Area residents have a great selection of holiday activities to choose from in the next several weeks. Here’s a listing of some options to put on your calendar. This week will feature Villa Park.

After an election season that appeared it would never end, the past two weeks have been incredibly joyful.

Chris Britt's editorial cartoon for Friday, Nov. 21.

Prisons don't die easy. Pontiac Mayor Scott McCoy has made the strongest accusations yet against a state prison system and a governor accustomed to strong accusations. The horrible situation in Pontiac goes much farther than the state's plan to close the century-old prison there.

A week from today, children’s plates will be piled high with turkey, dressing and some food items they may find tough to identify, much less eat. Could those mounds be — gulp — vegetables?

You can't have a conversation about America’s energy future these days without “green” technology coming into the picture. For coal-rich Illinois, that means any mention of clean coal technology makes our ears perk up.

Gov. Rod Blagojevich is the most unpopular, least trusted public official of any stature in Illinois, and perhaps America, if his dead-last 13 percent approval rating is any indication.

Knitting seems to have grown in popularity within the past few years.

Fresh flowers and patriotic placemats helped turn the Alumni Lounge of Riverside Brookfield High School into a posh dining room Nov. 11. The school was abuzz with anticipation of welcoming 85 veterans of various conflicts to breakfast with Superintendent Jack Balderman and members of the RB staff, who had the honor of serving the returning veterans.

Chris Britt's editorial cartoon for Thursday, Nov. 20.

Pity the poor Chicago Cubs. Well, you can. Bruce Simon doesn’t. Bruce, and other Chicago White Sox fans in Springfield, saw the passing of 100 years with no World Series title for the Cubs as occasion for partying, not pitying. 

Lawmakers of both parties are expected to meet this week in Springfield to move toward selecting their new standard-bearers in the state Senate, following the retirement of Democratic Senate President Emil Jones and Frank Watson's exit as Republican leader after a stroke.

In August we wrote, “Illinois has real problems that must be dealt with before the first snowflakes fall after the election in November.” Snowflakes have fallen and Illinois’ financial picture looks as bleak as the cold, gray days of winter.

Chris Britt's editorial cartoon for Wednesday, Nov. 19.

As Congress debates whether to give the Detroit automakers another $25 billion, maybe more, to patch holes in their sinking ships, here’s my take: I don’t agree with those who say we should let Ford, GM and Chrysler just go out of business.