Why this Democrat wants a strong GOP
I’ve been a Democrat all my life. I believe in the party’s values, I’m pleased when its candidates win elections and I’m persuaded the country is better off when Democratic ideas get a fair shake in the public arena. But none of this means that I favor a weak Republican Party.

How’ve you been?
The “I go to my reunion” essay is a staple of the genre. By now there is nothing new that can be said, but readers read them anyway, fearful that other people’s reunions were better than theirs. Which is a very high school reason. The most the reader can hope for from such an essay is the same old things being said well.

Cleaning up after pundits
Being a muckracking political writer often makes me feel like a custodian in a horse barn, constantly shoveling manure. Indeed, I’m now a certified Equine Excrement Engineer, having developed a narrow but important professional specialty: cleaning off the horse stuff that careless politicos and sloppy media types keep dumping on the word “populist.

THIS WEED
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LETTERS
With one comment, Alderman Kris Theilen revealed the primary reason he now supports this liquid boondoggle: “Theilen now says that the city needs Hunter Lake to help attract industries that need water and will create jobs” (“On a mission,” by Bruce Rushton, Sept.

Putting Rauner’s money into perspective
Now, take a look at the money contributed by Gov. Bruce Rauner. His personal campaign committee has contributed over $16 million to the Illinois Republican Party alone this year, accounting for 95 percent of all the money the party has raised.

THE MODERN WORLD
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Open house for MacArthur apartments
Once considered an armpit of apartment complexes in Springfield, a 187-unit complex on the 2700 block of MacArthur Boulevard, formerly called MacArthur Park, is being transformed under new ownership that acquired the property late last year and has been working ever since to change the image.

HEALTHY AND HAPPY
Central and southern Illinois have some serious work to do when it comes to getting healthy. According to the 2016 County Health Rankings compiled by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute, the least healthy counties in Illinois are mostly concentrated in southern and central Illinois.

CONN-GRATULATIONS
the Conn’s Hospitality Group is being honored by Landmarks Illinois for the Springfi eld company’s work in historic preservation. The company is being recognized for leadership in historic preservation and will receive one of nine Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Preservation Awards at a ceremony scheduled for Oct.

A meeting of monarchs
Snail darters are ugly, spotted owls are hard to spot, but no one has anything bad to say about butterflies, which helps explain why nearly 100 environmentalists, farmers, academics and others gathered last Friday in Springfield to talk about saving the monarch butterfly.

Crime kept dropping after death penalty abolished
Illinois has a long and complicated history with the death penalty. The first execution after Illinois attained statehood occurred in 1819, and Springfield hosted its first government-sanctioned hanging in 1826. Illinois has twice reinstated its death penalty after courts struck it down: once in 1974 after a 1972 U.

Trouble tracking children
Troubled kids in Illinois spent weeks in psychiatric hospitals and emergency shelters unnecessarily over the past two years. That’s one of the problems at the Illinois Department of Children and Family Services uncovered by an audit report released last week.

Fall Home & Garden event calendar
Sep 24, 9am-5pm. Learn to understand solar electric systems and the basics of PV site assessment via lectures and classroom activities. Registration, illinoissolar.org. Lincoln Land Community College, 5250 Shepherd Road, 786-2200..

Digging and storing cannas
To successfully overwinter cannas indoors, the bulbs should be dug up after the first light frost has killed the top of the plant. Although technically they are not bulbs, but rhizomes, cannas need to be treated as tender bulbs and must be dug up to survive the winter.

Late-blooming beauties
Anemones have dark green leaves with two- to three-inch in diameter flowers held high on delicate wiry stems. Colors range from pure white to pink or purple. Flowers may be single to semi-double or doublepetaled. The cultivar Margarete has semidouble flowers of striking pink with yellow centers.

