City Beat

      As we get closer to the March 17th General Primary Election (some information is printed on pages 7 and 13 of the print and online editions) I can’t help but notice the most frequently mentioned candidate that is on both the Republican and Democrat specimen ballots is “No Candidate”.      While a lot of the “No…

     I attended last week’s press conference where Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe announced that, pending the official vote next Monday evening, the Decatur City Council has selected Melissa Hon as the next City Manager.      According to the background provided by the city, Hon has served as Interim City Manager since November 1, 2025 after the departure…

     It is hard to imagine mailing a picture postcard to someone for a penny but that’s what it cost in another era of our history.      The local “penny postcard” not only had a photo or drawing of a Decatur landmark or building, or something else with a local connection, there was room on the reverse…

    When I was a teenager I preached a lot of sermons at churches in the Decatur and Central Illinois area.      Following one Sunday morning service, an elderly member of that congregation shook my hand and said “You are going to be another Billy Sunday!”      I thanked him but didn’t have a clue who Billy Sunday…

       Several years ago, I compiled a “Scrapbook” article about the four years I lived in a small “house trailer” in a “trailer park” in Hiawatha, Iowa.      Of course, the term “house trailer” has evolved into “mobile home” and that style of living is quite “modern” in today’s world.      Many of you have made reference…

     As someone whose journalism career reaches back to the 1960s, this week’s “Scrapbook” feature (pages 4 and 5 of the print and online editions) by Tom Emery is of special interest to me — and I hope to you.      As the headline above the photo on the front page indicates, “Illinois Statehouse Pressroom Of The…

     If you are like me the Christmas season is filled with special memories of people, places and family gatherings.      When I was a kid our family members would gather at my grandparents’ house in Hammond, the small community 20 miles east of Decatur.      The day was filled with constant conversations between the Bolin family members…

     The public library has always been a special place for me. Since I was old enough to hold a book (and maybe before that) I’ve always loved to read.      Some of the first Christmas gifts I received as a boy (at least the ones I remember) were children’s books.      Other kids were getting toys that…

     It seems to me that the snow and below average temperatures that hit the Decatur area on the weekend after Thanksgiving Day came too early this year.      In fact, the first official day of winter in 2025 is Sunday, December 21. The winter solstice marks the shortest day and longest night of the year in…

          Whenever I hear “Pearl Harbor” mentioned, regardless of the reason, my thoughts go back to what happened in this nation’s history on Dec. 7, 1941, and the Japanese sneak attack on that day that launched this nation into World War II.      When I became editor and publisher of the Decatur Tribune in 1969,…