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School or jail?
They say that there is no such thing as a free lunch, but, in fact, there is, leastwise, for students in Springfield School District 186. More than half the district’s kids come from low-income households, and so everyone qualifies for free meals under federal rules.

Not enough contact tracers
As of this writing, Illinois is averaging 19,942 tests per day. The Harvard study estimates we need to be doing 64,167 tests a day by May 15. Otherwise there will be just too many people roaming around with early or asymptomatic infections, spreading the virus.

Reopening could lead to liability
That stance has frustrated some folks who want him to get tougher with violators (although he’d undoubtedly risk making martyrs out of them if he did crack down hard). And the governor’s position seems to have emboldened some local officials to defy the governor’s order and open up their economies on their own.

LETTERS
We say that we love freedom. We will never have freedom while the belief that any group of people is superior to any other goes unchecked, because that simple idea is horrifically dangerous. Male or female, white or black, nativeborn or migrated, differently gender partnered or samegender partnered - lessening people dehumanizes us.

Court lacks diversity, lawyer says
In a May 1 letter to Sangamon County Circuit Court Judge John “Mo” Madonia notifying him of her decision to resign effective May 15, Lindsay Evans also complained about the lack of diversity on the bench and wrote that the needs of the poor caught in the legal system are subservient to political considerations.

Reopening woes
So she’s her own boss now. She started her own dog-grooming business where she’s the sole employee. Her Springfield storefront opened in March. “I was open for two weeks, and then we were forced to shut down,” she said. The timing “was absolutely horrible.

Managing mental health
It’s a saying he has taken to heart recently, after noticing one of his own children was isolating herself and seemed distant. His inclination was to tell her to get up and go outside, to spring into action and shake the malaise. Instead, he asked her directly to share her feelings.

Keeping the lights on
Three of CWLP’s four workhorse generators, all fueled by coal, are obsolete and should be shut down, according to dispassionate experts, environmentalists, business interests and the utility itself.

Keeping Suttill’s Gardens in the family
While the rest of the world is innovating to rethink the global food system, Caitlyn and Jacque Suttill Simpson are buckling down on the basics. The mother-daughter team own and operate Suttill’s Gardens, a five-acre produce farm located just a quarter mile east of Southeast High School in Springfield.

Music goodness
In this column about live music, we can rest assured that musicians playing in public with audiences participating will be a thing again, but while we wait, virtual performances do help to ease the pain and fill the void. I think we can safely say that by giving credence to the belief that music heals, we’re in good company.

THE CALENDAR
New York International Children’s Film Festival.

MUSIC | Science will find the cure. The arts will heal.
A ghost light is an electric light that is left on the stage of a darkened theater after a show. It typically consists of an exposed bulb in a wire cage on a portable light stand and is usually placed near center stage.

LIVE MUSIC
Take a Break With Cowboy Randy.