Holiday food prices remain high, but supplies remain strong

Americans look forward to celebrating the simplest of gifts and gathering with family and friends around the table during the holiday season. It is also often a time of giving thanks as Illinois farmers mark the end of another growing season. 

Legal system now disturbed with politics

What does it matter that a special prosecutor has now been appointed to handle matters involving accusations of criminal activity by Donald Trump?

Flick: Please pass the thanks

While all holidays obviously have meaning and merit, Thanksgiving surely is among the best.  

Illinois finances headed in right direction

Gov. JB Pritzker’s administration recently used its annual Economic and Fiscal Policy Report to outline three new budget proposals.

Flick: A real-life Hollywood nightmare

These are divided times in a nation divided, of cancel cultures, of vastly different views and visions, of angered extremes and threats to a democracy, perhaps only paralleled by the times of the Civil War and Jared Brown’s dad.  

Honoring the last full measure of devotion

The Gettysburg Address is the most well-known political speech ever written in the English language. This means almost everyone has heard it at least once, but it also means the speech is like a popular song that’s so overplayed it becomes background noise.

No steal in this election either

There was no steal in this election either. We heard a tale of conspiracy and projected wave of denier support that would sweep both houses of congress.

Harvest issues mount for Ukrainian farmers

Ukrainian farmers dealing with unimaginable challenges from the Russian invasion are facing even more difficulties as wheat harvest gains steam.

Illinois Conservation Reserve Enhancement Program returns

A federal-state conservation program has returned with incentives and rental payments to improve water quality and wildlife and aquatic habitat.

Air quality specialist: It’s important to understand livestock’s role in climate

Farm animals don’t play near the role in emitting greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions as some suggest. In...

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USDA pegs Illinois No. 1 for soybeans, No. 2 for corn output

USDA’s National Agricultural Statistics Service final crop production estimates for 2021 confirm a b...

Miscalculations can start war

In 1852 Napoleon III, the Catholic leader of France, demanded greater rights from the Ottoman Empire...

Better politics, smarter government: Illuminating Illinois’ triumphs and travails through literature

Several years ago, the staff of the Paul Simon Public Policy Institute was preparing for our Renewin...

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Richard Irvin is a Republican. Period.

Irvin might not be enough of a Republican for the purists. And Democrats might want to weaken Irvin ...

Flick: Of Natalie Wood’s death....or muder

Sam Perroni remembers the first time he met actress Natalie Wood. They were together in The Normal T...

Get away

Oh, what an amazing year!

And so 2021 is at its end, a 12-month set that contained 365 days, or 8,760 hours, or 525,600 minutes, or 31,536,000 seconds.  Or, in only 750 words?

Joy to the world, Build Back Better’s demise has come

On December 19, just days before millions of Americans gather for Christmas festivities, Sen. Joe Manchin (D-WV) delivered a much-needed early present to the nation when he let it be known that he would not vote in favor of President Joe Biden’s Build Back Better bill.