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Consider your family’s oral health
On Nov. 15, the open enrollment period will begin under the Affordable Care Act, giving Illinois residents an opportunity to shop for health care coverage that could have a major impact on their physical and financial health in 2015.

Charity cases
The debate that Illinois ought to be having about government finance is not how much property owners should pay in taxes, but which property owners should pay.

In Big Beer we do not trust
It’s about beer, the nourishing nectar of a civilized society. From my teen years forward, I’ve done extensive and intensive consumer research on the brewer’s art, from the full array of ales to the most substantial of stouts.

LETTERS
NATURE SETS A CITY’S TONE When you enter a city, you get an initial impression of a dominant quality, a sense of place and tone set by the overall design. If the leadership is there, the tone will be a positive one where visitors see a wellmaintained and inspiring sense of place.

A two-faced race
Earlier this year, ultraconservative activist Jack Roeser told me that his friend Bruce Rauner believed life began at conception. “I’d describe him as a guy who is a morally right-tolife guy, but not on the hustings,” Roeser, who has since passed away, said about Rauner.

PANEL TAPS SMITHSONIAN VET
An ad hoc committee wrestling with governance questions at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum has retained the former director of the Smithsonian National Museum of American History to help sort out the dicey question of who,...

THE SCOFFLAW STATE
The Open Meetings Act is pretty simple when it comes to the Internet: Public bodies are required to post on their websites notice of upcoming meetings, agendas for meetings and minutes of meetings. How hard can that be? Pretty hard, apparently, if you run a school district, township or municipality.

Another day, another hearing
And Parsons kept spending no matter what. Parsons didn’t show up for the Oct. 29 hearing before U.S. bankruptcy judge Mary Gorman, who issued a judgment of more than $2.2 million against him, the amount that Roger Stone, an accountant who specializes in uncovering fraud, determined that the embattled entrepreneur had improperly taken from the company.

Dog tales
The county board last month voted to dissolve the board and reconstitute it with 11 new members. Previously, membership on the board had hinged on politics, with members being named based on recommendations from the heads of the county Republican and Democratic parties.

Fired deputy under pressure
Sherry Waldron was fired in 2012 after a surveillance camera captured her taking potted plants from a Sherman park and putting them into her patrol vehicle. She was acquitted of theft charges in 2013, but was caught stealing groceries from a Schnucks supermarket less than six weeks after her trial and pleaded guilty to shoplifting charges.

Gloomy days for CWLP
One of the biggest squalls in the history of Springfield City Water, Light and Power looms large while Hobbie, chief utility engineer at CWLP, tries to steer the ship to safe harbor.

A crime, a cop, a judge and some oddballs
Bertha is a sympathetic character, a smart, wise-cracking African-American judge with a working-class past. An array of her old friends and quirky relatives make recurring appearances throughout the book, spicing things up along the way.

Political mudslinging in Springfield
After enduring the barrage of political ads spewed forth during the recently concluded election campaign, one starts to wonder if the tone of the political debate could sink any lower, and if candidates could attack their opponents any more viciously.

Oatmeal
I’ve always despised cold cereal, even as a child. Occasionally I’d be seduced by cheery cartoon characters on commercials and nag my mother into buying Fruit Loops or Rice Krispies. But after I’d eaten a couple spoonfuls and fished out the bananas, the soggy stuff lost its appeal.

It’s all about Murray in St. Vincent
I’ve never been a member of the cult of Murray – Bill, that is. I know he has a very devoted following that thinks the sun rises and sets on his every move, marveling at the masterful way he underplays every scene using a sad-sack expression to convey complex emotions.

BAND SPOTLIGHT | Royal Son of a Guns
Hailing and railing from Chicago, while curtailing nothing pertaining to righteousness and proper behavior, this trio describes themselves as “barstool smashing miscreants” ready and willing to “take Americana on a psycho-cathartic hayride through the thorny nettles of the American roots music underbelly,” – and they mean it, folks.

PUB CRAWL
Royal Son of a Guns, Radar Vs Wolf, Bernie Flesch.

Rhonda and the rest
What better way to bring in the eleventh month than the long-running, well-produced and always entertaining Greater Downstate Indoor Bluegrass Festival at the Crowne Plaza Nov. 7, 8 and 9. Going on year number 28, the event’s longevity alone is an incredible thing, but the music is even more exciting.

FILM | Film fanatic fun
Independent films will be shown in Springfield this weekend at the 13 th annual Route 66 Film Festival. This Friday, Nov. 7, from 6 p.m. to 1 a.m., and Saturday, Nov. 8, from 10 a.m. to 1 a.m., relax in front of the big screen for a film festival of international proportions.

THE CALENDAR
Jefferies Orchard, 1016 Jefferies Road, 217-487-7582..

FESTIVALS | Circus capers
This Friday through Sunday, Nov. 7-9, the Royal Hanneford Circus descends on the Prairie Capital Convention Center to offer six dazzling circus performances, presented by the Springfield Ansar Shrine.

MUSIC | Beatlemania returns
Yesterday, the famed Beatles tribute show band, makes a stop at the Hoogland Center for the Arts for one night only, this Saturday, Nov. 8, at 8 p.m. Formed by Lennon impersonator Don Bellezzo, this tribute band has held long-term gigs in Vegas, Reno, Atlantic City and Branson, Missouri – and has toured internationally six times.