Dog found dead at pound
Workers at the Sangamon County animal control center made a grisly discovery last Friday morning. It was shortly after 10 a.m. when workers found a mixed-breed dog, dead, inside an exercise pen outside the center. No one knows how many hours it had been there, with temperatures dipping to three degrees below zero during the…
John M. Palmer
In “A new Dawn at the statehouse?” I suggested that most of the statues and memorial that litter the statehouse grounds ought to be landfilled, they being either mediocre art or memorializing mediocre characters. Most, but not all. Among the state’s current collection of garden gnomes—and, because its location, probably one of the least…
More on exterior decoration
There is much to say about statues, and public art in general, and I am surprised, looking back over nearly 40 years of writing about things Illinoisan, that I have said so much of it. There is, for a start, my column in this paper from 2012, “Faith, hope and statuary.” More meaty in every…
Blues Sisters
Brooke Thomas, Monica Morris and Josie Lowder. PHOTO BY REBECCA SEARS “I have heartaches, I have blues. No matter what you got, the blues is there.” – John Lee Hooker Jan. 21-25, at the International Blues Challenge (IBC) in Memphis, Tenn., hundreds of blues musicians gather from all over the USA and parts of Europe…
Editor’s Note 1/23/14
King Day came and went this year with the usual good feeling. The Frontiers International breakfast swarmed with politicians rarely seen in Springfield – Aaron Schock, Rodney Davis. . . even Sue Scherer was there. The speaker was, as usual, all over the place but she didn’t go on too long, so we were all…
Moot Davis
PHOTO COURTESY HIGHWAY KIND RECORDS With 22 show dates in 23 days, Moot Davis is on the move. Leaving his home state of New Jersey on Jan. 20, the country-crooner, singer-songwriter travels cross country playing duo dates with his guitarist Bill Corvino. Then by February, Davis hooks up with the rest of the band in…
Noble, moving tribute
Taylor Kitsch, Mark Wahlberg, Ben Foster and Emile Hirsch in Lone Survivor. PHOTO COURTESY UNIVERSAL PICTURES Peter Berg’s Lone Survivor contains the most revelatory opening credits sequences I’ve seen in a long time. Composed of various documentary film clips, it quickly compresses the basic training regime that potential Navy Seals undergo. Grueling and beyond reason,…
First things first
Curses, foiled againA group of young men was robbing a man in San Francisco when, without provocation, one of them pulled out a handgun and fired at the victim. The bullet ricocheted off the victim’s face and struck another robber, Clifton Chatman, 16, whom police pronounced dead at the scene. (San Francisco Chronicle) A woman…
Stellar info
Sangamon Valley Group of the Sierra Club’s monthly educational series and Sustainable Springfield present a panel discussion regarding the installation of solar powered electrical panels benefiting Springfield businesses. Included (pictured from left) are Chef Michael Higgins, Maldaner’s Restaurant owner; Wynn Coplea, IGEN’s program manager; Julie Rourke, Lincoln Land Community College’s Workforce Development Center; Michelle Knox,…
Music relief for winter weather woes
The Angry Inch appear at the Legacy Theatre with Hedwig Thursday through Saturday this weekend and next. PHOTO COURTESY THE LEGACY THEATRE Oh my, isn’t that snow so pretty as it falls from the sky? Then how quickly it becomes ugly as we deal with the removal of said snow in order to continue our…
10th Street rail: Too early to relocate?
Residential properties on North 11th Street and Ridgely Avenue are on the IDOT list for acquisition as a part of the 10th and Third Street rail consolidation project. PHOTO BY LAUREN P. DUNCAN After the Illinois Department of Transportation released a list of more than 150 properties along Springfield’s 10th Street rail line last summer,…
Olive oil
Extra-virgin olive oil demand and consumption have risen steadily worldwide in recent years because of its health benefits and flavor for dressings, marinades and popularity for drizzling on bread. PHOTO BY DAN COYRO/MCT Consider the olive. The olive tree has been cultivated for more than 5,000 years, starting in the eastern Mediterranean. Trees can live…
Going down
A hearing officer has ruled against a landowner who fears that a plan to inject waste from a Carlinville coal mine into subterranean mining voids will pollute groundwater. The mine already has problems with groundwater pollution, according to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, which last year called in the state attorney general’s office to pursue…
Data mining, Springfield-style
Where’s Edward Snowden when you need him? That may well be what Springfield aldermen are asking themselves as they ponder whether Nathan Mihelich, the city’s communications director who reports to Mayor Mike Houston, has been snooping though emails sent to city council members via the city’s computer system. The issue erupted last week when aldermen…
Droll duo
PHOTO COURTESY HOOGLAND CENTER FOR THE ARTS Six performances of The Odd Couple take place, Jan. 24-26, 31 and Feb. 1-2. This classic comedy by Neil Simon opens with a group of guys in the middle of a heated poker game at the apartment of divorced sports writer Oscar Madison. And if the mess is…
What if antibiotics no longer work?
