Pay up
Local car dealer Todd Green has wrongly sold a jet partly owned by failed entrepreneur Jeffrey Parsons, according to a bankruptcy trustee who is asking for a $250,000 penalty against Green. One half of the Cessna jet sold in November was owned by a company controlled by Green and the other half belonged to THR…
Springfield must invest in its schools
Raise your hand if you want to pay higher taxes. I’m guessing not many hands went up. No one wants a higher tax bill without a very good reason. I’m leading a group of Springfield citizens who are convincing their neighbors that there are important reasons for all of us to contribute a little more…
Poetry Out Loud
Poetry Out Loud is a national contest for teens that challenges them to eloquently recite poems aloud by memory. The Poetry Foundation and National Endowment for the Arts cosponsor the annual competition. Contests are held at the state and regional levels prior to the national event. The Springfield Area Arts Council organizes and holds…
Right Now! Wertico Cain & Gray in concert at Dana Thomas House. Exclusive video!
Right now at the Dana-Thomas House (301 E Lawrence) a unique, fully improvised concert is getting underway featuring local composer and muliti-instrumentalist David Cain, legendary percussionist Paul Wertico and bass player / cellist / flautist Larry Gray. Earlier this evening, we were allowed to record them, along with master sound designer Dean Giavaras, as they…
The French don’t know just how to live
In a 2013 piece that was harder to write than it is to read, I remembered my good friend and long-time I contributor Rich Shereikis, who died of advanced pancreatic cancer at the age of 75. By all accounts his final days, spent under treatment at a well-known cancer clinic at a major US city, were…
Er, I don’t know
In my recent babbling about which collective noun best describes residents of Springfield, I explored which of the word endings “-ian” or “-er” was most appropriate to attach to the word Springfield. The Brits seem to have settled on “-ian,” but opt for making it part of a wholly new word. Thus Oxonian, Glaswegian and…
Art Opening Tonight at DEMO Project: Hannah Short
The opening reception for “Figments,” a new installation by Indiana-based artist Hannah Short, is happening at DEMO Project this evening from 6PM-9PM. Hannah frequently uses the medium of clay along with what she describes in a press release as “a broad range of textural glazes and non-ceramic surface materials,” which she says “reference the co-existing…
Job killers
A couple of week ago Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan announced his intention to introduce legislation to cut the corporate state income tax rate – that is, the rate applied to business profits — from 7% to 3.5%. Madigan said on announcing his plan, “I am hopeful this legislation will encourage CEOs to grow their…
Public utility, private monopoly
Since David Atkins asked the right questions about the wisdom of the recent purchase of Time Warner Cable by Comcast, I won’t have to. . . . the taxpayers funded much if not most of the actual wiring infrastructure that makes up the Internet for which these companies charge. Moreover, the Internet is an absolutely…
Name-calling
Is it Springfieldian or Springfielder? Many years ago, when the creeks ran clear and deer roamed free in the wooded groves of downtown Springfield, I was leaving Lanphier Park after watching the Springfield Redbirds play a ball game. I ran into IT colleague Ruth Knack and her husband, Bill Knack. Baseball, as its fans will…
Regan runs again
Jeff Regan A write-in candidate for Sangamon County sheriff is hoping to take advantage of an apparent split in the Republican Party that has two candidates competing for the post in the upcoming GOP primary. “I think that there’s an opportunity for our campaign to take advantage of what’s going on in the Republican…
Annie Leibovitz comes to town
Annie Leibovitz PHOTO BY GINNY LEE Legendary photographer Annie Leibovitz herself was in town last week for the opening of her new photography exhibit, “Pilgrimage,” at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum. The exhibit features some 70 color photographs from her recent personal work. Known as a photographer of celebrities for Rolling Stone and Vanity Fair…
Springfield wherever you go
Amy Benton performs at Fire and Ale in Sherman on Friday. A week ago, I was in sunny central Florida (it actually was 55 and raining most of the time) playing a few shows with friends. I’m glad to be back and I’d like to thank Ken Carlyle, Patrick Hagerman, Josh Reilly and Brian Reilly…
Song and storytelling
Chicago-based Fifth House Ensemble returns to UIS Studio Theatre Feb. 15 for a collaboration with University of Illinois Springfield faculty members that takes from the theme of the ancient Greek Muses and their influence over the arts and sciences. Known for their innovative chamber music programs, Fifth House Ensemble will play musical selections between the…
Editor’s Note 2/13/14
At Monday night’s Citizens Club meeting to ponder Sangamon County’s low ranking in health indicators – 80th among 102 counties in Illinois – a new guard seems ready to move in where the old guard has stopped advancing. After Jim Stone, the county public health director, proudly reported he had already started a pilot project…
A hitch in Rutherford’s race for governor
One of the reasons why people near Treasurer Dan Rutherford are so nervous these days is because of the possibility that other employees might come out of the woodwork with even more allegations. As I write this, the publicly revealed facts are still quite thin. A now former employee of Rutherford’s has claimed, without producing…
on a monday morning
on a monday morning by John Knoepfle, former poet ofthis column; 91 on Feb. 4 well dear heart what to say this sunshine hour it is a blue sky day the threat of the storm is gone you will be out awhile as I struggle with these lines what happened to ambition the desire to…
