A multi-sport complex at Proviso West High School in Hillside may be a great community investment. But it’s not more important than life safety issues elsewhere, and the GOP won’t let House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch shirk the spotlight.

"A trip to New York always provides stories to tell. Or for starters, a series of observations. Let me share more of my notes," Lonny Cain, retired managing editor of The Times in Ottawa, writes in his weekly column PaperWork.

"A candidate’s past margin of victory says nothing about the relative weight of mail-in ballots received after Election Day – and thus the strategic importance of extended poll-watching operations."