICLE:
After nine years, America’s war in Afghanistan just keeps dragging on. The war’s aimlessness and futility seemed apparent when late last year our sister alternative newsweekly, Fort Worth Weekly, sent a writer and photographer for a firsthand look at the war from the perspective of U.

The longest war
Beyond the geography and troop shortages, Abu Company’s mission is greatly complicated by tribal politics. Most of the smuggling routes in the region are controlled by the powerful Haqqani tribe.

The longest war
Higher-ups in the battalion command structure had to check maps to see whether the insurgents’ position was too close to any buildings. If it had been, permission to fire would have been denied. Abu Company knew that, in this case, there were no buildings around.

Task force leads the way to local food
“ ‘Eating is an agricultural act,’ as Wendell Berry famously said. It is also an ecological act, and a political act, too. Though much has been done to obscure this simple fact, how and what we eat determines to a great extent the use we make of the world – and what is to become of it.

Rango, a dynamic tribute to westerns, a lost genre
Rango (voice of Johnny Depp) is a chameleon who longs to be an actor but he’s really just a ham in search of an audience. He gets just that after a freak accident catapults him from the safety of a cozy terrarium into the cruel Nevada desert, where he stumbles into the ramshackle town of Dirt.

Greening up early
The world may seem a little greener a little sooner than usual this season, but it isn’t because of the climate change issue. For those of you who follow the Irish calendar, it so happens for 2011 March 17 is on a Thursday, but Springfield’s annual St.

BAND SPOTLIGHT | The Emerald Underground
Patrick’s Day ruckus, in the past year The Emerald Underground weathered another transformation in its evolution as the area purveyor of Celtic-fusion music. Longtime musician Jack White (vocals, keyboards, guitar), the last surviving member from Stone Ring Circle, the predecessor of TEU, stays with the group through the numerous St.

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

Skibbereen
Blues Saturday w/ Dave Lumsden, Dan Rivero & Wayne Carter.

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

AUTHOR | Life directives
Getting to Heaven: Departing Instructions for Your Life Now..

Comedian Rex Havens
nationally known Randy Erwin, Yodeling Cowboy. $12. Hoogland Center for the Arts, 420 S. Sixth St, 217-523-2787..

MUSIC | Accents of Americana
World-famous folk songwriter and songster Arlo Guthrie performs March 16 in Springfield on his Journey On Tour with special guests The Burns Sisters. Listen to well-known classics such as his 1967 hit, “Alice’s Restaurant,” and the ’72 rendition of “City of New Orleans.

THE CALENDAR
5:30pm Mon-Sat, Creative, one-of-a-kind bags for all occasions in all sizes by Ann Collins..

THE CALENDAR
United Way Annual Meeting & Awards Breakfast.

History
Becoming Empowered & Successful Teens & Parent Transition Support Group.

MUSIC | Jazz divas salute Ella
Chicago jazz divas Frieda Lee, Spider Saloff, pictured, and Dee Alexander play tribute to the lategreat first lady of song, Ella Fitzgerald. The Windy City trio love Ella so much, and fell in love working together, that they took their tribute on the road.

THE CALENDAR
Springfield 7v7 Soccer Leagues Registration.

PUBLICNOTICES
In the Circuit Court for the Seventh Judicial Circuit Sangamon County, Illinois In the Matter of the Estate of DAVID A. JENKINS, Deceased Court No. 2011-P-81 CLAIM NOTICE Notice is given of the death of David A. Jenkins. Letters of office were issued on February 22, 2011, to Deanne M.