Editor’s note

We are pleased to announce that James Bengfort has joined Illinois Times as advertising director. James has been in the newspaper business since 1996 and comes to Springfield after serving since 2005 as associate publisher of UrbanTulsa, the alternative weekly in Tulsa, Okla.

It’s time to vote for the BEST OF SPRINGFIELD 2012. Online voting starts today and continues through Sunday, Sept. 23 at midnight. The ballot is available online at www.illinoistimes.com and from Illinois Times’ Facebook page. For those who still prefer to vote on paper, the ballot will appear in next week’s edition of IT.

This week’s cover story, an alternative journalism take on last week’s Republican National Convention by freelancer Nathan Dinsdale, was commissioned by San Diego CityBeat editor David Rolland and made available to members of the Association of Alternative Newsmedia. It is being published in print and online by several papers around the country. –Fletcher Farrar, editor

Cover illustration is by Scrojo, www.scrojo.com.