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Small business owners have heart
I’ve heard the phrase, “Small business is the heart of America” all my life. While I’ve always agreed with the statement, spending the last year as a business features reporter has more than driven it home to me. Since last August, I’ve interviewed an estimated …
Keep records of vital information for elderly parents
Sometimes we make assumptions about the information that we have or don’t have when it comes to our parents, grandparents or other seniors in our lives. Unfortunately the moment we realize that the information we need is not available is usually during a crisis.
Taking stigma off incontinence
Watching daytime TV, and all of the commercials for incontinence products, one might think that incontinence is a normal part of life and aging.
This Apple has sour taste
Dear Fixer: I cannot download any apps on my iPhone. It says my account is disabled. After I sent a request to the Apple support email address, I received a response from an iTunes adviser who said it appeared that my account had been disabled due to “chargeback orders” they had received from my credit card issuer.
Art of compromise is what’s needed now
In the aftermath of last week’s election, I’ve been listening to my friends on the right and the left. They are saying the same thing, and that’s what worries me.
Christmas shopping, philosophically speaking
Now that that pesky presidential election is over, it’s time to concentrate on what’s really important. Christmas shopping. But before you can shop, you have to decide what to get friends and family, collectively known as loved ones.
Stop ‘straw buyers’ of guns
For years Chicago and Cook County officials have been pushing a law that would help close the spigot of guns flowing illegally into the city. So far, the National Rifle Association has blocked the law in Springfield, but officials here should keep pushing. The so-called …
How about veggie McDonald’s here?
McDonald’s is opening two vegetarian-only restaurants. Not, unfortunately, in one of the hipper neighborhoods of Chicago, or even somewhere in California. But in India — in Amritsar and Katra. This makes sense. For reasons of religion and tradition, Indian diets tend to be low in …
Refinancing bill could help the housing market
Gail Schechter is the executive director of the Interfaith Housing Center of the Northern Suburbs United States homeowners are in desperate need of relief. More than two million homes are in some stage of foreclosure and millions more homeowners are in homes for which they …
A ‘Moneyball’ lesson in life: ‘Get on base’
I’ve decided that the correct answer for just about any question this spring is: “He gets on base.” That answer comes from one of last year’s best movies, “Moneyball.” That simple phrase answers the questions put to Billy Beane, general manager of the Oakland A’s, …
Shimkus: Senator Kirk is coming back
Editor’s note: The following article is an op-ed piece submitted by U.S. Rep. John Shimkus, R-Collinsville, regarding the status of U.S. Sen. Mark Kirk, R-Highland Park, who is in recovery from a stroke he suffered in January. As a member of the Illinois congressional delegation, …
BLASER: Frauds and phonies are nothing new to Springfield
The recent news that a portrait of Mary Todd Lincoln hanging in the governor’s mansion in Springfield is a fake proved not only interesting but also somehow appropriate. It was interesting because all things dealing with President Lincoln are, at the very least, “interesting.” Appropriate …
Why we will no longer endorse in elections
The publications of Pioneer Press are no longer going to be endorsing candidates in local, state and national elections. This editorial tells you why.
