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Who to believe? The gov or a jailhouse snitch?
You’ll remember that the governor ran four years ago on a platform of free-market capitalism and criminal justice reform. Some cynics, at the time, questioned his sincerity. Was he just trying to woo African- American lawmakers to support some of his economic policies by promising them criminal justice reform in return?.

Paprocki vs. unions
These sorts of stances have earned Paprocki plenty of WTFs since he came to Springfield eight years ago. He’s a hardliner’s hardliner, the sort who, if he managed in the American League, would send the pitcher to the plate because the designated hitter rule is fundamentally wrong.

Monopoly or democracy?
Apple, which just became the first U.S. corporation to reach a stock value of a trillion dollars, is now larger than Bank of America, Boeing, Disney, Ford, Volkswagen and 20 other brand-name giants combined.

LETTERS
The picture in your article is technically correct as there are many kinds of “summer squash.” However, that particular picture is a yellow zucchini. You can tell by the thick stem. Green is the most common and traditional zucchini color, but there are other colors, striped ones and two-toned ones.

Weird times in Lake County
Lake County politics has been rocked to the core this month by the abrupt resignation of state Rep. Nick Sauer (R-Lake Barrington) and the announcement by Lake County Board Chairman Aaron Lawlor that he is dropping out of his re-election campaign after earlier disclosing that he was suffering from drug addiction.

T-SHIRTS FOR PEACE
Freshly energized by commemorations of the 110th anniversary of the 1908 race riot and the one-year anniversary of the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, Dr. Steve Jackman of Springfi eld is using T-shirts to spread a message of peace.

REMAINS FROM THE RIOT
According to Jerry Jacobson of the nonprofi t organization Save Old Springfi eld, the remnants – discovered in 2014 near the corner of 10th and Carpenter streets by an archaeological crew working on the highspeed rail project – could be “destroyed...

Residency? Not so fast.
The proposal before the council would cut fines for contractors who don’t use city residents to work at least half of the hours logged on public works projects worth at least $100,000.

Campaign for soil health
Farmers and environmentalists stand around a deep trench dug in a soybean field listening to Donna Brandt from the University of Missouri Soil Health Assessment Center. She climbs into the trench, digs out a clump of dirt and holds it up. She pulls it apart; the soil breaks off in plates.

Lincoln’s last trial
Were Abraham Lincoln to somehow miraculously reappear on the streets of Springfield this week, there would be a great deal that he might recognize. He could walk to his home on Eighth Street where he lived with Mary and their children for 17 years or he could visit the law office he shared with William Herndon at Sixth and Adams.

Remains of the race riot
In recent weeks, much area media attention has been focused on the 110 th anniversary of the mid-August, 1908, race riot in which 5,000 white Springfield citizens were responsible for lynching two black men, driving 2,000 black people from their...

Timeline of Springfield race riot
Soon a crowd of whites gathered at the Sangamon County Jail, demanding the release of Richardson and another black prisoner, Joe James, who had been accused of murdering a white man the previous month. The sheriff secretly moved the prisoners to Bloomington, with the help of Springfield restaurant owner Harry Loper.

Crazy a beautiful, bland affair
Rachel Chu (Constance Wu) is a sociology professor from New York City who’s traveling overseas to attend a wedding and meet her boyfriend Nick Young’s (Henry Golding) family, chief among them the stern matriarch Eleanor (Michelle Yeoh).

Eggplant three ways
I’ve always wondered how the large, pendulous purple orb, called an aubergine, melanzana or brinjal in other languages, came to be known as an “eggplant.” It turns out that the variety grown in Europe during the 18 th century was off-white and resembled goose eggs.

That’s fair enough
As we move into the second and final weekend of the Illinois State Fair, the fun keeps on coming, even as the original excitement wears down. I think 10 days is a fair amount of time for a fair. Any more just wouldn’t be fair to all those involved in keeping the fair going.

BAND SPOTLIGHT | Offwhyte
Offwhyte, born as Ryan Fernandez on Aug. 22, 1977, in Pell City, Alabama, now resides in Springfield as his music is heard around the world. He defines himself an “American rapper, vocalist, dancer, producer and videographer, known for a sound that is at once complex, intellectual, wholesome and true to the soul.

PUB CRAWL
Captain Geech and the Shrimp Shack Shooters.

THE CALENDAR
timeless classic sweeps us down the mighty Mississippi as the irrepressible Huck Finn helps his friend Jim, a slave, escape to freedom. $18, $20. hcfta.org. Hoogland Center for the Arts, 420 S. Sixth St., 523-2787..

THEATER | The timeless tale of Huck Finn
Catch the opening weekend of Big River,.

HISTORY | Lounge on the lawn
Attendees will enjoy live entertainment from Peaches and Bacon (1 p.m.) and Wild Columbine (2 p.m.), photographs with Ulysses S. Grant (3 p.m.), plus lawn games and crafts that were popular during the 19 th century as well as peach desserts, lemonade and mint juleps (ages 21+ only).

MUSIC | An end-of-summer soiree
On Saturday, Aug. 18, enjoy an evening of live jazz music and refreshments in support of the education and preservation programs of the Dana- Thomas House Foundation.