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My youth in a cocoon
Life was simpler in those days, and individual privacy scarce. Mother was a divorced single mom with a clerical job at an investment firm downtown. We couldn’t afford our own place, even a rental, and didn’t own a car, though we borrowed grandfather’s from time to time.

Trumped-up charges
Brother Trump is the savior come to rescue America, in the opinion of a majority of self-identified Republicans.

Walker gives corporations the gold mine
The Wisconsin governor says he should be America’s next president because he’s a proven budget whacker who, by golly, has dressed down teachers, slashed funding for higher education, busted unions and gone after welfare recipients.

LETTERS
Cinda Klickna President, Illinois Education Association Dan Montgomery President, Illinois Federation of Teachers Michael Carrigan President, Illinois AFL-CIO Pat Devaney President, Associated Fire Fighters of Illinois Roberta Lynch Executive...

The Museum Museum, 2515
Eleven thousand years ago no human beings yet lived in the central Illinois river valley. The climate was cool and glaciers from the last great ice age still covered parts of the land to the north and the east. When the first people arrived, they hunted the long-extinct elk, white-tailed deer, caribou and giant mastodon.

HOORAY FOR LISA MADIGAN
We confess that we were growing a bit worried. Tuesday was the deadline for Attorney General Lisa Madigan to order Gov. Bruce Rauner to turn over copies of his appointment calendar requested last spring by Illinois Times. We wanted to know why the governor walked out of a Holocaust remembrance ceremony at the Old State Capitol.

POWER PLAY
Springfi eld’s municipal utility may have found a way out of the fi nancial hole its electricity division has been stuck in for years.

One in five Illinois children live in poverty
The data show that an estimated 593,000 children in Illinois – about 21 percent – lived in poverty during 2014. That number didn’t change significantly from 2013, but it has slowly and consistently crept up from 17.2 percent in 2009.

Pollution accord reached
Under terms of the settlement, Macoupin Energy, a subsidiary of Foresight Energy, will also have to take steps to reduce groundwater pollution at its mine purchased in 2009.

All you need is love – and a nod from the Great Beyond
He and his wife, Janice, are fans. Not fanatics. There is a difference, he says. But still, Bartel seems a bit chagrined when his wife reminds him that he did, in fact, take a photograph of the urinals at the Circle K on Clear Lake Avenue where Paul McCartney went to the bathroom in 2008 while sightseeing on Route 66.

Council goes up against panhandlers again
The amendment, which passed unanimously and with little discussion, prohibits panhandlers from touching people or approaching them within five feet while asking for money. It was introduced on Sept. 8 and sailed through the council’s Committee of the Whole without debate on Sept.

State prison reform plan held captive
Illinois’ devastated finances and well-known government dysfunction is claiming another victim – the legally mandated launch of a promising prison reform program designed to significantly reduce the number of inmates returning to state prisons, according to a Better Government Association Rescuing Illinois investigation.

Grandma’s honesty makes it a cut above
You have to give Elle Reid credit. She’s lived her life on her terms and has made no apologies about it. However, now that she’s pushing 70 and her much-younger girlfriend has broken up with her, Elle’s starting to realize that there’s a cost for going your own way.

Starting fall music
First and foremost, to the top of the toppermost, come celebrate a great day in the history of the Springfield music scene as Gary Bloom commemorates 50 years of playing and singing music on Friday, Sept. 25, 5 to 10 p.m. at the Curve Inn.

When Springfield took in Portuguese refugees
The exiles’ story began in 1838, when a Scottish physician and Presbyterian minister named Robert Kalley traveled to Madeira for his health. Finding that the climate agreed with him, he made the island his permanent residence and soon began encouraging people to join the Presbyterian church.

Olives
I’m addicted to farmers markets. (Is there a 12- step program for that?) Season allowing, they’re high on my must-visit list wherever I travel. In Mediterranean countries the most fascinating display almost always belongs to the olive vendor.

CuisineScene
CARRIBBEAN Kingsway African a & Caribbean Cuisine.

PUB CRAWL
Captain Geech & The Shrimp Shack Shooters.

BAND SPOTLIGHT | Brian Zilm
Here’s a record with a story to tell, not only in the songs recorded but in the recording of the songs. After Brian Zilm finished tracking his latest album in Springfield at Frequincy Recording with owner-operator Quincy Watson, the local singer-songwriter decided to call in a long shot.

ANIMALS | Awareness for homeless pets
This Thursday, bring your leashed pet(s) to Southwind Park and join the Animal Protective League, along with animal welfare organizations around the world, for a Remember Me Thursday pet walk and candle lighting ceremony.

THE CALENDAR
14th Annual International Route 66 Mother Road Festival.

MUSIC | Obliterating musical categorization
Music lovers will not want to miss this one-of-a-kind concert that brings two legendary musicians side by side in a stellar live performance combining blues and classical music.

FAIRS & FESTIVALS | A Route 66 tradition
More than 80,000 spectators and 1,000 cool cars are expected to descend on downtown Springfield this weekend for the 14 th annual Route 66 Mother Road Festival. The festival opens on Friday night with the annual Route 66 City Nights Cruise for Crimestoppers, beginning at Capital City Bar and Grill and ending downtown on historic Route 66.