Columnist

Celebrate summer with a Blue Hawaiian

Published by admin on Wed, 08/16/2017 - 9:00am

    It's mid-August and the back to school sales are in full swing. Most of us have almost paid off the summer vacation credit card balance, and our fantasy football teams are beginning to take shape.
    Yes, we are running out of summer. Let's get one more summer cocktail in while the water in your swimming pool is as warm as it's going to be all year long.
    Grab whatever light rum is left in your cabinet and call your friends. We are going to end this summer with the quintessential summer cocktail, The Blue Hawaiian.

A world turned upside down, the war effort

Published by admin on Wed, 08/16/2017 - 9:00am

    One hundred years ago the whole world was in turmoil.
    Young men were being drafted, a thing that hadn't happened since the Civil War. Food was scarce, and some things could not be found at all.
    Rumors of German spies in our midst had folks looking twice at their neighbors, especially those with an accent. Patriotism was not encouraged, it was demanded.
    The simple life that people had known was gone forever, the world had turned upside down.

Braidwood's favorite pastime, quoits?

Published by admin on Wed, 08/16/2017 - 9:00am

    That Braidwood and the surrounding coal towns were hubs for immigrants from all over the world still fascinates me.
    They came in waves, usually one nationality at a time. The prejudices they grew up with came with them. But also came the good things. Let's look at just one.
    The earliest wave of immigrants came from the British Isles, the Irish, English and the Scottish, were all familiar with life in the coal mines and for the most part they all spoke English.

Rauner veto would slash funds to schools with TIFs

Published by admin on Mon, 08/14/2017 - 11:02am

    Chicago has vast property wealth and the largest population by far in Illinois. But it also has a large amount of that property wealth locked up in Tax Increment Financing districts.

Rauner’s staffers may be out to kill education reform bill

Published by admin on Wed, 08/09/2017 - 9:00am

 

The education funding reform bill which passed the House and Senate in May and was finally sent to Gov. Bruce Rauner’s desk in July was the product of four years of research, endless listening tours and lots of hard bargaining.

What happened to those kiddie rides outside stores

Published by admin on Wed, 08/09/2017 - 9:00am

 

Nostalgia hit The White Glove last week when it came across a vintage “Casper the Friendly Ghost” coin-operated ride at Second Time Around Antiques in Braidwood.

A century ago, the War to End All Wars begins

Published by admin on Tue, 08/08/2017 - 9:53am

    One hundred years ago our country entered what was imagined to be the war to end all wars. With its mechanical weapons such as tanks, mustard gas and personal weapons such as machine guns and hand grenades, no one could imagine anything more devastating. Men from all over Will County, including Braidwood, were drafted. When that first draft number was drawn, the war became all too real.
    On April 2, 1917, President Woodrow Wilson asked for a declaration of war against Germany. The Congress obliged him and the war was officially declared.

Will County ramps up for the War to End All Wars

Published by admin on Mon, 08/07/2017 - 12:52pm

    The war effort — today that is an archaic term. There is no doubt that our nation is at war in the Middle East. And there are many families who have been directly impacted by it. But for the rest of us, it is a remote thing to be watched on the television. We make no sacrifices, we attend no rallies, we donate no time to making our boys more comfortable. One hundred years ago, it was not so.

The toy that did more harm than good

Published by admin on Wed, 08/02/2017 - 9:00am

 

It was a toy parents were glad to see go away.

Battle over ed funding reform rages on

Published by admin on Mon, 07/31/2017 - 1:37pm

    During the lead-up to the recent special legislative session over the state budget and a tax hike, Gov. Bruce Rauner’s staff studied whether their boss had the power to force legislators to attend the sessions.