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Melting ice and rising ocean levels
The big Paris climate conference is now just three months away. The latest research on climate change is just in from the dean of climate scientists, James Hansen.

Lincoln’s Union problem
Bells in Springfield – church bells, hand bells, even cell phone ringers – rang at 2:15 p.m. on April 9 to mark the 150th anniversary of the end of major Civil War fighting. Except, as I explored in part in “Naming rights and wrongs” (July 9, 2015), the Civil War fighting is not over, it’s only moved to new battlefields.

Our democracy is now their plutocracy
But for the 2016 run, this quaint way of selecting our candidates is no longer the case, thanks to the Supreme Court’s malicious meddling in the democratic process in its reckless Citizens United decision.

LETTERS
A CLEAR CORRELATION Mr. Hellner’s views on climate change are certainly comforting (“Letters,” Aug. 6). I, too, would like to believe that the earth is merely experiencing a cyclical pattern of heating and cooling, and that in the long run, all is well. Which makes me wonder, is Mr.

Still waiting for compromise
I have also heard some portray this standoff as something like a religious war, where each side is so wedded to their own core belief structures, particularly when it comes to labor unions (Rauner against, Democrats for), that all rapprochement is impossible.

SHOW BUSINESS
Remember Timmy Lynch? He’s the little boy from Springfi eld whose dream came true two years ago when country superstar Brad Paisley tossed his hat to the tyke during a concert at Prairie Capital Convention Center (Hat Trick, Nov. 27, 2013).

Steady progress on criminal justice reform
In February, Gov. Bruce Rauner created the Illinois State Commission on Criminal Justice and Sentencing Reform, tasked with recommending changes to Illinois’ prison and court systems that will reduce the number of people incarcerated and the amount the state spends on them.

KING OF THE HOGS
Congratulations to Dylan McCafferty of Sherman, whose show hog won Grand Champion Barrow in the Governor’s Sale of Champions at the Illinois State Fair on Aug. 18. The hog sold for a record $76,500, demolishing the old record of $25,000.

Springfield police to wear body cameras
Senate Bill 1304, signed into law on Aug. 12, contains several provisions meant to address the distrust between many minority communities and police.

Going slow on marijuana
Rauner rejected a bill that would have extended the state’s pilot medical marijuana program, now scheduled to sunset on Jan. 1, 2018, for four years from the date that the first legal sales take place, which is expected sometime later this year.

New operating system
No longer. Now, the charity that recycles and refurbishes computers is storing donated computer gear in trailers that haul as much as 13,000 pounds of unusable digital scrap at a time to a Granite City recycling center.

U.N.C.L.E. is an entertaining, stylish throwback
The time is 1963, and things get off to a rousing start as we witness CIA agent Napoleon Solo (Henry Cavill) shepherd Gaby (Alicia Vikander), the best mechanic in Germany, beyond the Berlin Wall.

The ancient story told by Dickson Mounds
In the morning, the landscape is shrouded in mist, and a profound stillness permeates the air, interrupted only by the beating wings of a thousand snow geese as they take flight from the wetlands below.

CuisineScene
Chadito’s Mexican American Grill.

Fair or foul farmers markets
It was a dark and stormy night. Actually, it was stormy that entire summer. Most fields had to be replanted; some more than once. Some of the vegetables – tomatoes, peppers, cucumbers, zucchini, etc. – that ripened throughout the season normally required only single planting.

PUB CRAWL
Bruiser Queen, James and the Ultrasounds, Sammy and the Punk, The Incorporated.

BAND SPOTLIGHT | 2nd Chance Band
When you get a second chance you best make the most of it, and longtime local musicians Doug Bernet (drums), Marc Camp (vocals), Ralph Carbonell (guitar, vocals), Tom Jackson (bass, vocals) and Jeff Rocco (guitar, keyboard, vocals) are doing just that.

More than fair
As we head into the second and final weekend of the 2015 Illinois State Fair, the dust has settled, the corn dogs are setting low and the beer tents are settling in with bands aplenty. Add all the regular townie venues to the fair action, and we can expect a spectacular run of music ahead.

CHILDREN’S CORNER | “Let it snow, let it snooooooow…”
Young fans of the hit Disney film based off Hans Christian Andersen’s fabulous fairytale “The Snow Queen” will enjoy an arctic blast of winter fun at The Legacy Theatre’s Summertime Snow Party.

THE CALENDAR
Music: General Events An Evening with Mike and Carrie.

ART | New faces in a familiar place
The Prairie Art Alliance presents a gallery show resulting from the first-ever group of artists from its Emerging Artists Program. The goal of the program is to further the professional development of new artistic talent and prepare artists to successfully navigate the art world.

Introducing Jen Sorensen
Jen Sorensen’s political cartoons appear in numerous alt-weeklies around the country, as well as in such outlets as Daily Kos, Truthout, AlterNet, Ms Magazine, and Funny Times. She has also done work for NPR.org, Nickelodeon magazine, and MAD. In addition to drawing cartoons, Sorensen edits a comics section for the Fusion Network website.