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Voter reform
As a nation we are split into two camps along familiar populist/progressive lines, with one believing that government doesn’t work because the people running our governments don’t understand the voters and the other believing that government doesn’t work because voters don’t understand government.

At long last, a ban on transfat
Editor’s note: University of Illinois comparative biosciences professor Fred Kummerow, now 100, first reported a link between dietary transfats and heart disease in 1957. Trained in lipid biochemistry, Kummerow later determined the mechanisms by which transfats contributed to atherosclerosis in patients with heart disease.

The real scandal in Denny Hastert’s life
The portly Republican, who’d been Speaker of the House a decade ago, was an affable, non-descript Midwesterner who was popular with his fellow lawmakers. A former high school wrestling coach in rural Illinois, Hastert was viewed as a solid salt-of-the-Earth fellow embodying Middle America’s moral values.

LETTERS
TOURISM KILLER Is killing tourism in this state a good businessman’s action? Any state you name with low taxes has a huge tourism business. Rauner is constantly doing things that hurt tourism in this state.

Statehouse misunderstandings
After five months, you’d think that the warring parties at the Illinois Statehouse would have learned something about each other. Instead, last week’s bitter and divisive House overtime session showed that they still fundamentally misunderstand one another.

For-profit school under fire for business practices
U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin is calling for stronger oversight of ITT Technical Institute and other for-profit schools by the federal government, citing the collapse of a school system that left students with no diplomas and a mountain of debt.

Frank’s fixer-upper
City code enforcers in 2007 placarded the home as uninhabitable and started pressuring the home’s absentee owner to fix it up. Files show that the city was concerned about peeling paint, a broken window sash, a missing handrail on a porch, roof shingles that were curling and gutters and downspouts in need of repair.

Charity for all
It was 1935 when Eisenberg, en route home to Chicago, saw a line of men standing outside St. John’s Hospital from his train seat during a stop in Springfield. They were clearly destitute. And Eisenberg, as owner of the American Decal Co., which made registration stickers for license plates, was in a position to help.

Major oil pipeline planned near Springfield
The pipeline, which would connect the Bakken oil fields of North Dakota to the Gulf of Mexico, would run southwest of Springfield, passing Jacksonville, Litchfield and other nearby cities. The project would require some landowners to sell their property through eminent domain.

Law enFARCEment
The captain went on to say that he wasn’t mad at anyone. Sure, I keep my office door closed, but I’m a busy guy – just knock and I’m happy to talk. Don’t read anything into the fact that I ripped my name tag off my door, and don’t jump to conclusions just because I’ve been cleaning out my office.

Summer lunches for kids, part two
“There’s never anything to eat in this house!” The above comment was made by all three of my kids at various points, and it never failed to irritate and befuddle me. Nothing to eat? Seriously? We had a pantry full of food, as well as multiple refrigerators and freezers.

Cuisine Scene
Chadito’s Mexican American Grill.

Business as usual for entertaining Entourage
For those coming late to the party, Vince’s backstory is provided in a clever manner in the form of an interview with Piers Morgan that includes a recap of the actor’s career.

BAND SPOTLIGHT | F5
Here’s one F5 central Illinois can be happy about seeing again, as the extremely popular band of some years ago rekindles the magic to bring back the sounds that filled dance floors at bars, festivals, fairs and all kinds of other venues.

PUB CRAWL
Captain Geech & The Shrimp Shack Shooters.

June doings
Here we go on a romp through the early summertime music adventures. Outdoors, indoors, coming home, homecomings, fundraisers, hell-raisers, queens of color, queens of burlesque, old guys, new tricks and much more all happening in the next several days.

THE CALENDAR
performances, fair food and more. maconcountyfair.com. Macon County Fairgrounds, 3700 N. Westlawn Ave., Decatur, 217-875-0135..

DANCE | Fairytale fun
Families are invited to join Pooh, Tigger, Eeyore, Christopher Robin, Roo, Kanga, Rabbit and other friends on a “whimsical adventure set deep in a magical forest.” This children’s ballet features a cast of more than 60 Springfield Youth Performance Group members and highlights multiple styles of dance and vocal music.

THEATER | The Muni does Monty Python
This June, The Muni, Springfield’s long-running community theater under the stars, presents a fun, farcical take on the legend of King Arthur and the Knights of the Round Table. Spamalot.