Area Extras by Meg Thilmony

• Switching to CFLs (Feb. 09, 2010 @ 10:02 am)
  

  I try to be pretty careful about making my home energy efficient. I've weatherstripped, insulated, caulked and replaced my incandescent light bulbs with compact fluorescents as they burn out.

  I was talking to Ameren Illinois Utilities spokesman Leigh Morris yesterday, and he told me that CFLs generally save consumers $5 per year per bulb. I told him that I replace my bulbs as they burn out, because throwing away perfectly good bulbs feels wasteful.

  He quickly convinced me otherwise.

• ChampaignTaste haiku winners married (Feb. 08, 2010 @ 11:02 am)
• Tickets for Pitchfork Music Festival on sale today (Feb. 05, 2010 @ 8:02 am)

Meteorologist Greg Soulje: The Weather Front On-Line by gsoulje

• Mid-Winter storm underway... (Feb. 09, 2010 @ 8:02 am)
  

  An extended period of challenging mid-winter weather expected across east-central Illinois.

  Low pressure aloft will drop southeast out of the Dakotas, and move east across east-central Illinois on Tuesday. This will feature interact with a separate storm system moving in from the Southwest U.S., resulting in an extended period of snowfall through Tuesday night.

  The storm system will intensify as it lifts northeast away from the area, causing blustery

Pseudo-Intellectual by Jim Dey

• Are liberals really condescending to those with whom they disagree? (Feb. 08, 2010 @ 4:02 pm)
  

  University of Virginia political science professor Gerard Alexander wrote a commentary to that effect in Sunday's Washington Post.

  It's pretty interesting and contains a fair amount of support for his theory. Of course, you can hear the liberals now, saying the conservatives are the ones who are condescending. Maybe they're both right.

  But, for now at least, all there is to offer on the subject is Alexander's commentary.

  So take a look.  You can read, can't you?

  Whoops, now I'm being condescending. Sorry.

• Salinger bids phonies goodby (Jan. 29, 2010 @ 4:01 pm)
• There's a great show at the Virginia Theater Saturday night (Sept. 26) (Sep. 25, 2009 @ 10:09 am)

Editor's Desk by John Beck

• Welcome to our new Web site (Feb. 08, 2010 @ 1:02 pm)
  

  After months of planning and preparation, our new Web site is up and running. We hope you'll find it more attractive and easier to use than the old site.

  The site will emphasize local breaking news and photos and we will also post major breaking Associated Press news stories from the state, nation and world. Over time, we have a lot of other plans for interesting content that we hope will have you coming back frequently and spending some time while you're here.

• Jokes are back in E3 (Sep. 09, 2009 @ 6:09 pm)
• Coming this weekend (Aug. 28, 2009 @ 3:08 pm)

Central Illinois Gazette by Tom Kacich

• Caterpillar joins FutureGen Alliance (Feb. 08, 2010 @ 10:02 am)
  

  Caterpillar has joined the FutureGen Alliance, presumably strengthening the effort -- politically and financially -- to attract the high-tech coal power plant to Mattoon.

  An announcement about FutureGen's future should be coming within the next few weeks.

   

  This is from the office of Gov. Pat Quinn ....

  Governor Quinn, Senator Durbin Announce Caterpillar Joining FutureGen Alliance

• So who was funding Scott Lee Cohen's campaign? (Feb. 04, 2010 @ 4:02 pm)
• Geographical balance in party tickets (Feb. 04, 2010 @ 1:02 pm)