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A nose grows in Springfield
Burglars hit a North End gun store on Oct. 9 with what sounded like remarkable ease, kicking in a door and making off with more than 50 firearms from a dealer who did business from a home that looked like any other house in the quiet residential neighborhood on East Enos Avenue, not far from Dirksen Parkway.

Looking backward
Next summer, if things go well, I will become an historian, to the extent that the published author of a book-length history of mid-Illinois can be called an historian. In truth, I am untrained in the arts of the rigors of scholarship and don’t write history so much as I write about history.

The ethical rot of Wells Fargo
It’s one thing for these giants of finance to cook the books or defraud investors, but top executives of Wells Fargo have been profiteering for years by literally forcing their employees to rob the bank’s customers.

THIS WEEK
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LETTERS
Stein is on the ballot in 45 states; Johnson in all 50. Both have a mathematical chance to win. I would suggest that instead of holding your nose and voting for the lesser of two evils, do your homework instead. Both have websites that clearly state their positions and views on the issues.

Some Dems have a Trump problem
Some organizations can fiddle around with the margins here and there and get some voters out who might not have bothered voting, but down-ballot candidates mainly have to find a way to win with the hand they are dealt by the top of the ticket. So, if one presidential candidate crashes and burns, that’s almost always the ballgame.

THIS MODERN WORLD
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Trading places
McGraw, who lives in Homer Glen, Illinois, owns Revolution Cannabis, a medical cannabis cultivation company near Peoria, and he has been watching with anticipation as marijuana and opioids seemingly switch places.

DRUG DISPOSAL
them up this Saturday and taking them to a proper disposal site to help celebrate National Prescription Drug Take Back Day, sponsored by the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration.

YWCA DOOMED?
of the historic YWCA building unclear. First, the Springfi eld Historic Sites Commission voted 7-1 to deny a request by the city to allow demolition of the YWCA. The city, which owns the building, knew it couldn’t satisfy strict preservation criteria in the city code, so it asked instead for an “economic hardship” exception.

Madigan sticks to the facts, but lacks some context
Before the film’s release, it was somewhat tainted by allegations that some people were “duped” into doing interviews.

Beating the rap
After deliberating a little more than three hours, the Springfield jury rejected murder charges and instead found Brown guilty of involuntary manslaughter, which typically carries a sentence of between two and five years.

Judge calls case “a mess”
“I don’t know what’s true or not true here, but I look at this and I think this is just fundamental mistake after mistake,” U.S. Bankruptcy Judge Mary Gorman said during a Tuesday hearing on a case involving David Reid, who is running against Sangamon County Circuit Court Judge April Troemper.

Top Ten Censored Stories 2016
As with the Watergate story, these aren’t censored in the overt heavy-handed manner of an authoritarian dictatorship, but in the often more effective manner reflecting our society – an oligarchy with highly centralized economic power pretending to be a “free marketplace of ideas.

Pumpkin fever hits hard
America has been a bit obsessed with all things pumpkin since Starbucks debuted their Pumpkin Spice latte in 2003. Since then pumpkin spice flavor has found its way into everything from beer to Cheerios to flavored oatmeal. I too find myself getting swept up in the moment.

Ouija II proves fun, frightening
I remember my grandmother had an Ouija board and it was something we kids pulled out at every family and holiday gathering, handling the tattered brown cardboard box with a sense of awe and respect that it ultimately didn’t deserve.

October surprises
Last week I mentioned the flourishing of downtown open mics, and Doug Mayol, owner-operator of The Cardologist, informed me of another one happening at his store over the lunch hour every Wednesday starting at noon. Recently the card, novelty and otherwise shop moved from its longtime location across from Maldaner’s next door to Recycled Records.

BAND SPOTLIGHT
This St. Louis-based contemporary duo started out as a musical vehicle for songwriters Doug Byrkit (guitar, vocals) and Brian Zielie (drums) to express songs that had no outlet in their other music endeavors.

PUB CRAWL
Captain Geech and the Shrimp Shack Shooters.

THE CALENDAR
Oct 22-23, 10am-5pm Sat, 12-5pm Sun. 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.

MUSIC
Kirk Hanser was gifted his first guitar in 1978. This gift immediately launched Hanser on a journey into the world of classical guitar, and by the mid-1980s, he had already launched a career, performing all over the United States, Europe and Japan in various solo and ensemble combinations.

HISTORY | Stories of elections past
On Saturday, bring your political memorabilia to the Old State Capitol for a History Harvest hosted by the University of Illinois-Springfield’s Department of History.

THEATER | See the “Long Island Medium”
Although Teresa Caputo reports that she has been seeing spirits since she was four years old, it wasn’t until she was well into her 20s that she began to understand her role as a medium and learned to utilize her talents to communicate with souls in heaven by tuning into what is called “spirit energy.