In my state, Louisiana, which is not a high-cost state, a single adult needed income of $19,256 to afford basic expenses such as food, housing, transportation, health care and taxes in 2012, according to the MIT Living Wage Calculator. That’s $9.26 an hour at 40 hours a week year-round, which is $2 more an hour than the current minimum wage.

Stealth? Yes, it’s a nationwide product promotion that’s being run below the public radar! Why would a corporation as ad-dependent as Coke spend big bucks on advertising that it doesn’t want consumers to notice? Shhhh – because the campaign is a...

Reading the article by Phil Bradley (“The cop was right to ticket me,” Dec. 5) about the Illinois State Police captain he called “straight arrow” because he would “ticket his own mother,” I was reminded of TV Deputy Barney Fife throwing the whole town of Mayberry in jail for chronic jaywalking while Sheriff Andy was out of town.

Madigan invoked the populist gods last week as he called for an end to the “case-by-case system of introducing and debating legislation whenever a corporation is looking for free money from Illinois taxpayers.

Dr. Nathaniel Patterson’s physician’s license application is stalled at the Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation, which averages 26 business days to process license applications.

Just before midnight on Nov. 4, Johnson was returning from Bloomington in his Mitsubishi Diamante when he spotted a Springfield police vehicle parked at a U-turn on I-55. He noticed that the police pulled out behind him and followed from a distance as he signaled his exit onto Clear Lake Avenue.

“This is not a game we play – this is real, folks,” Leroy Jordan, chairman of the Rail Task Force for the Faith Coalition for the Common Good, told reporters at a press conference last week. “We don’t want to be left out. We want to be involved and engaged in planning all of this rail project.

Hundreds of people turned out Tuesday evening for a public hearing in Decatur to point out holes in proposed regulations for a controversial oil and gas extraction technique. The meeting was one of several held around the state at which environmentalists, landowners and others spoke up to oppose the rules and the extraction technique itself.

The film begins, not by telling us that what we are about to see is a true story, but that “Some of this stuff actually happened.” Immediately, Russell lets us know that discerning what’s true or false isn’t important – the fact that honest human behavior is on display is.

Like most performers who are labeled as “comics,” Steve Coogan eventually grew tired of being pigeonholed and longed to prove that he could do more than make people laugh. He got the opportunity when he came across Martin Sixsmith’s book The Lost Child of Philomena Lee,.

Brother Jack and I woke up early on a dark and cold December morning. Mom usually called us twice. Once to wake us and once to get us out of bed. When our feet hit the cold floor we became fully awake as we stumbled in our long john underwear into the living room.

Cookies and Christmas. Is there any more universally traditional food of the holiday season? Sure, there’s fruitcake, though many people regard it as something best avoided rather than embraced – but everybody loves cookies. Even folks like my dentist husband, Peter, who doesn’t care for sweets, eats cookies during the holidays.

Aaron Kamm and the One Drops, The Driftaways - Raggae Mini Fest.

Nashville-based singer-songwriter, guitarist Tim Easton gets around. His 2013 itinerary included Europe, Japan, Alaska, Texas, the East Coast and now a nine day run through the Midwest. The acclaimed performer, writer, rocker and all around, talented musician calls east Nashville home, but as you can see, doesn’t get to spend a lot of time there.

I guess this one is rather late news, as the Springfield rock band Park officially told the world they were back together last May. With a summer comeback show and a Chicago date last fall, the cat’s out of the bag, as they say, but anytime Park plays after their several year hiatus, it’s a reunion of the musicians and a gathering of friends.

Fri, 10am-5:30pm Sat, 12-5pm Sun. Through Dec. 23, Kids shop with help of volunteers. Benefi ts Mini O’Beirne Crisis Nursery. Holiday Store, Town & Country Shopping Center, 2403 S MacArthur Blvd., 217-525-6800..

A favorite during the holidays in Springfield, the Dana-Thomas House opens its doors for evening candlelight and luminaria tours on Saturday and Sunday, Dec. 21, 22, from 5 to 8 p.m. Workers tell us there are new decorations.

A Very Hoogland Christmas is a Christmas revue featuring classic holiday tunes and contemporary Christmas music, as well as beautiful sacred music.

Police investigating a burglary in Lake Worth, Fla., identified Derek Codd, 19, as their suspect because he left his cellphone at the scene, and his mother called. Investigators answered and asked the woman whose phone it was. They then arrested Codd and Kristen Rynearson, 19, with the stolen goods.

A woman wrote you about flirting relentlessly with a male classmate who seemed interested in her but may have been too timid to ask her out.