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From Honduras to health care reform
When Dr. Jerry Kruse headed to Honduras in 2005 to volunteer, he thought he was going on a simple medical mission trip to a rural village devastated by Hurricane Mitch. Instead he discovered a hurricane of ideas and organization that gave him a vision for reforming the U.

Why arming teachers is a bad idea
Teachers spend hours in and out of school thinking about their students and worrying about ways to help them. We care deeply about the students given into our care each day, and we face some tough situations. I remember a 17-year-old student who confided in me that she had been sexually abused since she was 8.

What will the Trump mob kill next?
Their latest victim was a much honored word that has produced a whole family of world literature: “satire.” Satire involves exaggerating the flaws, mannerisms, oddities, etc.

LETTERS
ADLAI INTERESTING The article about the Stevenson family (“Adlai’s still talking sense,” by Fletcher Farrar, Feb. 15) was extremely interesting. There were many interesting thoughts, quotes and comments.

A different sort of ‘Madigan tax’
Just 11 percent of voters had no opinion of Madigan in a 2017 poll taken for the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute. Not only did lots more voters know who Madigan was, they also despised him. Madigan’s disapproval rating was 61 percent in that poll, well above his 26 percent approval rating.

Future unclear for campus buildings
The sale of the historic campus at 1500 N. Fifth Street will also mean the loss of several jobs, but some staff will be retained to take care of the buildings until the property is sold. Capital improvement needs at the aging campus were the main reason the decision to sell was made, according to Benedictine University President Michael Brophy.

BUSH BIOGRAPHER AT ALPLM
Historian Jeffrey Engel will discuss the legacy of President George H. W. Bush, particularly in relation to his handling of the end of the Cold War, during a speaking engagement at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum on March 6. Engel is the author of When the World Seemed New: George H.

MAYORS WANT MORE HOME RULE
Toi Hutchinson, D-Chicago Heights) would allow Illinois voters the opportunity to lower the population threshold for home rule status. Currently, communities can become home rule either automatically when they reach a population of more than 25,000 or by local referendum.

After 22 years, fire science sets convict free
“You’re readjusting to just walking down the street, being in crowded elevators, things that everybody goes through all the time,” said Bill Amor, whose 1997 convictions on charges of arson and murder were vacated by a DuPage County judge last week. He eventually spent 22 years in prison on a 45- year sentence.

The pill pipeline
Founded in 1954 on the outskirts of downtown Springfield, the drug wholesaler has grown to become the nation’s fourth largest distributor of prescription drugs, with annual sales surpassing a reported $4 billion in 2015.

Poetry Out Loud
Wynton Gage, a senior at Southeast High School, has a deep voice made for TV or radio. At the recent Regional Poetry Out Loud contest he commanded the stage during his memorized recitations of “Four Glimpses of Night” by Frank Marshall Davis and “The Universe as Primal Scream” by Tracy K.

Fermented foods
Our GI tract hosts 80 percent of our population of microflora. The human gut has the surface area of a tennis court and the average adult gut is carrying around two and a half to three pounds of bacteria! The benefits provided by these “healthy”...

Bateman and McAdams make Game Night fun
In a clever opening credits sequence we see Max and Annie (Bateman and McAdams) meet at a trivia night and progress through a series of game-related dates until they are married in a ceremony replete with a Dance, Dance Revolution machine.

PUB CRAWL
Sam West and the Nightshift, Death and Memphis.

BAND SPOTLIGHT | Jim Scott
Jim Scott has added much to our human consciousness in terms of song and substance, very possibly influencing your life without you knowing it. From his work as guitarist with the Paul Winter Consort and co-composer of their celebrated Missa Gaia/Earth Mass,.

March music
This weekend blues rules at Third Base Sports Bar with two remarkable shows featuring nationally acclaimed powerhouses. Friday brings in Johnny Rawls, a major player in soul blues who spent a good deal of 2017 touring Europe. Mr. Rawls is honored to have his current record, Waiting for the Train,.

THE CALENDAR
Theater & Comedy A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder.

CHILDREN’S CORNER | Awaken the force within
Children ages 4 and up are invited to learn the ways of the Jedi on Saturday, Mar. 3 with Master Jedi Panniken Moonjumper, played by family entertainer and Pirate School.

LECTURES & MEETINGS | ECCE Speaker Series
On Tuesday, Mar. 6, join Debbie Olson, Ph.D., assistant professor of English at Missouri Valley College, for an ECCE Speaker Series presentation that examines the depiction of African American children in the media against the ways in which African American children in the U.

FILM | Film eight of eight
Take in the final film of the Molly Schlich Film Festival on Sunday, Mar. 4, at 1 p.m. or 4 p.m., or on Tuesday, Mar. 6, at 7 p.m. The 2017 film titled The Midwife.