Benefits of fall core aeration for the lawn
When the soil beneath the lawn is compacted, grass roots grow poorly. They stay nearer to the surface and are more readily affected by droughts. Coring allows the soil to relax and expand into the vacated core. To encourage deeper roots, the core allows more soil oxygen into the profile along with water.

Recycled leaves make inexpensive mulch
The tree leaves that accumulate in and around your landscape represent a valuable natural resource that can be used to provide a good source of organic matter and nutrients for use in your landscape. Leaves contain 50 to 80 percent of the nutrients a plant extracts from the soil and air during the season.

Every room is a family room in this light and bright home
Especially if you’re 5 years old or younger. Sure, its mammoth glass wall to the skylighted central atrium is gorgeous. And its sparkling double shower heads are luxurious. But it’s the apricot porcelain tile floor that really wows Kai Shih and Ingrid Chiang’s boys, 3-year-old Bei and Tai, 5.

Fall doors that say welcome
Every day, my husband, Dan, takes our golden retriever, Lyric, out for a walk around our little lake community. Good thing they aren’t trying to rack up steps on their Fitbit, because I think they stop to chat with neighbors as much as they walk. I like that about our neighborhood.

The unexpected uses of stone
Traditionally, furniture is made of wood or metal, because of their appealing aesthetic quality and durability. These days, there is a new material many designers and homeowners are considering: stone.

Warm up your windows
I have fallen back in love with window coverings. Do you remember when we covered our windows in big, heavy drapes? I was not a fan. Then, as people grew tired of all that fussy finery, we gravitated toward clean, simple coverings like blinds and plantation shutters, or left our windows unadorned.

Easy home updates for every budget
As a lover of interior design, I’m a firm believer in the phrase, “There is always room for improvement.” That being said, sometimes there’s another famous saying that comes to mind when refreshing the look of your home: “You can’t always get what you want.

Experiments in music and meat
My two favorite avocations are music and cooking; I have found that camping at music festivals in Bertha Bus, my mobile kitchen, gives me the perfect opportunity to enjoy both. Over the years, as my meal preparations have become more elaborate and time consuming, I have often missed my favorite performers because I can’t leave my fire unattended.

Disappointments haunted by better films
Unless someone can come up with a fresh angle, I think there should be a moratorium put on haunted house movies. We’ve had ghosts scaring families that move into old creepy mansions, people who don’t realize they are ghosts, and folks who willingly identify with specters and cross over to become one.

Music in the making
Thursday evening at The Alamo (From 6 to 9, with food available), James Armstrong Presents gives us the gift of Sam Crain and his jazz guitar stylings.

BAND SPOTLIGHT
An emo-indie-alternative rock band out of Nashville, Tenn., this quartet of Peyton Rodeffer (vocals, guitar), Sean Jensen (bass), Dagan Crews (drums, vocals) and Andy Pollitt (guitar) started as a solo project and ended up as a band out on the road.

PUB CRAWL
Perfunctory This Band, Sarah Schneider, Tom Irwin, Sunshine Daydream, Franklin’s Tower, Rhythmspirit.

THE CALENDAR
Sep 17-18, 24-25, 10am-5pm Sat, 12-5pm. Wagon rides, face painting, barnyard games and animals, corn box and barrel tractor rides, fall treats, more. No admission fee; small charge for certain activities. indianknollpumpkins.com. Indian Knoll Farm and Pumpkin Patch, 2850 N.

CHILDREN’S CORNER
What better way to spend your time than with Mickey and Minnie Mouse and four of Disney’s most-loved princesses? During Disney on Ice: Dare to Dream,.

THEATRE
Based on the popular books by Dave Barry and Ridley Pearson, Peter and the Starcatcher,.

HISTORY
Step through time during the annual Enos Park Historic Home Tour on Saturday, Sept. 17, from 1-5 p.m. See fully restored historic homes, homes that are currently in the process of being restored and notable homes in need of a bit of TLC. The self-guided tour begins at the ticketing location, the Springfield Art Association at 700 N.