Have you had your daily minimum requirement of triclosan today? How about your dosage of triclocarban? Chances are you have, but don’t know it. These two are antimicrobial chemicals, which might sound like a good thing – except that they disrupt the human body’s normal regulatory processes. Animal studies show, for example, that these triclos…
A new Dawn at the Statehouse?
Does Illinois really want to emulate Everett Dirksen? PHOTO BY DAVID HINE On Jan. 9, Rich Miller of CapitolFax took a break from chronicling Illinois lawmakers who ought to be forgotten to ask a queston on his blog about one who ought to be remembered: Should there be a statue of the late Dawn Clark…
strange weather poem #7
oddest bit of weather yesterday so oddit was mentioned on the local news mildout sun yet it was suddenly snowing andno ordinary snow – evenly spaced, bluebetween, and no ordinary flakes eitherbut snow pancakes big as silver dollarsthey didn’t drift down hither thither norrapidly either a steady near-rapid paceI haven’t even the words for it…
Food for thought
Slow Food Springfield, Benedictine University’s Green Club and the University of Illinois Extension present The Slow Food Springfield Film Festival at Benedictine University’s Library on Saturday, Jan. 25. Ingredients, The Movie and Food, Inc. will be shown at 2 p.m. Two Angry Moms and The Future of Food: A Looming Crisis will be screened at 4:15. Refreshments and dinner will be provided…
Meet Jennifer Gill
Jennifer Gill, who was voted in as superintendent of Springfield Public Schools this week, was educated in the same schools she’ll be overseeing in her new post. PHOTO BY PATRICK YEAGLE For Jennifer Gill, this is a sort of homecoming. Gill was born and raised in Springfield, was educated in Springfield’s public schools and went…
Mercy plea last resort for 78-year-old murder convict
Shirley Skinner PHOTO COURTESY ILLINOIS DEPARTMENT OF CORRECTIONS The families of convicted murderer Shirley Skinner and her victim, Steven Watkins, have feuded for years. But at a clemency hearing Jan. 15, relatives sat next to each other to argue one question: Should Skinner die in prison? Family members of Watkins argued that the man didn’t…
After a bad week, Rauner still on top
A solid week of horribly negative media coverage of Bruce Rauner was apparently outweighed by lots and lots of television ads because his numbers are still rising. A new Capitol Fax/We Ask America poll found that Rauner’s lead increased in the Republican gubernatorial primary since late November. The poll of 1,139 likely Republican primary voters…
Weirding bells are ringing
I am a bridesmaid in a wedding in four months and haven’t been able to think of a guy to be my date. I recently met a guy at a party. He is the friend of a friend and is cute and funny and seemed really nice. He lives two hours away, so it isn’t…
Please, carry with care
Words I wrote a while back in an Illinois Times op ed letter keep coming back to mind. I said: “Most of us will never commit armed robbery or push drugs. But under the right circumstances every one of us is capable of killing. Having a gun ready to hand will make this much easier.”…
Panhandlers appeal lawsuit setback
Don Norton panhandles in Springfield. PHOTO BY PATRICK YEAGLE Two well-known panhandlers in Springfield are appealing an initial defeat in their lawsuit against the city. Even if they lose the appeal, however, they’ll likely have another chance to make their case. The panhandlers seek to have the City of Springfield’s ban on panhandling downtown struck…
Letters to the Editor 1/23/14
In 2011, students of The Hope Institute for Children and Families enjoy guitar playing and songs with former music therapist Rachel Rambach. PHOTO BY DAVID HINE HOPE THRIVESI am writing in support of The Hope Institute for Children and Families and the caring, compassionate staff that care for the children there. A few years…
Presidential pieces
PHOTO BY JERRY HOLT/MCT These are the last two days to view the “Remembering Nelson Mandela’s Life and Legacy” exhibit at Springfield and Central Illinois African-American History Museum. On view are original documents from Mandela’s election as president of South Africa in 1994, letter to his family while in prison, personal memorabilia of Springfield residents who have…