Small jobs
Curses, foiled againDuring an apparent robbery attempt in a parking lot in Portland, Ore., a 40-year-old man shot a 32-year-old man in the leg. The shooter fled, but his getaway ended when he accidentally shot himself in the groin, according to police Sgt. Pete Simpson, who explained, “The suspect’s wound is consistent with somebody putting…
John Corbett
Yes, it’s the same John Corbett from “Northern Exposure,” “Sex in the City,” My Big Fat Greek Wedding and Walgreen’s commercial voice-overs. He also happens to live with longtime partner Bo Derek on a California ranch. John not only acts, he sings meaningful country songs as well, staying busy on the road with a good…
Sniffing out trouble
Springfield patrol officer Dave Pletsch prepares for a training search with his dog, Utah, in a building on the Illinois State Fair Grounds. PHOTO BY PATRICK YEAGLE Inside a livestock building on the Illinois State Fairgrounds, a man is hiding stashes of marijuana, methamphetamine, heroin and cocaine in state-owned work vehicles parked inside for the…
White House Valentines
For more than 200 years, the White House has been a center of American politics. In some administrations, it is also a haven of romance. All but one president was a married man, and in three instances the chief executive was a groom during his term. The most famous example was Grover Cleveland, who married…
PLATES FOR A CURE
Cancer in kids is one of life’s cruelest realities, but folks in central Illinois are working to change that. Zoe Pramuk of Decatur successfully fought cancer with the help of Dr. Gregory Brandt, a pediatric doctor at SIU School of Medicine. Now Zoe and her mother, Jennifer Pramuk, are asking Illinoisans to help other kids…
Valentine show
Phone now to make your Valentine’s Day reservations for an evening at Abe’s Southside Pub for a romantic dinner with the R&B music of Jerry Hendrix and The Legendary Drifters with Tony Whitehead, backup lead singer for The New Stylistics, formerly of the Delfonics. Also offered is the show, dinner and a room for $99 per…
Play of lovers
Three performances of Romeo and Juliet will be shown on the big screen at AMC Showplace 12 on the Westside Valentine’s Day weekend. This is not the classic 1968 movie, or the 1996 Leonardo Dicaprio version of the film. This is a film of the critically acclaimed Broadway production starring Orlando Bloom opposite Tony-nominated Condola…
Incensed
Art Campbell The owner of a Springfield head shop says he fears bankruptcy in the wake of a raid by federal agents who emptied his store of pipes and suspected synthetic marijuana. That Traveling Treasures on Chatham Road was selling pipes and so-called incense that – nudge, nudge, wink wink – was not intended for…
Letters to the Editor 2/13/14
FOR THE BIRDS Great article about birds and wildlife habitat (“What do the birds tell us?” Jeanne Townsend Handy, Feb. 6). Thank you for sharing! I have a question about a bird sound that has me stumped. It is a bird that is heard in the background in many movies. In particular, in the movie Shawshank…
KIDS’ HOCKEY JAMBOREE
Nelson Center Ice Arena is set to be filled with activity on Feb. 15 as hundreds of young hockey players take to its ice. The Springfield Youth Hockey Association is hosting a youth hockey skill development event, called a “jamboree,” at the arena’s Rink 1 in Lincoln Park. About 250 youth from the central Illinois,…
A good time was jihad by all
I’m good friends with the woman next door, but she and her husband fight constantly in front of me and others. Recently, we were all in their car. She was driving, and he repeatedly told her everything she was doing wrong. Then he called to order a pizza, and she laid into him, saying he…
The educated poor: adjunct professors
There’s a growing army of the working poor in our U.S. of A., and big contingents of it are now on the march. They’re strategizing, organizing and mobilizing against the immoral economics of inequality being hung around America’s neck by the likes of Wal-Mart, McDonald’s and colleges. Wait a minute. Colleges? That can’t be. After…
Cabin fever crazy
Timballo is made with a casing of fresh pasta filled with layers of pasta, hardboiled eggs, cheeses, meatballs, sausages and meat sauce. PHOTO BY MBARRIEAU VIA WIKIPEDIA.ORG As I write this, the temperature is minus 1 degree. But the forecast high for Feb. 13, the day this Illinois Times comes out, is 41 degrees. That’s…
Sound portraits
Dana-Thomas House State Historic Site kicks off its new 2014 series of musical performances, Made for Music, on Feb. 15 with an appearance by the innovative jazz trio Wertico Cain and Gray, featuring Grammy-winning drummer Paul Wertico. Wertico Cain and Gray create what they call “sound portraits” using both music and visual effects. Tickets are…
Monuments Men missing momentum
George Clooney as Frank Stokes George Clooney’s The Monuments Men has the sort of pedigree that Oscar winners are made of. What with an all-star cast, including former Academy Awards recipients Cate Blanchett, Matt Damon, Jean Dujardin (as well as Clooney) and Bill Murray, John Goodman and Bob Balaban, as well as a subject matter…
Leaders: Balance school funding
The way the state distributes money to schools is unfair and too complicated, according to recent findings of the state’s Education Funding Advisory Committee. The committee of legislators, which was created in July to recommend a new funding system for education in Illinois, came out with its report Jan. 31. The report includes several recommendations,…
Corporate savings won’t save Illinois
A plan to cut Illinois’ corporate income tax in half to create more jobs won’t work out, according to budget expert Ralph Martire. Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan introduced a bill Jan. 30 to reduce the state’s corporate income tax from 7 percent to 3.5 percent. “I am hopeful this legislation will encourage CEOs to…
