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What do you mean by that?
I was reading the other evening, which is what I do when I can’t read during the day. My choice this night was a detective novel written by Englishman Bruce Montgomery as Edmund Crispin.

A letter of anguish from Dominican sisters in Iraq
Many Springfield residents will be familiar with the Dominican Sisters of St. Catherine of Sienna in Iraq because of their association with the Dominican Sisters of Springfield. Over a period of 15 years, U.S. Dominican congregations, the Springfield Dominicans among them, have developed an enduring bond with their Iraqi sisters.

What we’ve paid for war
Major General Harold Greene could certainly tell you all about that – but, sadly, he’s dead. On Aug. 5, General Green became the highest-ranking American soldier to die in our unfathomable, 13-year war in Afghanistan, joining 2,339 other service members who’ve paid the ultimate price for being sent by warmongering politicians into that fight for .

LETTERS
30 YEARS FOR WEED “Nobody gets multiple decades for pot!” These words often sing in my ears while discussing my prison sentence with people. When I was 19, I started bringing cannabis from California and soon found myself in a prison cell with a 30-year sentence.

Promote the vote
The poll found that 84 percent of registered Chicago voters support a city task force recommendation to increase the minimum wage to $13 per hour over the next three years. According to the poll, 78 percent of whites and 92 percent of African- Americans and even 71 percent of Chicagoans making over $100,000 a year back the plan.

A pedophile’s playpen
It was, perhaps, an apt inquiry. Battles, who pleaded guilty on Monday to molesting a boy who wasn’t his student more than 10 years ago, had sex with at least one student and raised plenty of suspicions while working as a teacher in Springfield...

Fixing neighborhoods
More than 50 neighborhood activists and Springfield city officials attended a Monday panel discussion hosted by Inner City Older Neighborhoods at St.

Obamacare enrolls 622,000 in Illinois
More than 622,000 previously uninsured people in Illinois now have health coverage, thanks to the federal reforms known as “Obamacare.” That accounts for about 51 percent of the estimated 1.2 million people in Illinois who didn’t have health insurance prior to the reforms.

2014 Fall Calendar
Arthur Amish Country Cheese Festival Also on Labor Day.

The charms of St. Charles and Batavia
When thinking of heading north, often we think of Chicago. The suburbs get lost in the plans. A recent trip reminded me that there is a lot of beauty and history outside the urban sprawl. This fall, when the leaves are turning, take a chance and head north.

Take a walking tour of Rochester houses
If you’ve long thought Rochester the last exit on the Lost Bridge Trail, the end of the line for your urban adventures on the fringes of Springfield, get off your bike and take a hike. There are rewards at the end of a journey to Rochester, and not just a mango smoothie with dark chocolate truffles at Cocoa Blue.

Explore southern Illinois on the Ohio River scenic byway
Once upon a time in far, far southeastern Illinois there lived slaves, outlaws, miners, explorers, soldiers and river travelers. If you meander along the Ohio River from Shawneetown to Cairo, you will discover that not all of them lived happily ever after.

Fall curtain call
A good actor isn’t afraid to be emotionally naked in front of an audience. From the silver screen to Broadway, talented thespians figuratively bare themselves to the public.

Lots of good music coming this fall
As reliable as the leaves donning their brilliantine colors and that familiar chill exiling the once seemingly interminable humidity, music is once again in the air as autumn gets underway.

Steak your claim
Mound the arugula or other lettuce evenly over the steak. Lightly press the cheese into the other half of the bread to keep it in place and then invert it over the greens. Cover the top of the sandwich with plastic wrap or parchment paper and place a heavy weight such as an iron skillet over it.

Dame: dynamic yet tired
Three tales make up the film and all take place in Basin City, where men are hard, the women loose and daylight nonexistent. Whereas everyone goes to Rick’s in Casablanca, all roads lead to Kadies in this burg, a rundown strip joint where the once vibrant but now bitter dancer Nancy (Jessica Alba) works.

PUB CRAWL
The Todd Henry and Stan Kupish Show.

BAND SPOTLIGHT | Ocean State
Formed in early 2014, Ocean State performs a classic selection of American country, blues and jazz standards along with a good splash of Brazilian-based, samba-influenced compositions.

Labors of love
As the Labor Day weekend approaches, the common calendar says to bade the summer season goodbye and begin our autumn adventures. Labor Day proper, always the first Monday in September, falls on the first day of the month in 2014, so we are experiencing the earliest holiday weekend possible.

THE CALENDAR
ART & ARCHITECTURE Andiamo Art Show.

ART | Our objects, ourselves
University of Illinois Springfield Visual Arts Gallery kicks off their season Monday, Aug. 25, with the installation project Filler.

FESTIVAL | Beer and vittles and pipes
Rain or shine, Sunday, Aug. 31, enjoy a festival put on by a group that likes to have a good time. Central Illinois St. Andrew Society and the folks of Celtic Mist invite you to their second annual Celtic Festival on the streets of downtown Springfield in front of the Celtic Mist Pub.