A waiting game
Earl Eugene Little, 33, was found dead on July 6. Nearly two weeks after her younger brother was found dead in his cell at Pinckneyville Correctional Center, Dana Caley wants answers. So far, Caley says, the only information she and other relatives have been given by the Illinois Department of Corrections is that Earl Eugene…
Marshalls coming to Springfield
Marshalls, the nationwide chain of discount department stores, is coming to Springfield. The store will be built at Sherwood Plaza near the intersection of Wabash Avenue and Veterans Parkway, said Ward 7 Joe McMenamin, whose ward includes the site. The store will be next to Burlington, which moved from the Town and Country shopping center…
Dr. No Feelgood
After he was refused painkillers, Charles King traveled to Maryland for spinal cord sugery, which left a deep scar down his neck. Photo Courtesy of Charles King Concerned about a burgeoning opioid crisis, the General Assembly has passed a bill that would allow folks with prescriptions for opioids to purchase medical marijuana. But even if…
The New York Times strikes out
For more than a century, The New York Times has unabashedly bragged in a banner slogan that it publishes “All the News That’s Fit to Print.” Really? Then why did this prestigious publication waste so much paper and ink on a June 25 front-page article about Bernie Sanders that was demonstrably untrue, not news and…
Pritzker takes over Democrat Day
Back in the old, old days, Chicago Mayor Richard J. Daley would pack passenger trains full of loyalists and send them all to the Illinois State Fair’s Democrat Day rally where they were treated to rousing speeches by party leaders and candidates. Gov. Rod Blagojevich kept that tradition alive on a somewhat smaller scale by…
Letters to the Editor 7/12/18
SEPARATION, NOT MARGINALIZATION In the July 5 edition of Illinois Times, Stephen Soltys points out that “marginalization” of certain groups by a government may result in policies such as those that led to the Holocaust in Nazi Germany (GUESTWORK: “A psychiatrist on separating children”). I question the use of “marginalization” when referring to the illegal…
Editor’s note 7/12/18
The restored Governor’s Mansion opens to the public Saturday, along with the new Jackson Street Trail and its Bicentennial Plaza. The mansion renovation is a fine gift to Springfield from Gov. Bruce Rauner. Illinois Realtors and their executive, Gary Clayton, joined the magnanimity by adding Bicentennial Plaza. Mayor Jim Langfelder and city government did its…
Gun violence is a public health hazard
On March 14 of this year, students across the U.S. left class for 17 minutes – one minute for every person killed in the Marjory Stoneman Douglas High School massacre. It is a bit disheartening to realize that, if the students had instead chosen to stay out of class one minute for every person…
Valley girl turned law student
Don’t miss The Muni’s production of Legally Blonde: The Musical. Based on the Legally Blonde novel by Amanda Brown and the 2001 film by the same name, the musical contains music and lyrics by Laurence O’Keefe and Nell Benjamin plus a book by Heather Hach. The story follows Elle Woods, the quintessential Valley Girl who has…
Debut choral performance
On Saturday, July 14, enjoy a debut concert by Spero Chamber Chorale, a new, Springfield-based choral ensemble founded as an outlet for local music teachers and professional singers. According to Dr. Abby Musgrove, the Chorale’s founder and conductor, spero is the Latin word for hope, and the choir’s mission is to bring hope and joy…
Weed better get some Febreze
I’m sober, but my boyfriend smokes pot. I’m fine with that, but I don’t want him smoking in the house. He says it’s his house, too, so I’m not being fair. Plus, it is cold in the rural area where we live and it rains a lot, so he’d have to put on a jacket,…
Trail blazing
After years of idle public speculation, abandoned plans and long periods of apparent inaction, the stretch of Jackson Street north of the Governor’s Mansion will unveil the results of a new streetscaping project. This will coincide with the completion of the renovation of the mansion itself as well as the premier of the newly completed…
Free Frank’s City of Brotherly Love
Picture what life was like in the 1830s in western Illinois near the Mississippi River. Although the Northwest Ordinance of 1787 prohibited slavery in the area that became Illinois, residents could keep their current slaves. Across the river in nearby Hannibal, Missouri, slavery was part of the lifestyle. Buying slaves was considered an “investment.” In…
Council rejects library camping ban
Fifteen years after the city declared a goal of ending homelessness in a decade, Springfield still has plenty of homeless people but no solid plan to address the issue. The latest proposal by Mayor Jim Langfelder failed Tuesday as the city council in a 5-5 vote rejected his plea to close library grounds after hours…
HEART SURGERY RECOVERY
The Prairie Heart Institute at HSHS St. John’s Hospital will open a new cardiovascular intensive care unit (CVICU) July 16. The new space will be dedicated to helping cardiac patients recover after open heart, cardiovascular, vascular and thoracic surgeries. There will be 14 new CVICU beds along with increased space for patients and additional support areas,…
FIRES AND OTHER DISASTERS
When last we checked, folks conducting a series of polls about the best and biggest as part of observances of Illinois’ bicentennial had decreed that the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum was the Prairie State’s best museum. Now, voters have decided that Lincoln’s assassination was the state’s most heartbreaking moment. Fair enough. The Great…
First Purge’s vital message obscure
In 2013, James DeMonaco’s The Purge seemed like another throwaway entry in the horror genre, a slickly made and at times effective thriller in the Blumhouse Productions mold – cheaply but professionally done, with just enough scares to satisfy fans of the genre. After raking in nearly $90 million on a budget of $3 million,…
AA Fest A-OK
Per usual, there are many happening things going on this weekend (and during the week for that matter), so get yourself together and get out to experience what you can while you can. In the plethora of activities occurring within our community over the next days, few can compare with the size and complexity of…
Kevin Gordon
This northern Louisiana native and current East Nashville resident gets around and has done so for a couple decades now. Kevin Gordon duets with Lucinda Williams, has been reviewed on NPR and in No Depression magazine, plays NPR’s Mountain Stage, and “the” Keith Richards records his songs. He graduated with an MFA from the prestigious…
archival find poem # 7
archival find poem # 7 a letter from my dad, circa 1980: hereports my sister, “that superstitiouswench,” wrote him if he didn’t drinkfor a week something nice would happenhe didn’t drink for a week and the doublemartini he treated himself to at the end ofthat period “was the nicest thing thathappened to me all week.”…
Fresh blueberry pie
Memory is a funny thing. As easily as you can forget what you ate for lunch yesterday, a single whiff of an aroma from the past can transport you back in time. Every time I make a batch of my great-grandmother’s beef and dumplings, its savory smells fill the house and odd details of her…
