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Why start a business when you can start a movement?
This column proposes a powerful, practical, if highly unconventional, way to start a national conversation, even a movement, that could possibly help restore a healthy American democracy and solid economic future, and maybe even replace one of our two bankrupt political parties.

Why I love venison
It happened about 15 years ago. I was a few miles south of Bend, heading north and trying to make up for a late departure from Vegas. It was a beautiful autumn night, the moon nearly full, the two-lane highway empty, the eastern Oregon desert sprawled around me and lasting forever.

Democrats reform campaign practices
Mapes could be a kind and generous man to his friends and family. He was often the delightful life of the party when he chose to go out. But the dude also had a wide and nasty mean streak and was a control freak beyond anything I’ve ever seen at the Statehouse.

LETTERS
The very scale of the gambling that has been going on – I believe $30 million in annual video gaming losses just in Springfield – cannot possibly signify a third or even half of us losing an occasional game of chance. And so, Ms.

Demanding action on Pillsbury
“It’s a partially demolished old factory that has some level of asbestos contamination still on site. And so it’s dangerous for folks to go in there,” said Chris Richmond, the former fire marshal for Springfield who is leading Moving Pillsbury Forward.

WE WIN AGAIN
For the second time, Sangamon County Circuit Court Judge Raylene Grischow has ruled in favor of Illinois Times in our quest to figure out what the heck was going on when Secretary of State Jesse White hired Candace Wanzo, a convicted felon who’d...

REMEMBERING
The holiday season holds dark days for those who will be missing a family member for the fi rst time this year. Telling a loved one’s story makes things a little brighter. It is an Illinois Times tradition to use our last edition of the year – Dec. 26 this year – to remember those local people who have died in the past year.

GREEN NEW WORLD
Fire away, you’re told in the grow area, where glare from high-pressure sodium bulbs makes ordinary cameras go nuts, drawing excessive amounts of blues and purples from rows of lights above hundreds of pot plants on which owner Larry O’Hern and his family have staked a considerable sum of money.

Stocking stuffers for cooks
Because my restaurant gig gets me home after midnight, my wife tends to watch PBS documentaries during her evenings alone. A documentary that recently aired had her so riled up that she shot me a text message at work telling me that we absolutely have to take single-use plastics out of our lives.

Dark Waters a portrait of true heroism
Robert Bilott does not wear a cape. I don’t think that he’s impervious to bullets or fire and I’d be willing to bet that Kryptonite, were it to exist, would have no effect on him. Yet, he is a hero in the truest sense of the word, a man who goes out of his way to combat gross injustice and lets nothing deter him until things are put right.

Decembering now
Here we go into the days of December, gearing up for the big holiday hoopla with plenty of marvelous music to supplement the adventure. Along with normal pub performances, be mindful of downtown Holiday Walk music and other special stuff for the season listed in our listings.

LIVE MUSIC
Captain Geech and the Shrimp Shack Shooters.

BAND SPOTLIGHT | Julian Davis and the Situation
In tried-and-true fashion, this young man calls himself a “traveling musician” spending his precious time “plying his trade through guitar and mandolin on the roads of this country” and that surely is just what he’s doing.

THE CALENDAR
Governor’s Mansion Holiday Open House.

HOLIDAY HAPPENINGS | Holiday Open House
After being closed since early October for renovations, the Illinois Governor’s Mansion will be reopened just in time for the holidays. Built in 1855, the Illinois Governor’s Mansion is one of the oldest and most historic governor’s mansions in the United States.

MUSIC | Songs of the season
Individuals of all ages are invited to sing holiday carols accompanied by the carillon bells during the 38th annual Caroling at the Carillon event at the Thomas Rees Memorial Carillon. Seasonal interludes will be provided by the Trinity Wind Ensemble while guests enjoy a roaring bonfire plus complimentary cookies and hot cocoa.