Governing is hard work
I have been working in or around government for more than 50 years, and if you asked me to boil down what I’ve learned to one sentence, it is this: Governing is much harder work than most people imagine. This doesn’t excuse its lapses or sluggish rate of progress, but it does help explain them.

Putting parks in their place
The problem in a city that likes to think of itself as forward-looking is that it seldom looks back long enough to learn from its own past. That, anyway, was the conclusion I came to after thinking about the proposed redevelopment of the YWCA block in downtown Springfield.

From one bad war to a worse one
Bowen’s friend was George W. Bush, and the job was to investigate corruption and waste in Iraq, where his buddy George had launched a misguided and very costly war, as well as an effort to reconstruct that country’s fractured economy.

LETTERS
A WEEKLY ADVENTURE I left Lincolnland for Lincoln three years ago. Every two weeks or so, I visit your site for a dose of the capital city. Today I reviewed the Chris Britt cartoons going back to August.

The demotion of Dave McKinney
It’s one of the nation’s most anti-democratic trends because it’s solely based on the foundation that everybody is corrupt. There’s no need to “prove” anything; just one or two distant connections are enough to justify destroying somebody’s reputation – which didn’t deserve protection anyway because everybody is so evil.

TIME FLIES
It’s easy to overlook the beauty of the world around you, but Dave Heinzel of Springfi eld makes it much easier to appreciate. Heinzel, a multi-media artist, recorded a captivating time lapse video of downtown Springfi eld from January 2013 to January 2014.

PICKET LINES
More than 50 picketers showed up on Monday, Oct. 27, during the lunch hour outside the State Journal-Register to demand a contract that includes raises for editorial employees. Two city cops, both amiable sorts, also stopped by to lay out the rules for waving signs and chanting while walking back and forth on the sidewalk.

Blight patrol
Enos Park Development LLC, the real estate arm of the Enos Park Neighborhood Improvement Association, recently prevailed in two lawsuits aimed at abandoned properties. The lawsuits were filed under a state law that could offer other neighborhoods a relatively simple solution for blight while taking some of the onus off of the City of Springfield.

The wild green yonder
In 2005, Johnson Farms was awarded the lease for $19,527 a year, which works out to $147 per acre for the company that has Kent Johnson as its majority shareholder. Johnson’s son signed lease papers in 2006. At least some lease payments were paid via checks written on a Johnson Farms account.

Former doctor faces drug charge
Officers were summoned to a Casey’s store in Pawnee at approximately 8:15 p.m. on Oct. 11 by bystanders who said that Dr. Vernon R. Klinefelter was stumbling around the store, disoriented and apparently intoxicated. His 1999 Mercedes automobile was in the parking lot, running, with keys in the ignition.

Dave McKinney: Mensch
It was during one of these games that Dave told me about his new love, the woman who would become his wife. He was as smitten as I’ve ever seen anyone.

Celebrate the Best
Here, dear readers, is what you’ve been waiting for, the Best of Springfi eld as determined by the thousands who voted in our reader poll, including those who were encouraged to vote by BOS wannabes.

Ouija board, movie lack mystery
What makes Blum’s efforts unique is not simply his business model but the fact that he hires talented writers, directors and actors to make these films and, for the most part, they’ve not only been box office hits but critical successes. And while Ouija’s.

Hummingbird cake
In the pantheon of glorious southern cakes, none is more beloved than hummingbird cake. And probably none has more variations, not so much in the actual cake itself (although the proportions can vary) or in the cream cheese frosting; the variations come in how and with what it is garnished.

BAND SPOTLIGHT | Todd Wolfe
Todd Wolfe befriended Sheryl Crow when she was a struggling backup singer in New York City and he too was “trying to make it” in the music business. Later, he joined her first live band in the wake of her early success and played the world for five years.

PUB CRAWL
NIL8’s Hobgoblinspookadelic w/ The Timmys, Misfarts, Bad Banshee, King Worm, Evan Mitchell’s Ukelele Party.

Hello Halloweeners
Welcome ghouls, goblins, guys and gals to the terribly terrifying world of the Springfield bar music scene during Halloween season. I say season, because with the Friday night appearance of the haunted holiday, clubs (beat me up, Scotty) are hosting Monster Mash bashes Thursday through Saturday.

HISTORY | Riveting reprisal
This Saturday, Nov. 1, make the short trip up Interstate 55 to Elkhart for The Ultimate Betrayal: The Insanity Trial of Mary Lincoln,.

THE CALENDAR
Books & Authors Book Signing w/ Vince Churchill.

ART | Anything goes
On Friday, Oct. 31, don your Halloween finest and join Springfield Sala and host Adam Nicholson in the Club Room at the Hoogland Center for the Arts for an openformat, anything goes open mic event.

FESTIVAL | Spectacular spookadelic
Live music lovers of all ages will not want to miss Springfield’s biggest Halloween party this Friday, Oct. 31, at Donnie’s Homespun. The five-and-a-half-hour festival kicks off at 7:30 p.m. with your host, one-man-band extraordinaire, Evan Mitchell’s Ukulele Party.