Feature | Wednesday, December 30,2009

The lives they lived - Part I

Celebrating 22 loved ones lost in 2009

About the issue This last week of the year Illinois Times takes a loving look back at some of the lives that ended in 2009. All across Springfield this past week, chairs were empty and hearts were a

Feature | Wednesday, December 30,2009

The lives they lived - Part II

Celebrating 22 loved ones lost in 2009

By IT Staff

KENNETH “GENE” WELLENREITER JR. Aug. 13, 1971 – July 27, 2009 {image-7167}Gene Wellenreiter came into my life about six years ago and taught me more about life and living through

Feature | Thursday, August 6,2009

Goat invasion

A growing breed of livestock preserves an old way of life on a Sangamon County farm

By Rick Wade

Like an art critic judging a sculpture, Mike Earles leans back and places the end of his goateed chin between the raised thumb and forefinger of his left hand. His eyes narrow as he leans

Feature | Thursday, August 6,2009

The growing U.S. goat market

Earles brothers belong to a new breed of livestock producer

By Rick Wade

The South African Boer goat quietly invaded the United States via Texas about 15 years ago – and has been nibbling its way north ever since. Developed by Dutch farmers

Feature | Thursday, August 6,2009

Shadows of the Motherland

Russian Orthodoxy in downstate Illinois

By William Furry

T he trained eye rarely misses them: three-barred crosses and primitive, colorful icons, occasionally spotted in roadside cemeteries and out-of-the-way chapels from Chicago to Carbondale

Feature | Thursday, July 30,2009

Compact, climate-friendly, competitive

To restart the economy while saving the planet, the Congress for the New Urbanism advocates traditional neighborhoods for all

By Katherine Gregor

“This is one of those moments to step up and articulate what urbanism is worth to America.” That’s how Scott Bernstein, president of the Center for Neighborhood Technolo

Feature | Thursday, July 30,2009

New urbanism the Springfield way

The capital city is brimming with grand ideas about how to grow the city’s core and push back against sprawl. So why hasn’t anything happened yet?

By R. L. Nave

Springfield is bursting with new urbanists. While the phrase “new urbanism,” coined in the 1980s, often frightens people who think that new urbanism entails mandating an organi

Feature | Thursday, July 23,2009

Home-grown virtuoso

After beating string players twice his age, Springfield's Clayton Penrose-Whitmore moved on — to Chicago, Detroit and Carnegie Hall

By Dusty Rhodes

T here must have been scores of kids who, like Clayton Penrose-Whitmore, found themselves enjoying a snack in the Ethnic Village at the Illinois State Fair, just as a group of Suzuki vio

Feature | Thursday, July 16,2009

Building a new life after prison

RaeLynn Costa is making a comeback, with the support of Project Return

By Amanda Robert

Feature | Thursday, July 9,2009

State Fair history needs a home

July 11 Corndog Kickoff to raise money toward museum

By Jolonda Young

What do you do with 156 years of photos, programs, ribbons, exhibits and other memorabilia collected from the annual Illinois State Fair?