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Nurse! Nurse!
Illinois faces two challenges in providing decent medical care for the many among us who stubbornly refuse to follow the example of our social betters by getting rich. One, endlessly “debated,” is the cost.

Editor’s note
“We are too smart to be this dumb about education,” says Bob Ogden, part of the group “Save CCPA” that is working to reverse the District 186 school board’s unfortunate decision to close the Capital College Preparatory Academy.

Fossil fuel and nuclear knock renewables
So it’s no wonder that the American Wind Energy Association (AWEA) and the Solar Energy Industries Association have recently rescinded their membership in the American Legislative Exchange Council (ALEC).

‘The Dow’ versus ‘The Doug’
The “it” they’re hailing is the Dow, that mystical force believed by faithful Dowists to be “The Way” – the provider of good fortune, often bestowing its magical beneficence by magical means. The Dow Jones Industrial Average is the holy measure of corporate stock prices, and it is now smiling warmly on its acolytes.

LETTERS
PARK PERKS The article “Use it or get paid” by Bruce Rushton (March 7) was a real eye opener. Springfield Park District has paid former park district executive director Michael Stratton more than $28,000 for 725 hours of unused vacation time beginning in 2010 through 2012.

Politics, politicians and pension reform, oh my
Fahner could probably be excused for apologizing to an inanimate object. The president of the Chicago-based, business-backed Civic Committee and self-styled pension expert had been forced to sit in the hearing room and wait for hours before testifying against Senate President John Cullerton’s omnibus pension reform bill.

Group pressing school board candidates on CCPA closure
“I believe in what this school is doing,” Tulipana said, explaining why she decided to get involved. She has a son in seventh grade at CCPA and another child whom she hoped would attend CCPA. Tulipana and others in the group hope the upcoming election on April 9 shifts the school board’s majority in favor of keeping CCPA open.

THIS OLD PARTY HOUSE
After a $36,000 workover, the dining room at Edwards Place is restored and ready to come alive like it did on Feb. 10, 1863. Anna Ridgely described in her diary the party that night at the home of Mrs. B. S. Edwards: “I enjoyed the evening quite well. The entertainment was delightful.

FREE AT LAST
Locked up for 14 years in a southern Illinois prison, Chicago native Anthony Murray made a diffi cult choice: he took responsibility for a murder he says he didn’t commit in order to secure his release from prison on Oct. 31, 2012. It was a bittersweet day for Murray and the Illinois Innocence Project, based at University of Illinois Springfi eld.

Red flags aplenty
Issues raised as long ago as 2007 by Perrino and Associates, a CPA firm that conducted annual audits, ran the gamut. Hundreds of dollars were spent on alcohol and exorbitant tips, according to an audit of the fiscal year ending April 30, 2008.

Buyer beware
Appraiser Seth Kaller, a dealer in historic documents and artifacts from White Plains, N.Y., predicted that questions would be asked about the hat, a clock that purportedly came from Lincoln’s law office and a fan that Mary Todd Lincoln was believed to have carried the night that her husband was assassinated at Ford’s Theater.

Lobbying for local food
As a part of Local Food Awareness Day, the group wanted to spread the word to legislators about issues on urban and rural composting. The day was sponsored by the Illinois Stewardship Alliance, a group that promotes the advocacy and development of legislation geared towards environmentally sustainable local food systems.

The typewriter man
Bushnell began his career as a delivery boy for Royal and eventually became a service technician, but in May of 1974 he was given a new opportunity. After he had been with the company for 25 years, Royal closed. Bushnell bought the business, acquiring all the office equipment, including the typewriters.

Gus’s new gig
“At a certain point I realized I was a clone,” says Gus Gordon of his 22-year tenure as chief meteorologist at WICS-TV Channel 20. His tone is more amused than bemused, and entirely without rancor. “There was a middleaged white guy like me at pretty much every local TV station in America.

Matthew Vala, Hoogland Kids and Hoogland Teens
Matthew Vala and Gus Gordon had been discussing ideas for a Hoogland Center youth outreach program for some time before Vala directed a 2010 teen production of Grease. “That was sort of the first experimental thing that we did,” says Vala.

Soul food staples
Southern-style music and soul food are inseparable – Springfield’s own Blues & BBQs festival attests to that. The legendary Thelonious Monk, who hailed from North Carolina, wore a collard leaf in his lapel when playing in New York’s smoky jazz clubs..

More to Admission
Here’s hoping that viewers will be able to do the same. Focus Films is promoting the movie as a lighthearted, romantic romp, promising that its two appealing stars will engage in witty, antagonistic repartee and navigate a minefield of misunderstandings before ultimately falling in love.

The music calling
After this wonderfully busy, gig-a-day week (with two on Friday and three on Saturday), including venues from first grade classrooms to high class social clubs, barrooms full of temporary drunken sailors and restaurants with happy, well-fed folks, I feel more qualified than ever to write a bit about the influence of music on the human spirit.

PUB CRAWL
Chris Maxey featuring Thistle & Thyme.

BAND SPOTLIGHT | Family Groove Company
This Chicago-based quartet keeps making the rounds and stirring the pot with festival appearances at the Midwest’s finest, including Summerfest, Summer Camp and 10,000 Lakes.

THE CALENDAR
$10. Nelson Center Ice Arena, Lincoln Park, 1601 N. Fifth St, 217-553-7708..

PHOTOGRAPHY | Paw prints
Always wanted a high quality portrait of the family dog? Now you can at Dog Days of Spring and session fees go to a good cause – the Animal Protective League. Terry Farmer Photography is raising awareness and funds for the APL by donating each pet portrait session to the APL.

MUSIC | Splendid performance
The Jacksonville Symphony Orchestra and Chorale present, “A Golden Collaboration” sponsored by Jim and Fran Ringle. Mozart’s Coronation Mass includes special guests Illinois College Choir and Millikin University Choir 2013 along with the 2003 Talent Among Us grand prize winners oboist Juliana Georges and violinist Clayton Penrose-Whitmore (pictured).

SKATING | Ice theater
The Springfield Figure Skating Club presents an ice show on March 23-24 at Nelson Center Ice Arena. Over 75 Springfield Figure Skating members will perform musical ice versions of “Seussical,” “Alice in Wonderland,” “Gypsy” and “Follies Parisienne.” Special guest skaters will be Canadian dance Silver Medalists Piper Gilles and Paul Poirier.

FILM | Out-of-sight superstar
The Springfield Art Association’s Molly Schlich Film Series continues with three screenings of the much talked about documentary Searching for Sugarman..

MUSIC | Rockin’ songster
Minneapolis’ Kevin Bowe and the Okemah Prophets will rock the Hoogland Center for the Arts March 22 for the next WUIS Bedrock 66 Series concert. Known as an accomplished songwriter, Bowe wrote for Kenny Wayne Shepherd, Jonny Lang, Etta James and many others.