Columnist

Lawmakers should include Black, Hispanic input

Published by admin on Sun, 02/25/2024 - 11:10am

Two press conferences held after Gov. JB Pritzker’s budget address last week didn’t receive much news media attention. As the saying goes, coverage follows conflict, and the two pressers were far more subtle and polite in their criticisms of the governor’s plan than those held by Republicans, so they were mostly overlooked.
But clear undercurrents were visible during both events, one held by the Legislative Black Caucus and the other by the Legislative Latino Caucus.

More than mining, when the coal runs out

Published by admin on Mon, 02/19/2024 - 3:54pm

Coal, coal and more coal; it's what made Braidwood and what kept it going. But what happens once all the coal is dug out? That was the problem facing Braidwood at the end of the 19th century and the beginning of the 20th.
The only coal left was narrow layers lying fairly close to the surface making shaft mining out of the question. The great amount of surface dirt that needed to be moved to expose those layers required large machinery which simply had not been invented yet. Where were the jobs to come from to support the existing population?

You need it, we got it, or had it

Published by admin on Mon, 02/19/2024 - 3:53pm

You don't have to live in Wilmington long to know that the businesses on Water Street have changed often. Since we have over a 180-year history, you can imagine how many businesses have come and gone.
Time was, when downtown Wilmington was a crowded commercial center. Today we look at April of 1862, one year into the Civil War. Please note how advertising has changed. The following list of merchants appeared in the Wilmington Independent.

Mapes gets 30 months for keeping mouth shut

Published by admin on Sun, 02/18/2024 - 3:26pm

“Everybody gets pinched, but you did it right; you told 'em nothin' and they got nothin'” Jimmy Conway told a youthful Henry Hill in the classic gangster movie “Goodfellas” after the mob-connected teenager was arrested for selling stolen cigarettes, clammed up to the police and was then released by a corrupt judge.
“You learned the two greatest things in life,” Conway told Hill.
“Never rat on your friends, and always keep your mouth shut.”
Former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan’s people (and they weren’t alone in this, by the way) took that vow to heart.

Honoring a war hero; the death of Grant

Published by admin on Mon, 02/12/2024 - 1:12pm

One of the things that I am most sorry for at my age, is the loss of personal respect for each other. Respect your elders, respect your parents, respect your teachers, respect government officials, respect the police - all taught to me as child. I could go on, but I am sure you are glad I will not. The following shows that at one time, we did have respect, at least for one less than perfect politician.

Searching for a hero - the case of M. Henry

Published by admin on Mon, 02/12/2024 - 1:00pm

Today's story is only somewhat related to Braidwood, and, I can't even prove that. But it is one of the many trails down which I have traveled searching its history. It starts with a sad story from October of 1909.

Women take a step backward, in a hobble

Published by admin on Tue, 02/06/2024 - 10:29am

Women, it must be said, like change better than men - or at least when it comes to fashion. While men's fashions change little, a width of a tie or lapel, women's styles are all over the board. Today we look at the first decade of the 20th century, when women were yearning to vote and to wear the strangest of fashion.
The industrial revolution that took place in the late 19th and early 20th century created hundreds of thousands of jobs all across the nation. Most of these jobs paid very little.

Saving a soon to be extinct species

Published by admin on Tue, 02/06/2024 - 10:27am

It has long been talked around that newspapers are dinosaurs, and will be extinct soon. The fact that you are reading this means that there is some hope the species can be saved. Today we go back to the very first newspapers published in our fair city to lean what we can about them.
The first newspaper to be published in Wilmington was the Wilmington Herald. Although we do not have a copy of it, we read in the September 6, 1854 Joliet Signal, “We have received the first number of a paper just started at Wilmington, in this county, having the above title.

‘Moderate’ position will make it an interesting race to watch

Published by admin on Sun, 02/04/2024 - 5:00pm

Republican Dennis Reboletti is trying something different in a state legislative race: Stake out a “moderate” position on abortion in a party which completely rejects that stance and in a race against a solidly pro-choice Democrat.
Reboletti, the Addison Township Supervisor, has no GOP primary opposition, so he’s essentially free to be the first Republican legislative candidate in recent memory to attempt to thread this needle. No other HGOP candidates are known to have this position, which makes the race worth watching.

Diverting disaster, the start of the ditch

Published by admin on Mon, 01/29/2024 - 2:27pm

The problem, of course, was water, too much of it and nowhere to put it. The Wilmington Coal Field lay under poor prairie soils that were pock marked with bogs and swamps. With only one small river, the Mazon, to drain it, Braidwood before the white man was a flat landscape full of mosquitoes, malaria and quick sand.
Along came the coal companies to dig deep holes in this landscape with the inevitable result of flooding and loss of life. What to do?