In the Fall of 1968, The Lamp, the official Lincoln Land Community College newspaper, opened. And in April 2014, The Lamp’s first online article was published, titled “Students operate LLCC’s Bistro Verde Restaurant.” Now finishing its 54th year, this magazine commemorates the last print edition of The Lamp. To honor this special moment, we take a look back at some of the most notable stories in our history. The following is a timeline of some of these momentous events.

Fall of 1968: The Lamp opens

In the Fall of 1968 The Lamp, the official Lincoln Land Community College newspaper, published its first paper

April 2014: The Lamp’s first online article is posted to thelamponline.com.

In April 2014, The Lamp posts online a previously published article. The first online article: “Students operate LLCC’s Bistro Verde Restaurant.”

February 2015: Police train LLCC community how to react to a shooter

By Ryan Mazrim

Back in 2015, the LLCC police estimated there had been about 70 active shooter events in the U.S. during the last four years.

January 2016: Culinary student killed

By Teresa Brummet

On the morning of Jan.19, 2016, many LLCC students were devastated and shocked to discover, Nikki Maxey, a culinary arts student at LLCC, died after being stabbed multiple times.

October 2017: Is Bitcoin the new currency?

By Leo Borgelin

In 2009, the world was introduced to digital currency with Bitcoin. Since then, this digital currency has been growing.

October 2018: LLCC professor speaks on Brexit

By Paul Watson

Chris McDonald spoke at UIS on Britain’s decision to leave the European Union, the referendum campaign, election results and issues with separation strategies and possible outcomes.

January 2019: Student papers should enjoy First Amendment rights

By Meredith Howard

“The Lamp believes that student papers should enjoy First Amendment rights just as any other type of publication does.” Many student bodies don’t receiving vital information from a newspaper.

February 2020: Lamp Logic Podcast debuts

By David Allen, Skye Kretzinger and Kenneth Yokem

A group of Lamp staffers record the paper’s first podcast, talking about the Super Bowl and other issues in a roundtable discussion.

April 2020: Virus pushes U.S. unemployment to highest since Depression

By David Crary, Kathy Gannon and Angela Charlton

In April of 2020, unemployment leapt to levels not seen since the Great Depression of the 1930s. Due to the pandemic, 1 in 6 Americans lost their jobs.

January 2021: Joe Biden sworn in as 46th president

By Richard Bailey

On Jan. 20, 2021, Joe Biden became the 46th president of the United States, and Kamala Harris became the first female vice president of the United States.

January 2022: Lamp Logic Podcast returns

By Kalei Ramirez, Carmen Dillman, Chris Koorzen and staff

The Lamp staff creates a weekly news podcast that attempts to report what’s happening on campus. It’s modeled after NPR Now.

March 2022: Letter: Don’t label same-sex relationships as inappropriate

By Shelby H.

Florida’s “Don’t Say Gay” bill has affected many and sparked debate across the country. The bill bans the discussion of gender identity or sexual orientation from up to third grade.