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More casinos won’t help Illinois finances
In Illinois, Lincoln’s essential premise of “government of the people, by the people, and for the people” has been corrupted into “government of the casinos, by the casinos, and for the casinos” – as exemplified by the new casino legislation in Senate Bill 7.

Marrying for money
Why did this agglomeration of very modest subdivisions (West Grand, Leland Highpoint and Alta Sita) in unincorporated Woodside Township undertake the perils of village-ness? For the answer we must go back to the 1930s. The City of Springfield, thanks to Commissioner Willis J.

Is Trump’s America our America?
Are we the great America of courage, spunk, openness, inclusion, opportunity and democratic promise – as expressed in the Declaration of Independence, the Preamble to the Constitution, Lincoln’s Gettysburg Address, Roosevelt’s Four Freedoms, and Emma Lazarus’ sonnet engraved on the Statue of Liberty?.

LETTERS
While many of us mourn the demolition of the historic YWCA, it has come to pass. The empty block, prominently located between Capitol Avenue and Jackson Street, facing the Executive Mansion, should be put to the best use for the future of the city. I believe the best use is an urban park.

The root of ‘leadership’ is ‘lead’
The one that’s made the most headlines is “Unprecedented failure,” as in Fitch’s downgrade “reflects the unprecedented failure of the state to enact a full budget for two consecutive years and the financial implications of spending far in excess of...

County defends tasing epileptics
Richard E. Haley has no memory of what happened on March 20, 2013. When he regained consciousness from his seizure, he was handcuffed to a wheelchair and had to be told that he’d been tased. Haley, who was serving time for domestic battery, had suffered seizures before at the jail, according to his lawsuit.

PLEA BARGAINS IN KILLING
The last of three defendants in a murder case pleaded guilty this week in the 2014 killing of Justin Sharp, a 24-yearold purported marijuana dealer who was found shot to death in a yard on the 2700 block of Whittier Avenue.

GONE – FOR NOW
Daniel Stowell, head of the Papers of Abraham Lincoln Project at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, was shown the door a couple weeks ago after being put on leave in November.

Lovelace murder trial slated for Feb. 27
The former Adams County assistant state’s attorney from Quincy is accused of suffocating his wife, Cory, on Valentine’s Day 2006. The jury in the first trial was reportedly evenly split, and so this second trial would not appear to be a slam dunk for prosecutors.

Coalition urges school funding formula reform
This came as a response to the Illinois School Funding Reform Commission report, which aims to fix the state’s current gap between poor and rich school districts by reforming the school funding formula, which currently relies heavily on property taxes.

Lawmakers and state workers brace for Madigan lawsuit
On Jan. 26, Madigan filed a lawsuit in St. Clair County Circuit Court, requesting that a 2015 injunction between the American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees and Gov. Bruce Rauner be terminated.

Lifetime collection for sale at Native American Gallery
A woven Navajo blanket from 1880 is Jonathan Reyman’s most cherished piece at his Native American Gallery at 1044 N. Grand Avenue in Springfield. The man who sold it to him thought it was a rug, apparently because of its size – approximately 52 by 88 inches.

The business of spreading music success
In a long brick building within a rented suite on Yale Boulevard in Springfield’s Harvard Park neighborhood, a quiet, yet profound revolution is underway.

The next best thing to Champagne
Champagne is a classic choice for Valentine’s Day, and it, along with other sparkling wines like cava, prosecco and moscato d’Asti, are some of the most versatile wines to enjoy and pair with food. If I had to choose one “desert island wine” for the rest of my life, I would choose Champagne, or méthode Champenoise wines, without hesitation.

Clever Lego Batman hindered by spastic style
From the very first frame, the selfreferential tone of the script rears its ugly head as Batman’s (Will Arnett) raspy voice is heard saying that all important films start with a dark screen before riffing on the Warner Brothers symbol that appears and anything else that strikes his fancy.

Oblique strategies
The current exhibit at the consistently innovative UIS Visual Arts Gallery is not your grandmother’s ceramics display. A series of evocative, colorful and otherworldly shapes, the elegant “Oblique Frontiers” offers hints of an alternate reality of tactile beauty and mysterious utility.

PUB CRAWL
Alice Currie, Andy Krisak, Tony Colintino, Dan Rhode.

BAND SPOTLIGHT | Great American Taxi
With a new album out (Dr. Feelgood’s Traveling Medicine Show.

Beyond the bars
We spend a lot of time covering the nightclubs in this column, and rightfully so, since a good deal of our live music scene stems from gigs in the bars. But bands and artists continue to make music elsewhere, especially in the recording arena, creating news outside of the city limits.

THE CALENDAR
Bringing Lincoln and his White House to Life.

ART | An artistic double-header
On Friday, Feb. 10, the DEMO Project hosts an opening reception for contemporary artists Emily Ward Bivens and Frances Lightbound, the brains behind the two newest exhibitions housed inside the little white house turned art gallery on Fourth Street.

LECTURES | Working together for the Lincoln legacy
Celebrate the 208 th birthday of Abraham Lincoln and the 50 th anniversary of the founding of Lincoln Land Community College by attending the Lincoln Legacy Lectures on Monday, Feb. 13, 9 a.m., at LLCC’s Trutter Center.

NATURE | Fragrant flowers
Bask in the beauty, complexity and diversity of the orchid family this weekend during the Prairie State Orchid Society’s annual show and sale. With between 20,000 and 30,000 different species, orchids are recognized as the largest family of flowering plants in the world.