The Senate confirmation hearings for Amy Coney Barrett may lack for political drama, but they are still instructive. They are revealing the deep fault lines over the Supreme Court, and how Democrats view it as a mini-legislature to achieve policy goals, rather than a real judicial body.

It’s time to start turning down the heat on the current presidential campaign.

Here we are again.

Here are editorials published in newspapers around Illinois.

A week ago, Wednesday’s debate between Mike Pence and Kamala Harris might have seemed like the undercard, a warm-up act to get voters ready for the real thing.

News that President Donald Trump and first lady Melania Trump tested positive for the coronavirus shook America and the world in the wee hours of Friday morning.

What would be the most honorable, selfless act an Illinois elected official might consider? Probably this: To acknowledge the state’s financial woes and, in the name of overburdened taxpayers, fire oneself.

Chief Justice John Roberts offered a tribute to the late Ruth Bader Ginsburg.

Last week’s legislative inquiry into alleged misconduct by the Illinois House speaker proved to be little ado about very much.

This much we can say with certainty: A 17-year-old visibly armed with a semi-automatic rifle in the thick of a violent protest is a powder keg by itself. Kyle Rittenhouse of Antioch has been arrested and charged as an adult so far in connection with two deaths in Kenosha.

We’re helpless against violence, whether locally or in Wisconsin or somewhere else in the nation. Worse, no one has a promising plan or idea to stop us from showing our worst to one another.

We welcome more detailed comments from HSHS St. Anthony’s Memorial Hospital during a public hearing next week about its objections to the scope of a $35 million project by Sarah Bush Lincoln to rebuild a more expansive Bonutti Clinic in Effingham.

Consider this our petition to the Illinois Prisoner Review Board: Do not grant parole to the two monsters who fatally shot Illinois State Police Trooper Layton Davis on March 18, 1976, during a traffic stop on Interstate 57 near Effingham.

News of the physical consequences of the coronavirus pandemic continues to dominae our lives and will for the foreseeable future.

In an appearance on the Fox News program “The Story With Martha McCallum,” Vice President Mike Pence insisted voter fraud was common.

As the start of school approaches, it’s time for parents to talk with their kids about everything adults are doing to make them safe during the COVID-19 pandemic — and what they can do to help when they return to class.

“Tough day for us at Twitter,” company chief executive Jack Dorsey tweeted last Wednesday, after several high-profile accounts on his site were hacked. This was an understatement.

Right now, America needs heroes. And we have one for the ages in John Lewis.

What will schools look like in the fall?

The Commonwealth Edison agreement with federal prosecutors gives Illinoisans $200 million reasons to demand legislators immediately get back to work on ethics reform.

The emails continue to pour in. Thousands of workers furloughed or laid off due to COVID-19 shutdowns still have not received unemployment help from the state of Illinois, to which they are entitled.

Area school officials deserve credit for their careful and thoughtful discussions about how best to return students to the classroom.

Did you see which Illinois millionaires got big bucks from the federal government’s coronavirus rescue package . while most businesses suffered? That’s one interpretation of the data released Monday on organizations that received aid via the Payroll Protection Program.

Although it was painful to read the announcement on Thursday morning, we applaud the Effingham County Fair Board for making the right decision about this year’s fair. Most of the activities are canceled.

If it had been up to John Adams, Independence Day would have been celebrated on the Second of July.

Please don't desecrate the American flag this Fourth of July weekend by displaying the Confederate battle emblem.

So many aspects of our lives are connected to the internet today. That makes an announcement this week very welcome news: Rural areas of Effingham County are among 28 projects in line for broadband expansion.

As the state prepares to enter Phase 4 of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s “Restore Illinois” plan on Friday, we want to reflect for a moment.

Did he commit a gaffe? Or didn’t he?

Remember how bitterly Democrats complained when Republicans stalled President Barack Obama’s nominee for the U.S. Supreme Court, Merrick Garland?

A trillion here, a trillion there, pretty soon you're talking about real money.

Suppose you were strolling through Forest Park and came across a flattering statue of Adolf Hitler. Or Fidel Castro. Or Osama bin Laden. Of course, nations don’t generally bestow statuary upon enemies — unless those enemies happen to be Confederate leaders in the Civil War.

We’re impressed by the effort underway in Altamont to meet a portion of the community’s energy demand with solar power.

Members of our community plan to peaceably assemble on Saturday in downtown Effingham to promote unity and racial equality. We applaud and support this effort.

The death of George Floyd beneath the knee of a Minneapolis police officer – now fired and charged with murder – may seem far away.

It should not surprise you that the Illinois legislature passed another state budget that doesn’t add up. It should not surprise you that spending will outpace revenue by billions of dollars, and lawmakers bragged about it anyway.

Sometimes public officials are put between a rock and a hard place. The harsh glare of public scrutiny does little to soften either side.

Memorial Day always has been a mishmash of emotions.

State Rep. Darren Bailey is our voice in Springfield at a time when we must speak loudly.

Illinois Republicans are rightly calling for the removal of Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s graduated income tax referendum from the November ballot.

Illinois Republicans are rightly calling for the removal of Gov. JB Pritzker's graduated income tax referendum from the November ballot.

Social media companies might need to rethink their efforts to control the spread of disinformation.

We thought the Effingham County Board intended to have a serious discussion on Wednesday about “reopening” Illinois. That’s why we devoted so much newsprint in that day’s paper to State Rep. Blaine Wilhour’s plan to do that.

We’re as anxious as anyone for the local economy to get rolling again. The plan to do that regionally proposed by Rep. Blaine Wilhour of Beecher City has its merits. It also raises questions – but any plan worth considering should be able to stand up to questioning.

This is literally a breath of fresh air.

People in Central Illinois have probably had enough of the Illinois stay-at-home order, of the northeast corner of the state and of Cook County in general.

We feel the frustration that drove state Rep. Darren Bailey to file a lawsuit challenging Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s extension of the state’s “stay-at-home” order, which has caused incredible hardship in our community and across the state. We think Bailey raises important issues regarding the stat…

For weeks now, this editorial page has beat the drum for at least one more big federal stimulus package to help all states — red ones and blue ones — recover from the coronavirus pandemic.

The coronavirus pandemic is a stress test of our nation’s most fundamental systems, institutions and safety nets, just as the Great Depression was during the 1930s.