Reeder: ‘Politics is everywhere — even in the church’
After being elected to the Illinois Legislature in 1936, Richard J. Daley would do the same thing every morning in Springfield. The future mayor of Chicago would kneel and a...
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Reeder: Rauner should speak out about SIU hirings
Imagine interviewing for a job and getting offered a starting salary of $340,000 and then demanding that your new employer create positions for your adult daughter and her husband. Arrogant?...
Reeder: Book on Trump centers on his character
SPRINGFIELD — If statistics are any prediction, I ought to be an enthusiastic supporter of President Donald Trump. After all, I'm a middle-aged white male, a gun owner, a rural...
Reeder: Rauner, Ives should debate
SPRINGFIELD — Our governor, Bruce Rauner, is a coward. How else can we describe a man who refuses to debate his opponent? Last month, journalists in Jacksonville tried to pin...
Reeder: Voters will be the losers if Rauner, Ives fail to debate
Our governor, Bruce Rauner, is a coward. How else can we describe a man who refuses to debate his opponent? Last month, journalists in Jacksonville tried to pin the governor...
Reeder: In Illinois, the exodus continues
SPRINGFIELD — The exodus continues. Illinois dropped from the fifth-largest state to the sixth, according to recently released Internal Revenue Service data. We've been edged out by Pennsylvania. In 2017,...
Reeder: As cremations increase, unwanted boxes of ashes are turning up
Ring-a-round the rosie, A pocket full of posies, Ashes! Ashes! We all fall down. My kids used to sing this nursery rhyme when they were younger. The song always creeped...
Reeder: I am infatuated with newspaper vending machines
SPRINGFIELD — I love newspapers. And for the past 30 years, I've had a particular infatuation with the newspaper vending machine. Oh, I know it sounds silly, but I still...
Reeder: Illinois has too many school districts
Illinois has too many school districts, taxpayers pay way too many administrators and our children are suffering for it. It's hard to argue with any of those things, but politicians...
Reeder: At 12, I came face to face with a predator
SPRINGFIELD — I felt the hay scratch through the back of my thin white t-shirt. The man's hands gripped my spindly arms as his weight bore down on me. As...