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Drawing fire
At least no one demanded that such cartoons be suppressed a la Charlie Hebdo. No blood at IPI was shed, and no one issued a fatwa against Mr. Allie, even if ritual murder was in the air around the Statehouse.

Going down to the crossroads
This past Saturday morning I encountered four homeless men in a matter of moments. The first slept like a tossed baggie of water on the stoop near the entrance to my building. A few minutes later I walked past the same stoop and was greeted by two other homeless men.

Trump versus the words of Robert E. Lee
Of course, he came into office having already notched his AK-47 Twitter rifle with hundreds of hits on the American citizenry. Since then, he’s repeatedly used the presidential bully pulpit for mass-bullying assaults on every news outlet and reporter who refuses to be a Sean Hannitysuck-up to The Donald.

LETTERS
The United States of America has three forms of slavery: the original slaves of Africa, the black prisoners, and the sharecroppers, of which I am one. The U.S. Constitution is crafted to keep the black race as servants to the whites. To preserve their Confederate slave owners, whites have erected monuments and statues in their honor.

Behind Rauner’s brags on the economy
But most of those jobs were gained in 2015, when 83,400 jobs were added. In the 19 months starting in January of 2016 through July of 2017, just 41,900 jobs were created in Illinois, according to IDES data. Of those, a mere 19,600 jobs were added in Illinois during the first seven months of this year.

Society of the Living Dead
The story begins a few years after World War I in two communities hundreds of miles apart – Orange, New Jersey, and Ottawa, Illinois, when the U.S. Radium Corporation (USRC) opened plants in those cities and began hiring young women to paint the dials of their clocks with a radium-based paint.

State cuts funding for teacher pensions
“Cutting the state’s contribution only increases our concern that TRS will eventually become insolvent,” said Dick Ingram, executive director of Teachers Retirement System in a written statement.

MORE HOME FOR THE MONEY
In a new study, New York-based personal fi nance company SmartAsset analyzed 200 cities and found that Springfi eld ranks sixth among U.S. cities where the median income goes the furthest in terms of home buying.

VIETNAM REDUX
If you thought The Civil War, the PBS documentary released in 1990 that made fi lmmaker Ken Burns a household name, was a big deal, just wait. Burns says that The Vietnam War, set to premier on Sept.

Automatic voter registration bill becomes law
Gov. Bruce Rauner signed Senate Bill 1933 into law this week. The new law seeks to reform voter registration practices, allowing eligible Illinois citizens to automatically register to vote during routine interactions with state agencies ranging from the secretary of state’s office to the Department of Natural Resources.

Sidney Watkins stays put
The little girl at the center of one of the most bitter and public custody battles in central Illinois history has this summer told a judge, a counselor and her guardian ad litem that she’d rather remain with her paternal aunt’s family than return...

Mansion progress report $15 million governor’s mansion restoration anchors nearby projects
The north entrance is a stark vision of exposed steel beams, plywood construction doors, broken concrete and huge recycling bins brimming with discarded metal. Dusty demolition debris thunders down chutes while replacement materials are delivered to upper floors by ever-present and long-reaching boom machines.

It’s zucchini time!
There is a point every summer when my vegetable garden transitions from a state of scarcity to one of overabundance. My approach to meal planning shifts from “What do I have enough of to make something with?” to “What am I going to do with all these veggies?” This is especially true of zucchini.

Cast saves Cake$
Patricia Dowbrowski (Danielle MacDonald) knows there’s more to life than just working odd jobs in New Jersey and cleaning up after her alcoholic mother. She sees the high life in the rap videos she watches again and again and even fantasizes about chillin’ with her idol O-Z (Sahr Ngaujah).

Music labors
Let’s take a moment on this Labor Day holiday weekend to remember all those who sacrificed their livelihoods – and sometimes their lives – to create this world of 40-hour work weeks and 8-hour days with decent living conditions and fair wages.

BAND SPOTLIGHT | Gracia Harrison
Gracia Harrison vaulted to national prominence with her astounding appearance on the third season of “The Voice.” Although she didn’t win it all, her relationship with Blake Shelton and the ensuing publicity ensured her a way to continue with a career in music.

PUB CRAWL
Find more details and gigs in our online calendar at www.illinoistimes.com.

THE CALENDAR
Free. aluuc.org. Abraham Lincoln Unitarian Universalist Congregation, 745 Woodside Road, 585-9550..

FAIRS & FESTIVALS | Small-town kicks on Route 66
Hit the Mother Road this weekend and make the short jaunt to Elkhart for a party of epic proportions. Elkhart’s Route 66 Labor Day Fall Celebration offers two-days of jam-packed fun for the entire family.

BULLETIN BOARD | Have fun while fighting crime
Join CrimeStoppers for their second annual “Take Flight in the Fight against Crime” hangar party Sunday, Sept. 3, from 2-8 p.m. at LRS Hanger, located at Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport. The party features live music by The Deep Hollow from 2:30 through 4 p.

BULLETIN BOARD | Plains Spokin’
This year’s theme is “Plains Spokin’” as riders head to Pleasant Plains for lunch and then add mileage loops from there. The largest bicycle century event in Illinois held outside a major metro area, the CCC draws up to 800 riders annually. It features well-marked route options of 10 to 100 miles over flat to slightly rolling terrain.