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For state pensions, use a scalpel not an ax
Does it make sense to slash public pensions of the lowest paid, or to cut excessive pensions at the top? If the top 70 university, legislative and judicial pensions are fatter than the state employees and teachers, why would politicians look to cut the two leanest pension systems first?.

Editor’s note
Let’s see if we got this right. The city is offering to be the bill collection agent for the garbage haulers, using the threat of cutting off water or electricity for those who don’t pay their bills. Then, besides collecting the money, the city would recruit about 3,000 new customers for these private businesses, increasing their revenues.

Has another public project gone off the rails?
We’ve all seen it dozens of times in movies. A railroad train is barreling down the tracks. There might be enough time – just – to bring the lumbering machine to a halt before it crashes, but that’s the only way to avoid disaster, because it’s a train, and trains can’t change direction once they start rolling on a particular track.

Organic subsidiaries out parent conglomerates
Yet, this statewide contest in California will likely have a huge impact on national policy and on grassroots efforts to rein in the arrogance of corporate power that’s running roughshod over Americans.

LETTERS
As a former Catholic, I was not surprised by Bishop Paprocki’s recent public statements. In my youth, I heard similar admonishments from the pulpit. Indeed, that is one of the reasons why I left Catholicism. In hindsight, I owe that tradition much, for Catholics taught me to love like a Universalist, and Jesuits taught me to think like a Unitarian.

Presidential race bloopers trickle down
But 2010 is little more than a memory these days, and although Downstate still has several opportunities for Republicans, the northern and northwest Chicago suburbs appear to be gaining importance.

Volunteering doesn’t pay...or does it?
On a blustery Friday, an endless stream of people ambles into the United Way office, filling the small space with white T-shirts bearing the words “Live United.” Moments later, they’re filing back through the door and fanning out across Springfield to tackle a variety of tasks.

LINCOLN DOWN UNDER
Abraham Lincoln’s signature has shown up again in Australia, recalling a tale of piracy and what were likely the last shots of the Civil War. The news that the war was over had not reached Down Under by June 22, 1865, when the Jireh Swift, a whaling ship registered by Lincoln, was destroyed in the Bering Sea.

SAVING AFTER-SCHOOL
After a missed grant deadline raised the possibility that several schools in Springfi eld wouldn’t be able to host a popular after-school program, the Springfi eld-based Family Service Center stepped up to save the day.

Prescription war escalates
It’s a battle stretching back almost two decades, but this year could be different, says RxP Illinois, a group of mental health professionals led by the Illinois Psychological Association. They’re pushing state legislation that would allow prescription authority for psychologists.

Coming clean
In a Sept. 28 letter to village trustees, Mayor Harry Stirmell wrote that federal investigators are concerned about nearly $70,000 in spending from a drug seizure forfeiture account and have asked that the fund balance of more than $4,500 be remitted to the U.

Scrumming in Springfield
These guys have not changed. It takes balls to play rugby – that is, perhaps, the sport’s oldest cliché, and it is true. There are women’s teams in big cities like Chicago and at a handful of universities across the land, but in Springfield, rugby is a case of boys being boys.

America Behind Barbed Wire
America has a dark little secret. We imprisoned 120,000 fellow citizens during World War II in U.S. concentration camps or, as some call them, internment camps. Artist Roger Shimomura tells this troubling tale through his art. As an American, albeit a Japanese- American, he lived the nightmare.

Minute perception and the cosmic
The most important feature of Knoepfle’s work, his touchstone, is his consistent deployment of an informal voice. One could argue, in fact, that Knoepfle extends William Carlos Williams’ Modernist experiments by adopting an even more radically informal voice.

Old mother in a barrel: vinegar
It wasn’t our first choice, but after being entwined in this place for so long, it’s hard to think of living anywhere else. Since the early days of our engagement, my husband and I talked about building a log cabin, albeit one with modern conveniences.

Affleck’s engrossing Argo
Tautly constructed and surprisingly funny at times, this is Affleck’s most accomplished film. He is able to combine disparate tones to great effect while cutting back and forth between two equally intriguing storylines. The result is a wholly entertaining film.

Mix ’n’ matching
First, let me thank Dan Usherwood of the Pleasant Plains Historical Society and all who helped make our first Clayville Folk Festival in 25 years a good beginning for many fests to come. Other than the chilly weather making viewing and performing a veritable challenge, the fest was a huge success.

BAND SPOTLIGHT | Porkpie & the Northend Allstars
Born of a jam session as good bands often are, Porkpie & the Northend Allstars began when Hipbone Sam introduced Kirk Lonbom and Craig Wood at a last-Friday jam at Abe’s Southside Pub back in Sept. 2011 and suggested they play some songs with “drum junkie” Jeff Bechtel.

PUB CRAWL
Porkpie & the Northend Allstars with guest Texas Trucker Speed Fiends.

THE CALENDAR
Clayville Haunted House & Hay Ride.

FESTIVAL | Autumn ambience
Springfield’s long love affair with the Indian Summer Festival continues this weekend, Oct. 13 and 14. Two fun-filled days are planned, and it is certain that all ages will once again flock to the fields and forest at Lincoln Memorial Garden for...

COMEDY | Talking show
Anecdotes will fly, perspectives fling as Henry Rollins joins you Thursday night, Oct. 11, at the Hoogland Center for the Arts to talk politics, mostly about the upcoming presidential election. He’ll do all the talking. You just sit back. His show, Capitalism,.

HISTORY | WWI up close
The Illinois State Military Museum hosts a Great War Encampment to tell the story of the First World War. Experience trench warfare and a day in the life of the men who lived in the trenches during WWI. Reenactors in uniforms will demonstrate raids and skirmishes each day.

DANCE | Top dance
Savion Glover offers a tribute performance, titled Sole Sanctuary,.