It Picks
Green acres Theatre in the Park closes its summer season with a tip of the hat to a milestone: the 100th anniversary of Anne of Green Gables. In the classic tale, a farming family, Marilla and Matthew Cuthbert, adopts an orphan to help in the fields, but what they got in Anne was more than…
Downtown blues bash
It hardly seems a year ago Sonny Landreth tore up the Old Capitol Blues & BBQs stage with his blistering slide guitar work, but here it is time for another action-packed blues night in downtown Springfield. Now in its fifth year, the annual blues bash is nearly an institution with no end in sight and…
Capitol risk assessment
For the past year, an underground parking garage that connects several state government buildings at the Capitol Complex has been without a stationary security presence. In light of recent fiscal reductions ordered by Gov. Rod Blagojevich, state agencies are scrambling to trim costs without compromising the safety of the public or law enforcement officers. In…
Public relations gone awry
Untitled Document A well-financed plan to polish the public image of a wealthy businessman suspected of involvement in a notorious double homicide may have backfired this month when details of the scheme surfaced in a civil lawsuit. The businessman, who has generally been unnamed in media reports, was once considered a “person of interest” in…
Plug-in hybrids
Should we expect to see “plug-in” hybrid cars anytime soon? Gasoline-electric hybrids now, like Toyota’s popular Prius, don’t need to be plugged in — you just fill their tanks with gasoline and the battery is charged by the internal combustion engine and by energy generated from the wheels when braking (a feature known as regenerative…
ICBC Annual Blues Challenge
The Illinois Central Blues Club formed in 1986 and since then the group has hosted more than 42,000 musicians and 1500 live performances. Each week the club hosts blues artists from across the country, including a great many with local ties and talents. The Club’s Blue Monday takes place at The Alamo (just north of…
People’s poetry
sangamonpoem #1 we picnicked by a roaring mountainbrook icy water seething aroundgargantuan rocks to let the kids seesome wild vermont swim in the back-water pools campers were picnickingnearby I asked a young counselorwhere’s your camp? he gestured behindhim up in the green mountains what’sit called? sangamon I did a double takespell that? he did sangamon…
Deep in debt
When Shelley Pethy started college in the early ’80s, the process seemed simple. The Springfield native went to a local bank, filled out a few applications, and acquired loans to fund her associate’s degree in fine arts at Springfield College. She went through the process again in 1995 when she enrolled at University of Illinois…
Gazpacho: More than tomatoes
Some call it liquid salad. That’s understandable, but there’s a lot more to gazpacho than a glass of V-8, though you might never know it from some of the gazpachos that show up on summer menus all over the world these days: a bowl or glass of cold, seasoned tomato juice, garnished with bits of…
CAP CITY
A little less o’ dora Former IT cover girl DoraLee Durham, the plus-size beauty queen who races go-karts, sews costumes, preaches and sings the gospel [see “American beauty,” Feb. 22, 2007], is hanging up her tiara, sash, and evening gown for good. For a good reason, that is. She can no longer compete in the…
Nothing but sour grapes
Though Bottle Shock (2 stars) is based on a true story, you’re liable to be wondering just how much of it is fact. I’d say about 40 percent, as so much of it plays like a labored Hollywood flick from the ’30s, replete with stock characters and hoary circumstances. There’s Jim Barrett, a lawyer (Bill…
Springfield’s riot in context
Last week marked the 100th anniversary of Springfield’s race riots. They left our city with a legacy we will never outlive and perhaps never overcome. As Springfieldians struggle with that legacy, especially this year, it’s helpful to put our city’s riots into a national context, to understand how they fit into the broader history of…
Moving violation?
Gov. Rod Blagojevich is a uniter. In fact, his plan to move the Illinois Department of Transportation’s traffic-safety division to Harrisburg brought together an alliance of Republicans and Democrats, as well as labor and business groups. All are united in opposition to the governor’s move. On Monday, Springfield Mayor Tim Davlin, a Democrat, joined Republican…
Why can’t I grow perfect tomatoes?
One of the biggest joys of summer is eating a juicy ripe tomato. Nothing beats the flavor of a garden fresh tomato on a hamburger, on a bacon, lettuce, and tomato sandwich, or cherry tomatoes in a salad. Tomatoes are relatively easy to grow, but sometimes it’s a challenge to produce the picture-perfect fruit. They…
Letters to the Editor
We welcome letters. Please include your full name, address, and telephone number. We edit all letters. Send them to Letters, Illinois Times, P.O. Box 5256, Springfield, IL 62705; fax 217-753-3958; e-mail editor@illinoistimes.com. JACKSON POEMS, GENTLE AND AWARE I wanted to send a note in admiration of the poems by Jackie Jackson. I received a 2007…
Case studies: How they dealt with debt
Thanks to StudentLoanJustice.org, a national grassroots advocacy organization and political action committee, students from all over have banded together to speak out about the sticky student loan situation. Two central Illinois members share their stories: A local biology professor, who wishes to remain anonymous, began her career with a full-ride scholarship to Saint Louis University.…
Stop clowning around with the economy
Here’s my no-cost economic reform plan for America: All politicians and economists who keep blathering at us that things really are in good shape if only people would get over their “mental recession” must henceforth wear clown suits and sit on whoopee cushions. I’m talking about the clowns with straight faces who wag their fingers…
Killing the raises
Last week’s umpteenth special legislative session had a lot more to do with giving the Senate an opportunity to kill off the legislative pay raises than coming up with education funding reform ideas or passing a capital construction plan. The official reason the General Assembly was brought back to town last Tuesday was to deal…
Going to the Johns
The women who walk by my house, sometimes early in the morning, are always polite when I ask them to go work someplace else. If they don’t leave, I call the police, who come by if they’re not busy and move the women along. There are occasional stings, where several women are arrested and spend…
