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Tax gambling to fix the state budget
While an Illinois state senator during the 1990s and thereafter as a U.S. Senator, Peter Fitzgerald, R-Ill., repeatedly joined with a legislative minority to complain about the billions of dollars which the gambling companies should have paid to Illinois.

Editor’s note
Springfi eld arts organizations always have needs, with money at the top of the list. But their mood seems to be brighter this year, as Scott Faingold reports in his “State of the Arts” survey on the health of the arts and the groups that support them.

Lousy socialists
“The word ‘socialism,’” said Illinois governor John Peter Altgeld in a speech 115 years ago, “is used as a term of derision only by the ignorant or the servile.

The mass media favorites fall out of favor
The honchos of America’s establishment media are quick to blame such external causes as the Internet for their problems. But if they looked internally, they might notice that they’re damn near eaten up with a bad case of conventional wisdomitis.

LETTERS
FREE SOCIETY IS GUN-FREE Our plague of semi-automatic gun massacres shows us that America faces a crucial conflict in how we have always interpreted the freedoms of assembly and personal expression with what a newer interpretation of “freedom to bear arms” means in today’s culture.

Carry debate carries on
Before last Friday’s horrific school shooting in Connecticut, people on both sides of the concealed carry debate were saying privately that they did not expect Attorney General Lisa Madigan would appeal her major loss at the hands of the U.S. Court of Appeals.

HE’S BAAAACCK
When Springfi eld last saw Frederick George Celani, he was ’splaining to a federal judge the fl imfl am known as Kayport Package Express.

The sky’s the limit
The study’s authors, it seems, have never seen an airport that they did not like. From O’Hare International in Chicago to Grandpa’s Farm just outside Mendota in LaSalle County, airports large and small are cash machines, according to the study.

DISCORD IN THE DISTRICT
Following a lengthy and contentious meeting of the Springfi eld school board in which Superintendent Walter Milton proposed cuts to several popular programs to balance the Springfi eld Public Schools budget, at least one upset person took their frustrations to the Internet.

Firearms, medical pot and gay marriage, oh my!
When Illinois lawmakers return to Springfield early next year, they’ll face three issues more divisive than even the ongoing pension battle. But like the pension issue, these battles have been brewing for years, and conditions now seem ripe for big changes.

No joking matter
A police microphone captures officers Michael Brown and Chance Warnisher of the Springfield Police Department and Steven Stirmell, then an officer with the Village of Jerome, in a jovial mood immediately following the arrest of George Dawson, 73. One of the officers – it is not clear which one – describes the arrest as “fucking hilarious.

Art for every need
going, for the most part. We are down a little bit in terms of receipt of memberships and donations,” she says. “But I still think we’re moving forward.

Four new holiday films
The tale gets off to a slow start as the wizard Gandalf (Ian McKellen) and the 13 dwarves who’ve met at the home of the hobbit Bilbo Baggins (Martin Freeman), seem in no hurry to set off on their epic quest. They’re headed to the kingdom of Erebor, formerly the home of all dwarves, that’s been taken and controlled by the dragon Smaug for some years.

A Christmas like no other
It was in the late fall of 1936. The Depression had lingered a little longer than expected in the South. It was no different for his family in Tennessee. Hoskins was finding a little farm work here and there among his neighbors and he was pretty good with carpenter tools.

Most detested holiday tradition made delectable
Americans particularly seem to dislike holiday fruitcake, using it more often as fodder for jokes than food for feasting. A prime example is the Great Fruitcake Toss, which takes place on the first Saturday each January in Manitou Springs, Colo.

Wreck-it Ralph’s clever odyssey
My father always used to say that he hated taking us to Disney animated films, yet I remember him being the one who laughed the most at what was happening on the screen. Of course, that’s the secret where making a full-length cartoon is concerned – you need to appeal not only to the kids in the audience but also to the ones who bought their tickets.

End of the world or end of the world ending?
With nothing else worth discussing this week other than the much purported and often promulgated “end of the world” coming on Dec. 21, 2012, here we go.

BAND SPOTLIGHT | The Seething Coast
In 2006 when “Springfield’s beloved indie pop band Resident Genius abruptly imploded at their peak,” The Seething Coast incarnated from the resulting tumult.

PUB CRAWL
Porkpie & the Northend Allstars, Zack Fedor and the Backseat Drivers - End of World Party.

THE CALENDAR
23, Walking tour of lights and displays. Santa visit. $3.25, $2 kids. Bring new, unwrapped toy, get in free. Henson Robinson Zoo, 1100 E. Lake Shore Dr, 217-585-1821. Holiday Meals.

REVUE | Hark the holiday
The Hoogland Center for the Arts will present four performances of an old-fashioned Christmas revue, A Very Hoogland Christmas,.

HOLIDAY | Winter wonderland
Looking for that last-minute holiday activity to share with the family? The Springfield Park District’s Henson Robinson Zoo has been featuring its 17th annual Holiday Lights at the Zoo in December. There’s still time this weekend to take the walking tour to see thousands of lights and light displays.

HOLIDAY | Glowing tradition
One of Springfield’s most beloved sites at Christmastime is the Dana-Thomas House State Historic Site on Luminaria Evening, set for Saturday, Dec. 22, from 4-8 p.m. Approximately 1,000 luminaria will shine along the sidewalks and ledges of the 12,600 square-foot structure.