Gin Blossoms, Tonic, Vertical Horizon at BOS Plaza
Gin Blossoms, Tonic, Vertical Horizon perform at BOS Plaza on June 16, 2018.
Don’t touch that building!
The downtown YMCA building shouldn’t be demolished, says the state Department of Natural Resources, because it’s beautiful, useful and historic – after all, Barack Obama played basketball there while a state legislator. “Although outside the purview of our regulatory review, this office suggests that the City of Springfield considers (sic) the potential for future tourism…
How bad public policy happens
Question: If you inject a stream of raw ignorance into a vat of gaseous arrogance, then jolt the mixture with 1,000 megawatts of malevolence … what does it produce? Answer: Donald Trump’s executive order of April 12. Let’s start with the arrogance. Donald the First has been in a deep pout over negative articles about him…
Can Madigan change 20+ years of behavior?
If you ask anyone at the Statehouse about House Speaker Michael Madigan’s former chief of staff Tim Mapes, they’ll all say he “made the trains run on time.” Mapes made sure everything got done exactly the way he (and his boss) wanted. He mastered the complexities and dominated the workings of Illinois House operations as…
Letters to the Editor 6/14/18
EDGAR NO FISCAL ANGEL In response to “Back to the backlog,” (Daniel C. Vock, Illinois Times, June 7): Saying that Illinois’ “downward slide” began with George Ryan is a little like saying that Europe’s problems in WWII started at Dunkirk. Any well-researched article (Crain’s Chicago Business ran an excellent one) will correctly point out that…
Editor’s Note 06/14/18
It is tempting to applaud President Trump for ignoring diplomatic niceties in order to engage the North Korean leader in an effort at peacemaking. Just go talk to the guy, what can it hurt? We can hope that it not only won’t hurt but will help. At least as long as they’re talking they’re not…
We need more politics
Every so often, I jot down a list of the things that discourage me about our country. There’s the widespread disregard for our core values of tolerance and mutual respect, for instance. Our declining national optimism. Our relaxed attitude toward fixing our election machinery, overseeing financial institutions and making sure that our key democratic institutions…
Run, roll or ride
Enjoy safe recreation with minimized vehicular traffic in Washington Park now through the end of September during the Springfield Park District’s annual “Bike and Hike Days.” “Bike and Hike Days” will occur on Sundays from 8 a.m. through 4 p.m., and “Modified Bike and Hike Days” will take place on Monday, Tuesday and Wednesday evenings…
ISM Super Saturdays
Take in a fun-filled afternoon of art and science activities during the Illinois State Museum’s “Backyard Art and Science Family Event” on Saturday, June 16, from 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. The rain-or-shine event showcases a variety of educational activities and demonstrations that kids ages 5 and up can recreate with their families in their…
A Father’s Day festival
Celebrate dad during the “Wild West Festival” on Sunday, June 17, at Indian Creek Farmstead and Pumpkin Patch. The live entertainment, food and fun begins at 11 a.m. and features the Dan Barth Medicine Show, The Whip Guy, music and rope tricks by Cowboy Randy and the Running Wild Drill and Trick Riding Show. Admission…
Paint and suffering
I’m doing some work on my landlady’s house. She just cannot figure out what color to paint it. Now, when a man paints his house, he goes to Home Depot, grabs a few cans of paint and starts right in. Simple. Git ‘er done. Not so with a woman. She’ll agonize endlessly over a bunch of paint chips.…
Candidate Kwame
The man who wants to be Illinois’ next attorney general has a mean jump shot, would rather listen than talk, has survived cancer and draws inspiration from his own life experiences when taking a stand on key issues. One of those experiences profoundly affected his life and political outlook. “I recall about seven years ago…
From prison to college
Jason Spyres was driving last week when the email arrived: Your Stanford application has been updated. It’s an improbable story that began in 2001, when a suspicious clerk at a United Parcel Service outlet alerted her supervisor: This package doesn’t look right, and the woman who dropped it off was nervous. California cops forwarded the…
Historic tax credits expanded statewide
A bipartisan effort by state lawmakers recently passed legislation expanding existing River Edge Redevelopment Zone (RERZ) tax credits that were previously set to expire. The measure simultaneously created the Illinois Historic Preservation Tax Credit, granting state income tax credits to encourage preservation of historic buildings statewide. If Gov. Bruce Rauner signs it into law, the…
Vachel comes alive!
In his 1920 novel, The Golden Book of Springfield, Vachel Lindsay conjured up mystical, utopian images of what his hometown of Springfield, Illinois, might look like in the “golden year” of 2018. Now that time has caught up with Lindsay’s visionary book, the city and its artists have been paying tribute to Lindsay’s vision, none…
ABE IN EVERY COURTHOUSE
A digital reproduction of Alexander Hesler’s famous Abraham Lincoln portrait was unveiled in the first floor lobby of the Sangamon County Courthouse this week. Of the original portrait, taken on June 3, 1860, Lincoln reportedly said, “That looks better and expresses me better than any I have ever seen; if it pleases people I am…
JOBS FOR VETS
Got a discharge? Need a job? The American Legion might be able to help. As part of the American Legion Department of Illinois’ 100th annual convention at the Bank of Springfield Center next month, the legion will hold a hiring fair from 10 a.m. until 11 a.m. for veterans and spouses of military members at…
Stylish Incredibles 2 hits all the right notes
A great deal has changed where pop culture and superheroes are concerned. Since the release of The Incredibles 14 years ago, the world of caped heroes with extraordinary powers was thought to be the purview of nerds and overgrown adolescents. The Marvel Films juggernaut hadn’t begun, and not everyone knew that Tony Stark was Iron…
June is jumping
Here comes the ides of June on Friday along with Father’s Day on Sunday and a plain-old Saturday sandwiched in between, all filled with glorious and wonderful live music to share. Let’s go straight to Sunday when the Curve Inn hosts a tribute to Shane Shomidie on Father’s Day from 2 to 8 p.m. in…
The 44’s
This Los Angeles-based blues/roots/rock band winds and climbs through the greasy and grand world of gut-bucket blues like nobody’s business. Since they first made a splash in 2007 with a credible fourth-place finish at the prestigious International Blues Challenge in Memphis, the quartet has continued to tour incessantly, making fans and friends all over the…
Rosé all day
Sometimes, you can have too much of a good thing. It wasn’t long ago that the selection of good dry rosé wines was limited in wine shops and practically nonexistent in grocery stores. Now, entire displays are set up at big box grocery stores with dozens of pink-hued bottles from regions all over the globe.…
archival data discovered #7
archival data discovered #7 poking through a file on insecticidesafter ww2 we all embraced DDTtill silent spring let us know the sheerhorror I think it was banned (it still got sold to third world countries) nomore mention in our records archerdaniels midland was a small companyoperating out of minnesota in the 30’smonsanto wasn’t much yet…
