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Training cops to help stop wrongful convictions
For the past two years the Illinois Innocence Project (IIP) at University of Illinois Springfield has been involved in an initiative with the Police Training Institute (PTI) to introduce and train new police recruits on the challenges involved in avoiding wrongful conviction of innocent individuals.

Muddy waters
Last August the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration announced the Gulf of Mexico “dead zone” – an area of low oxygen (hypoxia) that can kill fish – is the largest ever measured. At 8,776 square miles, it is an area about the size of New Jersey.

The Dow Jones industrial average
But wait – nearly all stock is owned by the richest 10 percent of Americans, so the Dow says nothing about the economic condition of the 90 percent majority of Americans. For us – and for the true economic health of America as a whole – we need to know the Doug Jones average.

LETTERS
PLEASE PRINT PUZZLES I wish to peacefully protest (on paper) the proposed banishment of puzzles from the back page of your weekly edition. Working crosswords on a screen is not something I would choose to do even if I had a computer at home, which I don’t.

The remap fight
But, prying control of those maps away from Speaker Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton is next to impossible, as proponents of a constitutional amendment to do so have found. Drawing the new map is the ultimate way to reward your friends and punish your enemies.

Mortgage mayhem
The Illinois Department of Financial and Professional Regulation on March 7 declared an emergency and suspended Schaller’s broker’s license after department investigators seeking loan files visited his office, a branch of Diamond Residential Mortgage Co.

FREE AT LAST
At last check, Scott Foster appeared in a peck of trouble, busted in connection with the December discovery of a massive marijuana-growing operation in the heart of Springfi eld, secreted in a former dry cleaning shop at the intersection of South Grand Avenue and Eighth Street.

NEW TAX LAW EXPLAINED
While the focus will mainly be on business, personal applications of the new law will also be discussed. Topics will include reduced tax rates, qualifi ed business income deduction, enhanced depreciation rules and changes to deductions.

Mother of dead inmate sues
Tiffany Rusher, 27, died at Memorial Medical Center nearly a year ago, 12 days after she was found hanging in her cell. Just how Rusher, who had a long history of suicide attempts, was able to find the means to commit suicide will be an issue in the lawsuit, according to Alan Mills, attorney for Rusher’s mother, Kelli Andrews.

Democrats in 13th challenge Davis, Trump
The 13 th Congressional District that encompasses a wide swath of central Illinois has long been seen as a swing district where Democrats have a chance, and primary candidates have been spending plenty of time and money arguing that the incumbent is a lackey of an unpopular president.

Pack gun, get promoted
Capt. Chad Bates is on the promotion list even though he was suspended for six days last year after bringing a gun into a firehouse. In addition, Bates in 2015 agreed to counseling after the department found he had falsely told police that his ex-wife’s husband had slashed his tires.

“Springfield awa ke, Springfield aflame!”
In 1920, the Macmillan Company of New York City published The Golden Book of Springfield.

Vachel Lindsay themed events planned for 2018
• A collaborative exhibition about Vachel Lindsay at the Springfield Art Association will run Sept. 7-28. Partners are the SAA, ALPLM and the Vachel Lindsay Association, Springfield Poets and Writers, UIS Archives and the Sangamon Valley Collection.

Pontiac is museum central in central Illinois
His mother, Betty, late tourism director for Pontiac, Illinois, founded the town’s popular Route 66 museum in 2004. Not to be outdone, David’s father, Dal, built the Livingston County War Museum upstairs in the same building a few months later.

Passport to fine art
On Friday, March 9, the Springfield Art Association, along with the SAA Collective in the Hoogland Center for the Arts, combined forces with independent artist group The Pharmacy Gallery & Art Space to participate in a “Passport Gallery Tour.

A kid’s place is in the kitchen
Research shows that cooking from scratch and regularly sharing family dinner improves both physical and mental health in many ways. But there is one benefit of cooking at home that doesn’t get nearly enough attention: eventually, your kids will cook for you.

Wrinkle fine but fails to soar
This was in the early 1960s; obviously some things have changed and some haven’t. We’re in the middle of what is hopefully a sea of change where women’s rights and the way they are represented in the media are concerned, and, as such, Ava DuVernay’s adaptation of L’Engle’s novel couldn’t be timelier.

Green goes the music
Some folks could care less, I know, but I always enjoy the celebration of jolly St. Patrick, if for nothing else than enjoying music from the Emerald Isle and neighboring islands. If you’re not a fan of Celtic sounds, that’s okay too, because everybody parties when the Celts turn it on.

BAND SPOTLIGHT | The Emerald Underground
Springfield’s original Celtic fusion band has evolved more than a few times and ways since hitting the scene as Stone Ring Circle in the early 21st century. They’ve travelled many roads and they all lead to fine Irish-influenced music done with a rocking attitude and a rolling twist.

PUB CRAWL
Casey Cantrall’s Third Thursday Jam.

THE CALENDAR
Literary Springfield Then and Now.

HISTORY | The Illinois Executive Mansion
Learn all about the Illinois Executive Mansion, home to Illinois governors and their families since 1855, during a presentation by Justin Blandford, the superintendent of the state-owned historic sites in Illinois’s capital city.

SPOKEN WORD | Embrace your voice
Take a stand against sexual assault this weekend during the “Singers, Poets and Activists Open Mic” event Friday, March 16, from 7-9:30 p.m. From 7-9 p.m., attendees are invited to perform their favorite or original songs, poems and thoughts surrounding the theme of “survivors, sexual/gender inequality and dreams of a better future.