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

“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?

Feature | Thursday, July 9,2009

Making the case for ‘local first’

Independent businesses contribute color, character and cash

By Rick Wade

What can a 16-inch pancake do for Springfield?

Feature | Thursday, July 2,2009

What price speed? FAST TRAINS

After previous derailments, Illinois plans for high-speed rail are back on track

By R. L. Nave

President Barack Obama announced his plan for a national network of speedy passenger trains in April by painting a scene familiar to high-speed rail utopians. “Imagine board

Feature | Thursday, June 25,2009

Children picture race unity

Winners of the annual art and poetry contest

By IT Staff

“Children and young people are perhaps the key to realizing true racial unity,” wrote Mike Lang, one of the organizers of the 12th Annual Race Unity Rally held June 7 at the St

Feature | Thursday, June 25,2009

The high price of cheap food

Counting hidden costs shows Illinois farmers a better way

By Julianne Glatz

The old man leaned on his cane and stared at the line that inevitably forms at the Merwyn’s stand at the Old Capitol Farmers’ Market during strawberry season. At first he seeme

Feature | Thursday, June 18,2009

Tougher than Guantanamo

Illinois supermax prison with no way out

By Dusty Rhodes

On paper, Michael Johnson fits the profile of dangerous inmate. Reputedly a high-ranking El Rukn gang leader, he was a few months into a 35-year sentence for kidnapping and murder when he