News | Thursday, November 4,2004

From bad to worse

The Springfield Housing Authority still has not determined how to implement drastic funding cuts to the area's Section 8 program despite assurances that a plan would be announced this week. F

Feature | Thursday, November 4,2004

Rising son

By Todd Spivak

State Sen. Barack Obama made history on Tuesday by becoming just the fifth African American to win a seat in the U.S. Senate and the third since Reconstruction. Obama "spanked" Republican oppon

Feature | Thursday, October 28,2004

Trick or Treat?

By Todd Spivak

This Tuesday, ballots will be cast in what has been billed the most important presidential election in generations. Voter registration across the nation is at an all-time high. Hundreds of mill

News | Thursday, October 21,2004

His way with words

By Todd Spivak

The late Chicago journalist Steve Neal was hailed as a watchdog at last Thursday's dedication of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, although some of his subjects remember him more as a b

News | Thursday, October 21,2004

The unkindest cuts

By Todd Spivak

The Springfield Housing Authority was warned months ago that funding for its Section 8 housing-voucher program would be severely reduced. But hundreds of local landlords who are involved in the progr

News | Thursday, October 14,2004

Be afraid . . . very afraid

By Todd Spivak

Longtime peace activist Dr. Helen Caldicott arrived at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington last week with a doomsday message intended to spur students to action. "You live in a very,

Feature | Thursday, October 7,2004

Taking stock

The fate of the state's natural resources increasingly depends on committed volunteers such as Vern LaGesse

By Todd Spivak

A local volunteer-based environmental group has released what is widely being hailed as the most comprehensive inventory of natural areas ever compiled in central Illinois. Vern LaGesse, pres

News | Thursday, September 30,2004

Funding, finally

By Todd Spivak

Back in May, Medical District Commission president Michael Boer tried to pacify a roomful of rowdy north endresidents concerned about an apparent land grab in their area. By July, he assured th

News | Thursday, September 30,2004

Fancy moves

By Todd Spivak

Everybody knows that wrestling is fake. The rivalries are invented, and a mix of water and dye passes for spilled blood. Worse, the bout's victor is predetermined, eliminating any actual compet

Feature | Thursday, September 23,2004

Memory lane

By Todd Spivak

The thing that unites virtually all of the attractions along what's left of the iconic Route 66 is the wacky one-of-a-kind kitsch: the giant ketchup bottle that sits atop a water tower in Colli