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The cantaloupe and I
Especially melons. As a boy I spent many summer weekends visiting the relatives in Cass County. I got used to the sight of fields festooned with ripening melons but I never dared to taste one. As a boy I was, in intellectual terms, a budding Republican. I thought I had everything figured out.

Editor’s note
Here’s a statistic we need to work on: The child poverty rate in Sangamon County rose from 13 percent in 1999 to 23 percent in 2011. This is from Illinois Kids Count 2013, the annual statistical report of Voices for Illinois Children, the statewide advocacy group.

Historic commissions are faltering
The Springfield Historic Sites Commission, founded in 1966, has a history of accomplishments. It has landmarked some 64 properties of historic and/or architectural significance and created a list of some 240 buildings, many pre-Civil War, that cannot be demolished until at least 60 days after a demolition application has been filed.

Repeal the Patriot Act
Since 2006, Team Bush, and then Team Obama, have allowed the little-known, hugely powerful National Security Agency to run a daily dragnet through your and my phone calls – all on the hush-hush, of course, not informing us spyees.

LETTERS
I was also pleased to see your article on Starhill Forest Arboretum (“A teaching forest,” Jeanne Townsend Handy), a true gem of nature and valuable research site. Guy and Edie Sternberg had an ambitious vision and dedicated themselves to it, with inspiring results.

Daley takes his gloves off
He’s attacked Gov. Pat Quinn’s pathetic leadership, slammed the General Assembly for its ridiculous inaction and has made it clear that he’s not afraid to go on the attack against the Madigan family by releasing unflattering poll results earlier this week which showed that the House Speaker could harm his daughter’s potential gubernatorial bid.

Video gambling takes off
More than $10.7 million was wagered in May at 141 video gambling machines in Springfield set up in 31 establishments, ranging from bars to gas stations to restaurants. Fourteen businesses in Jerome, Grandview and unincorporated areas immediately adjacent to the city collected another $4.

SMALL BIZ SPRINGFIELD
We’ve all heard it on the political campaign trail: small businesses are the backbone of the economy. Springfi eld is no exception. We have a strong core of small, locally-owned businesses that reinvest in the community they serve.

MORE POWER TO YA
Luckily, Springfi eld residents have a new way to track their energy usage. The spiffy new website of City Water, Light and Power brings the utility into the modern age with the ability to monitor power and water usage, check a current bill, manage personal information and view payment history.

There’s still pork in corn and beans
The farm bill easily passed the Senate in May with support from both parties but stalled last week in the House, where conservatives want more cuts to the food stamp program, which has traditionally been wed to farm subsidies in a marriage designed to get enough votes from urban lawmakers to pass billions of dollars in subsidies for farmers.

What to expect with fracking
Illinois will soon be open range for hydraulic fracturing, the controversial technique for freeing oil and natural gas trapped in underground shale rock. But even as the state prepares its rules governing the technique, some environmental activists are vowing a continued fight in cities and counties across southern Illinois.

Fewer kids in Illinois prisons
During the late 1980s and 1990s, Illinois’ youth prisons began filling up rapidly. The tough-on-crime approach that began in the 1960s was at the peak of popularity, and state law reflected it in mandatory minimum sentences and other provisions. From 1985 to 2000, the state’s population of incarcerated youth more than doubled, from 1,534 to 3,074.

Phasing into the future at the PCCC
Add an ancient, failing electrical system to this soaking-wet infrastructural nightmare, and it was not difficult to argue that the cavernous, 64,000-square-foot downtown Springfield institution was in need of a serious overhaul. “We weren’t able to provide the things high-end conferences needed,” says Oaks, with perhaps a touch of understatement.

Epic scope, intelligence save Z
To say that the film is not completely successful is to fault its ambition, which exceeds its grasp. In attempting to capture the scope of an international pandemic, director Marc Forster does a fine job of giving the movie the proper sense of scope that a tale of this size demands.

Getting some crispy chewy
“What I really miss are crispy things, chewy things,” sighs my sister-in-law. “Things like pizza or pancakes. Kris is a former model. Now in her 50s, she’s still drop-dead gorgeous. She lives in a warehouse-turned-studio/ event venue/home with her (also drop-dead gorgeous) children and photographer husband.

PUB CRAWL
Dates, times and locations are subject to change, so we suggest calling before attending an event..

BAND SPOTLIGHT | Anni Piper
Australia’s First Lady of the Blues rolls into town, rocking the house with her raw and raucous, right on, down and dirty, down under playing of the blues. Anni started on guitar at age 12, but switched to bass at 14 and started singing the blues. In 2004, she released Jailbait,.

Catch the June music bug
Speaking of weather and live music, have you been to the Old Capitol Plaza on the south side of the square to see an Artist on the Plaza show yet? Every Tuesday and Thursday throughout the summer months, the Springfield Area Arts Council...

THE CALENDAR
Jun 27, 29, Gracia Harrison from “The Voice,” tractor pulls, demolition derby, mud drags and more. Macoupin County Fairgrounds, 21368 Rte. 4, Carlinville, 217-854-9422. Raymond 4th of July Homecoming.

THEATER | Putting on the glitz
Roxy Theatricals presents nine performances of the Sunset Boulevard: The Musical.

FESTIVAL | No place like home
A small town with a big festival, Assumption Fest, held June 27-29 in the town of Assumption, has activities to rival larger venues. Only 40-45 minutes from Springfield, highlights are Thursday’s many pageant contests for all ages and.

THEATER | Historical tragedy
June 28, 29, 30, July 4, 5, 6 are the dates of Theatre in the Parks’ next production The Crucible.