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It’s tax time, but corporations aren’t paying
Tax Day offers a stark reminder of the difference between those of us who pay all our taxes every year and the big corporations that don’t. While families and small businesses scramble to file their returns each April, multinational corporations are free to indefinitely ignore a $700 billion U.

Selling off the family silver
Bruce Rauner’s campaign to destroy the Illinois State Museum risks losing tourist income, the services of top scientists and administrators and priceless artifacts, not to mention any claim Illinois might make to being a civilized commonwealth. Might there be yet one more loss – the loss of the museum building at Spring and Edwards?.

Hurricane Donnie hurls GOP debris
Cluelessness about the masses can become a major occupational hazard for political elites. And while this is a problem for the establishments of both major political parties, today’s Republican establishment now finds that it is so out of touch with...

LETTERS
GREEN SPACE DOWNTOWN Downtown Springfield, Inc. director Lisa Clemmons Stott continues to make an excellent point in citing housing downtown as key in revitalizing the downtown area. Drawing residents by creating spaces that encourage fun, a healthy lifestyle and creativity would set the tone of integrity and encourages the very best in each other.

The GOP attempt to look reasonable
The proposal would partly be funded with some pension reforms which Republicans claim will save $780 million. The reforms include pushing off pension costs to local schools and to higher education institutions for salaries above $180,000 a year and for some accounting changes.

Biology or identity?
For 54 years, Illinois’ Vital Records Act has prevented transgender people from changing the sex listed on their birth certificate without undergoing surgery. A bill sponsored by Rep. Greg Harris, D-Chicago, would remove that longtime barrier in the gender transition process.

MANSION SECRETS
Edwards Place, home of the Springfi eld Art Association, is full of secrets and surprises. It’s the oldest house in Springfi eld still on its original foundation, and its walls hide an intricate story of the mansion’s evolution over time.

Clone wars
Besides being chairman of the Sangamon County Board, Van Meter is owner of Design Ideas, a home décor design company based in Springfield. The company is currently suing retailers Meijer and T.J.

APPEAL IN SHAKEN BABY CASE
A Springfi eld daycare owner convicted in December of involuntary manslaughter for the death of a child in her care has been sentenced to four years in prison. Cammie Kelly was charged with fi rstdegree murder in 2011 after 11-month-old Kaiden Gullidge of Rochester went unconscious at her home day care.

Bill would ban creditbased insurance rates
In Illinois, credit is one of many commonly used factors to determine what premium a consumer pays to insure a vehicle. Sen. Jacqueline Collins, D-Chicago, believes credit is not a reliable tool and that its use adversely affects African-American and Latino communities.

Hellhole
“Roof needs replaced, water leaking thru and growing mold, chimney is going to fall,” reads the complaint file memorializing Ward’s call. “Chimney needs repair,” wrote a city inspector who visited the home on March 29 and found four code violations, including the dilapidated chimney, a leaking roof and broken doors.

Home & garden events calendar
Illinois Native Plant Society Central Chapter Plant Sale.

Springfield style, inside and out
Homes and landscapes are individual and personal. “Beauty is in the eye of the beholder” is a time-tested tradition in much of art and design. While art and beauty can depend upon individual preference, there are basic considerations to be made when designing and developing a home and its landscape.

How to get the roof you need
When it comes to home improvements, a good roof isn’t as obvious as a new garage, as entertaining as a new sound system or as cool as a new kitchen. In fact, it could be said that the best roof is one you never notice or think about. Because it’s doing its job.

Updating a home with new foundation plants
Plants around the front of a house serve many purposes. A properly designed front landscape can greatly enhance the appearance and market value of a property. These plantings can also be used to blend the structure of the house with the general surroundings so that the house looks natural on its site.

Keep to the code
Maybe, and maybe not. Before breaking ground for a new garage, planning your first pool party, going into the egg business or working on your cousin’s car, make sure you’re up to date on Springfield’s building and zoning rules.

Home appraisal survival guide
The useful life of an appraisal is just one year, so any sale, refinance or home equity loan will likely require a new appraisal ordered by the financial institution, conducted by a qualified appraiser familiar with your area, and filed in your permanent record.

Your beautiful garden
If landscaping goes in cycles, where every few years there’s a wildly popular new thing you suddenly see everywhere, followed by a few years of refinements until the next new splashy thing, this is one of the quiet years, according to Green View landscapers Pamela O’Neill and Becca Trace.

Growing asparagus at home
Growing asparagus is best reserved for patient people, as the first crop cannot be harvested for at least a year after planting. This frustrates many home gardeners, and is one factor that can make asparagus relatively expensive in grocery stores.

Celebrating Shakespeare
William Shakespeare comes alive this year in Chicago, as the city celebrates the poet and playwright’s legacy, marking the four centuries since his death in 1616 with a fabulous international arts festival.

Nashville Hot Chicken comes to Illinois
I’ve been a lover of Buffalo Hot Wings for decades: chicken wings fried or broiled, tossed in butter and hot sauce, dipped in blue cheese or ranch dressing. I was expecting something similar the first time I tasted Nashville Hot Chicken. I was caught badly off guard.

Gyllenhaal, Watts left to flounder in Demolition
One thing you can always count on with Jake Gyllenhaal is that he will devote himself fully to any role he takes. However, I fear that his ambition and dedication are beginning to outdistance the material available to him. He proved to be the best thing about his last two features, Southpaw.

Taxing music
I don’t even want to talk about musicians and taxes, or about taxing musicians, but we should. George Harrison of The Beatles wrote one of his first good songs raving about the “Taxman” (with a blistering Paul McCartney guitar solo included).

PUB CRAWL
The Deep Hollow, Ashley Riley, Erisa Rei.

BAND SPOTLIGHT | King Neptune Blues
Mr. Neptune began studying classical music in Philadelphia before being bitten by the blues bug via Blind Blake. He applied his years of studies of the classics to arranging and learning the blues masters of the early twentieth century.

Spin the black circle
With long fingernails painted black and a taste for cassette tapes, which he says are great because they can be produced and sold for $4 or less apiece, Hill says that vinyl isn’t necessarily the most popular way for his customers to listen to music..

THE CALENDAR
Hilarious parody lampoons and idolizes country music’s tradition of iconic duos and their subsequent battle of the sexes. $35 advance, $40 day of. atthelegacy.com. The Legacy Theatre, 101 E. Lawrence, 800-838-3006..

ART | Porky painting party
Join the Springfield Art Association for its annual “Roasted: Hot Pots and Pork” event and fundraiser. Glaze a pre-made ceramic pot, watch it being fired in an outdoor Raku kiln and enjoy a hog roast dinner provided by Hickory River Smokehouse.

THEATER | Comedic country concert
The Legacy Theatre’s executive director, Scott Richardson, describes The Doyle and Debbie Show.

NATURE | Spring shopping
Gardeners will have the opportunity to shop from 14 types of shade-loving woodland wildflowers plus 15 different bare root trees and shrubs this weekend during Lincoln Memorial Garden’s annual Woodland Wildflower and Tree Sale. Plant experts will be on hand both days of the sale to answer questions and help attendees select foliage.