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Beware, GOP has plans for Medicare
Recently I was talking with a small business owner about the privately purchased health care policy that covered the owner and spouse. They pay about $12,000 a year for a policy with a $6,000 deductible each. Preventative health maintenance with a medical professional is something that they just can’t afford.

Absolutely ridiculous
“It’s absolutely ridiculous,” said Springfield’s Rosanna Pulido about a bill in the General Assembly that would bar from schools, health care facilities and places of worship non-federal law enforcement officers seeking to enforce the Trumpian crackdown on residents whose papers are not in order.

Wall Street plowboys
The valley is a gold mine of groceries, generating billions of dollars in sales that have enriched landowners and corporate executives and turned Salinas Valley into farm country with Silicon Valley prices.

LETTERS
There were three of us; Jimmie Treadwell, Lillian Kinnel and myself, who witnessed and were horrified at the 1989 placement of Geraldine McCullough’s statue of Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr. on the walkway in back of the Illinois State Archives and the Illinois State Museum.

Emulate Trump at your peril
If you’re running for office anytime soon or if you currently hold office or are a “public figure,” please try to keep one thing in mind: So far, the only person to prove he can thrive by talking like President Donald Trump is ... President Donald Trump.

Stowell fights firing at hearing
His former bosses at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum say that Daniel Stowell, former director of the Papers of Abraham Lincoln Project, was an insubordinate employee who botched efforts to publish every document ever read or written by the Great Emancipator.

SPRINGFIELD FILM PREMIERE
Springfi eld-based fi lmmakers Dave Heinzel and Emma Wilson will premiere their new short fi lm, Sarah, at 8 p.m. this Saturday, March 4, at The Studio, located at 401 1/2 S. Grand Ave. West (due to demand, a second screening was added on March 11 – both screenings are sold out).

CONGRATULATIONS
The Sangamon County mental health court fi nally has a graduate. After two years in the program aimed at keeping mentally ill folks out of prison (“Treatment instead of jail,” April 23, 2015), Christine Overton on Monday was discharged from the program.

State Museum showcases contemporary art
A new exhibit at the Illinois State Museum (ISM) aims to introduce visitors to contemporary artworks. “Just Good Art: The Chuck Thurow Gift” opened Feb. 4. It is a collection of modern paintings donated last year to the ISM by art collector Chuck Thurow.

SOHO no mo?
After 12 years of directing and coordinating the SOHO Music Festival, founder Eric Welch is stepping away. “I’ve come to the realization that I can’t do it one more year,” Welch said. “It was a difficult decision to make – but I just don’t have the energy for it anymore.

Get Out succeeds with horror and humor
Creating and sustaining the correct tone is vital to the success of any movie, thrillers especially, of which this is a very good one. Not only is a sense of dread present throughout, our identification with Chris is almost immediate as we come to share in his uncomfortable situation.

The vanishing Statehouse press corps
In the 1980s and 90s, when state government coffers appeared to be overflowing and the political parties worked together, the Statehouse press corps numbered in the 40s. Its size made “Illinois State Government one of the most comprehensively reported in the nation,” according to the 1991/1992 Illinois Blue Book.

Precision beef bulls
The Annual Illinois Performance Tested Bull Sale on Feb. 23 during the 29 th Illinois Beef Expo was pretty predictable. And the genetic testing that made that predictability possible was good news for those buying or selling animals during the event. The Illinois Beef Expo took place Feb.

Crazy for cauliflower
Spend a few minutes perusing popular food blogs for health-conscious recipes and one thing begins to become clear – cauliflower is the new “it” vegetable.

PUB CRAWL
Open Mic w/ Roger Wilco and the Starship Troopers.

BAND SPOTLIGHT | Galen Weston Band
Blazing a trail from Toronto across the world in the jazz-fusion-blues crossroads of music, Galen Weston is the guy who gets quotes like “a guitar tour de force, the kind they just don’t make anymore” and “Weston is an impressive guitarist.

March on the move
Perhaps the warming weather trend we’ve felt through February made it happen, but things do seem to be heating up early in the music community for 2017. Before you know it, birds will be singing, bells will be ringing, and outdoor music venues attached to taverns will be bustling in their hedgerows.

LECTURE | International Womens’ Day
On Wednesday, March 8, join University of Illinois at Springfield alumna Samantha Drew Gordon for an ECCE Speaker Series presentation that explores how women can succeed and lead in traditionally male-dominated environments.

THE CALENDAR
Has received six Tony Awards and one Grammy. $62+. sangamonauditorium.org. Sangamon Auditorium, UIS, 1 University Plaza, 206-6160..

LECTURE | Information on immigration
On Tuesday, March 7, the University of Illinois at Springfield will present a panel discussion designed to clear up myths associated with immigration and provide a clearer understanding of the hotly-contested subject.

MUSIC | Sinfonia Orchestra and Youth Symphony
On Saturday, March 4, join the Sangamon Valley Sinfonia Orchestra and Youth Symphony for their annual Winter Concert. The Sinfonia Orchestra will perform Bach’s “Brandenburg Concerto No. 4” plus a modern dance brimming with rhythm and harmony.