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Topping off the tank
One of the virtues of the state sales tax as a revenue-raising tool is that sales tax receipts go up as prices go up, enabling the state to maintain its purchasing power in spite of inflation. This is not true of the federal gas tax, which is levied on a flat per-gallon basis.

Buffett Rule still makes Main Street sense
As a music store owner, the Buffett I’m usually concerned with is Jimmy Buffett of Margaritaville. But a bunch of lobbying groups who claim to represent small business are making me mad. They’re trying to scare people into believing that job-creating small businesses like mine won’t hire people if the “Buffett Rule” or anything like it is enacted.

The inequity of private equity hustlers
What are these phantasmagoric money machines that they call “private equity firms?” They’re much in the news these days, because a fellow who was a private equity magnate is presently running for president.

LETTERS
PENSION RIGHTS I’m all for paying my fair share. However, proposed Illinois state pension reform goes beyond fair share into highway robbery. The current $32,000/year average (also the U.S. average) pension is far from a windfall. The proposed reform would ruthlessly violate workers’ constitutional rights to our pensions.

Legislature dawdles while public opinion tanks
U.S. Attorney Patrick Fitzgerald has told the House’s Special Investigating Committee that his office’s investigation of Rep. Smith isn’t over yet. “I can tell you that our investigation of Representative Smith is continuing,” Fitzgerald wrote, which could be an indication that the government wants to pile on more charges.

Bumps in the roadshow
Meanwhile, the Springfield-based company and its owner, Jeffrey Parsons, who owes more than $3.5 million in delinquent federal taxes, are facing lawsuits, including one filed by employees who say that the company has violated federal labor law by not paying overtime and promised salaries.

PLANNING THE CITY CORE
they’re not here to see the sights – at least not for the same reason as other tourists. These guests are the Sustainable Design Assessment Team (SDAT), a group of urban planning professionals tasked with finding ways to revitalize Springfield’s central core.

SAFE SUSTENANCE
the soil is contaminated with toxins? The Illinois Environmental Protection Agency plans to test three community garden plots in Springfield to make sure they’re safe for growing food. The three plots make up the Springfield Community Garden Family Fit Center, run by Vera Garrett of Springfield.

Plan? What plan?
Springfield Mayor Mike Houston, who once said that he expected to have a plan to fix crumbling infrastructure without raising taxes within two months of his 2011 election, plans to present the city council with a plan for fixing streets and sewers by year’s end, Springfield public works director Mark Mahoney told the Citizens Club last Friday.

Losers are winners in Lose Big contest
Morris was in his garage working on changing a leaky fuel pump on his father’s Chevy Corvette, when he noticed that the pump had leaked a significant amount of gasoline around him. Before Morris could react, a nearby kerosene heater ignited the gasoline’s fumes.

Not too young to know
Khadine Bennett, legislative counsel for the American Civil Liberties Union (ACLU) of Illinois, says schools teaching sex education should ensure their curriculum is comprehensive, age-appropriate and medically accurate.

No mandate? No problem.
At the center of the federal Affordable Care Act is an “individual mandate” that requires every person to have health insurance, an idea challenged by several states as unconstitutional. If the nation’s highest court strikes down the individual mandate, the rest of the reforms in the law could also be discarded.

Changes on the horizon for WUIS
Change doesn’t have to be painful. At least that’s what WUIS general manager Bill Wheelhouse is hoping will be the case this summer, when the venerable radio station plans to shift from its longtime classical music-based programming to focus instead on news and talk.

A civic sorority marks 100 years of good works
Good works and camaraderie build relationships that last a lifetime. Just ask the sisters of Springfield’s Kappa Chapter of the Phi Beta Psi sorority. As she reflects on a recent photo of her sorority sisters, Audrey Roesch recalls, “I’ve made a lot of good friends over the years that I never would have known.

Come, Creative Spirit
Over the past 16 years, the Liturgical Arts Festival has become Springfield’s premier event for those interested in liturgical and sacred arts.

Splendiferous spinach
I really do love spinach. I always have. As a child, I’d eat so much of my grandmother’s German creamed – although it’s creamless – spinach that I’d get a stomachache. I’d eat leftovers for breakfast – and still do.

The Avengers, a rousing success
Whedon achieves the epic scale this story requires, offering up some truly impressive moments, both in terms of visuals (the 3-D is used to great effect here) and character interaction. Throw-downs between Thor and the Hulk, as well as the God of Thunder, Iron Man and Captain America, live up to expectations.

Johnny Owens sings
What started out as a quick bit on an upcoming three-hour gig for Johnny Owens at Gallagher’s evolved into a conversation covering the singer’s life in music. From beginnings in the church choir, Owens developed into a vibrant and expressive vocalist with a career that spans five decades of soulful singing.

BAND SPOTLIGHT | 7Horse
Rock veterans Joie Calio and Phil Leavitt decided one day to wander from their successful venture known as dada, a group responsible for popularly known songs like “Dizz Knee Land” and “All I Am” and take a hike to another land.

PUB CRAWL
Cavo w/ Janus, Throwing Gravity, Mindset Evolution.

THE CALENDAR
May 15, 7:30pm, 2008 Tony Award-winning Best Musical is moving, funny and uplifting about hard-working immigrants seeking a better life. Sangamon Auditorium, UIS, 1 University Plaza, 217- 206-6160, 800-207-6960..

MUSIC | Guitar great
Only B.B. King and Stevie Ray Vaughan have more number one blues albums than Bonamassa. In fact, he opened for blues legend B.B. King when only 12 years old.

THEATER | Killer catch-all
The longest continuously running stage production, The Mousetrap,.

THE CALENDAR
Just Be Day May 12, 10am-2pm, Gift yourself with time on the land. Jubilee Farm, 6760 Old Jacksonville Rd, 787-6927.

THE CALENDAR
More events, more details in our online calendar at illinoistimes.com..

ARCHITECTURE | Awe of the above
Get a look at some of Springfield’s historical, residential and commercial spaces that normally aren’t open to the public during the 13th annual Upper Story Tour Thursday, May 3, 5-8 p.m. On this self-guided tour, see places such as 531 E. Washington that houses Pease’s on the first floor; 222 S.