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The short arm of the law
At last, we can all feel safe when we take our credit cards out in public again. In September, a federal judge in San Francisco fined a Taiwanese company $500 million and sentenced its former president and executive vice president to three years in prison for cooking up a global LCD screen price-fixing conspiracy.

Editor’s note
Springfi eld Diocese Bishop Thomas Paprocki has once again caused a stir by warning his parshioners that voting for candidates who favor abortion rights and same-sex marriage can endanger their eternal salvation [see Letters, p. 5]. The increasing willingness of U.

Springfield will thrive without residency rule
On Nov. 6, the voters in the corporate boundaries of Springfield will have an opportunity to vote on a residency referendum. The choice before them is clear. Do we continue to grow Springfield by using progressive leadership to expand our reach within the region, or do we adopt a regressive policy from our past that seeks to narrow our community?.

America’s pusillanimous press
In recent years, newspaper reporting had already been severely weakened by drastic cutbacks in newsrooms. But the latest decline comes from newsroom managers and staff who have chosen to compromise on a core aspect of good reporting: conducting untainted, straightforward interviews.

LETTERS
HELL AND VOTING I am sitting here on a Sunday morning contemplating the words of my bishop. Strong words they were indeed and well worth contemplating. Last week I, along with everyone else, was admonished by Bishop Thomas John Paprocki to contemplate seriously how to vote in the upcoming November election.

Legislators vow not to take pension
Lifetime pensions for part-time legislators became a hot issue when the General Assembly first mulled reducing pension benefits for state workers and teachers.

Hollywood comes to Petersburg
Everyone wants to be a movie star. That’s why actors who are “discovered” have such popular stories: they are everyday people plucked from everyday life and chosen to ascend the staircase to fame.

Trash talk
The city’s public works director warned that getting rid of leaves would cost lots and lots of money that the city did not have. Nonetheless, suggestions included hiring youths to rake leaves for the disabled and elderly when autumn arrived, a service never before provided at public expense.

Unions not worried by residency referendum
“If Alderman (Joe) McMenamin (a leading proponent of residency for city workers) wants to come to the table with residency issues, we welcome that,” said Tony Burton, president of the union that represents Springfield firefighters, half of whom live outside city limits.

Mud and money
The 52-year-old emergency room doctor from Bloomington makes no bones about calling for higher taxes on high-grossing businesses and individuals or a governmentfinanced health care system that goes well beyond the limits of the Affordable Care Act, known to Republicans as “Obamacare.

A new generation of fruit and vegetable farmers
The age of farmers in this country is topheavy, with older farmers far outnumbering the younger farmers, particularly that of fruit and vegetable growers. University of Illinois crop sciences professor Rick Weinzierl and co-workers recently received a grant from the Beginning Farmer-Rancher Development Program of the U.

Henry Rollins brings a ‘talking show’ to the Hoogland
But that doesn’t stop the 51-year-old punk rock icon, TV personality, author and blogger from incorporating sections of the 16th president’s 1838 speech to the Young Men’s Lyceum in Springfield as part of “Capitalism,” his current spoken word tour of all 50 state capitals, which touches down at the Hoogland Center for the Arts next Thursday, Oct.

Pitch an off-key effort
All of the requisite elements are present in Kay Cannon’s screenplay. Beca is given a love interest in the person of Jesse (Skylar Astin), who belongs to a rival singing group.

Girl-a-Thon the third
For the third year in a row I can, with a true sense of joy, announce another Girl-a-Thon. Once again organizer Gwen Harris has put together an incredible lineup of musicians, guests and sponsors to support this fine fundraiser for the American Cancer Society’s Making Strides Against Breast Cancer.

PUB CRAWL
Throwback Thursday Boone’s Saloon, 9pm-1am.

BAND SPOTLIGHT | Suit & Tie Guy
This mysterious character lives in Chillicothe, Ill. quietly plotting intricate and intense electronic music while blithely being behind the mask of the ubiquitous suit and tie. Along with his personal recorded output (Sacred Earth 2012.

THE CALENDAR
prairie party with delicious food, kids activities and games, music, crafts and more. $5, $3 up to age 13. Lincoln Memorial Garden, 2301 E. Lake Shore Dr, 217-529-1111..

ART | Bold prints
Roger Shimomura, an internationally renowned artist known for his prints, paintings and performance works, talks at the University of Illinois Springfield Oct. 11 at 5:30 p.m. Following the lecture, there will be an exhibit reception from 6:30-8 p.m. in the UIS Visual Arts Gallery.

MUSIC | Engaging songster
Singer-songwriter William Fitzsimmons, of Jacksonville, will perform Oct. 6 in the Studio Theatre at the University of Illinois Springfield as part of the UIS Kitchen Sink Series. You might have heard Fitzsimmons’ music on ABC’s Grey’s Anatomy, Private Practice, Brothers and Sisters,.

SCIENCE | Bones and stones
The Lincoln Orbit Earth Science Society presents the Gem, Mineral and Fossil Show in the Illinois Building at the state fairgrounds this weekend. Enter a world of all things stony and bony. The show features the skulls of Jane the T-Rex and Homer the Triceratops, a traveling exhibit from the Burpee Museum of Natural History, Rockford.