Bruce removed from criminal cases
U.S. District Court Judge Colin Bruce has been barred from presiding over criminal cases due to ex parte communications with an employee of the U.S. attorney’s office about a criminal case while a trial was in progress. “This court is temporarily reassigning all cases in which the United States is a party that are pending…
Schmidt interested in state’s attorney post
Sangamon County state’s attorney John Milhiser has been nominated to become U.S. attorney in Springfield. Meanwhile, Robin Schmidt, widow of the late John Schmidt, who had just been appointed a state appellate court judge when he died unexpectedly in December, confirms that she’s interested in becoming the county’s top prosecutor. The county Republican Party would…
“The Meg’s” Animated Beast its Undoing
One sign of a good salesman is the ability to take something old and sell it as something new. If you’re able apply a little bit of razzle dazzle, some misdirection and some shiny ribbon per se to make the consumer think that they’ve never seen what’s being peddled before, instill a sense of urgency…
Federal judge engaged in ex parte talk
A woman convicted of international parental kidnapping is asking for a new trial on the grounds that U.S. District Court Judge Colin Bruce sent emails to a paralegal in the U.S. attorney’s office about the case while her trial was in progress. The emails sent during the 2016 trial by Bruce to Lisa Hopps, the…
Paprocki vs. unions
Bishop Thomas Paprocki has curious ways of looking at the world. Homosexuality is sinful. Muslims are the enemy. Exorcism works. These sorts of stances have earned Paprocki plenty of WTFs since he came to Springfield eight years ago. He’s a hardliner’s hardliner, the sort who, if he managed in the American League, would send the…
Monopoly or democracy?
Corporate concentration of markets, profits, workplace decision-making, political influence and our nation’s total wealth is surpassing that of the infamous era of robber barons. Apple, which just became the first U.S. corporation to reach a stock value of a trillion dollars, is now larger than Bank of America, Boeing, Disney, Ford, Volkswagen and 20 other…
Weird times in Lake County
Lake County politics has been rocked to the core this month by the abrupt resignation of state Rep. Nick Sauer (R-Lake Barrington) and the announcement by Lake County Board Chairman Aaron Lawlor that he is dropping out of his re-election campaign after earlier disclosing that he was suffering from drug addiction. It’s really a mess…
Letters to the Editor 8/16/18
SCHOOLED ON SQUASH I read the “Zucchini and summer squash” article by Ashley Glatz in the Aug. 9 edition of Illinois Times. I wish to make a few somewhat unimportant corrections/clarifications. The picture in your article is technically correct as there are many kinds of “summer squash.” However, that particular picture is a yellow zucchini.…
Editor’s note 8/16/18
Sharp-eyed readers will note that this week’s print edition of lllinois Times is slightly smaller than previous issues. The page is an inch shorter, our concession to the Trump administration’s tariff on Canadian newsprint that went into effect earlier this year. Our printer, P&P Press of Peoria, held out for months before raising prices to…
Who to believe? The gov or a jailhouse snitch?
Whose word is less reliable, a jailhouse snitch’s or Gov. Bruce Rauner’s? That’s a question I have been asking myself these past two weeks. You’ll remember that the governor ran four years ago on a platform of free-market capitalism and criminal justice reform. Some cynics, at the time, questioned his sincerity. Was he just trying…
The timeless tale of Huck Finn
Catch the opening weekend of Big River, Mark Twain’s timeless tale of Huck Finn, who helps his friend, Jim, a slave, escape to freedom near the mouth of the Ohio River. Big River is driven by an award-winning score written by Roger Miller, the king of country music, and the resulting production is a brilliant…
Lounge on the lawn
Celebrate Edwards Place on Saturday, Aug. 18, with a traditional garden party from 1-4 p.m. Attendees will enjoy live entertainment from Peaches and Bacon (1 p.m.) and Wild Columbine (2 p.m.), photographs with Ulysses S. Grant (3 p.m.), plus lawn games and crafts that were popular during the 19th century as well as peach desserts,…
An end-of-summer soiree
On Saturday, Aug. 18, enjoy an evening of live jazz music and refreshments in support of the education and preservation programs of the Dana-Thomas House Foundation. “Jazz in Bloom,” an event held in the tradition of Susan Lawrence Dana’s summer cocktail parties, will feature live jazz music by the Rob Killam Quartet, tours of the…
Smells like quarantine spirit
I’m a 41-year-old married lesbian. My wife and I used to work from home together. She recently got an important job, and she’s now gone all day, five days a week. I’m happy for her, and this is good for us in the long run, but I’m really sad and lonely. — Isolated Avoid any…
Remains of the race riot
“Whites have often feared that greater freedom for others necessarily implies a loss for themselves” – Michael Cassity, Chains of Fear (1984) In recent weeks, much area media attention has been focused on the 110th anniversary of the mid-August, 1908, race riot in which 5,000 white Springfield citizens were responsible for lynching two black men,…
Lincoln’s last trial
Were Abraham Lincoln to somehow miraculously reappear on the streets of Springfield this week, there would be a great deal that he might recognize. He could walk to his home on Eighth Street where he lived with Mary and their children for 17 years or he could visit the law office he shared with William…
Residency? Not so fast.
The Springfield City Council is poised to water down an ordinance aimed at putting city residents to work on public works projects. The proposal before the council would cut fines for contractors who don’t use city residents to work at least half of the hours logged on public works projects worth at least $100,000. The…
Campaign for soil health
Farmers and environmentalists stand around a deep trench dug in a soybean field listening to Donna Brandt from the University of Missouri Soil Health Assessment Center. She climbs into the trench, digs out a clump of dirt and holds it up. She pulls it apart; the soil breaks off in plates. Moving a short distance…
Crazy a beautiful, bland affair
In addition to The Meg, which is also currently in wide release, Crazy Rich Asians is a film co-produced by American and Chinese studios, an effort to appeal not only to viewers in the United States but those in the Far East as well, a market that Hollywood studios are now focusing on. The advent…
That’s fair enough
As we move into the second and final weekend of the Illinois State Fair, the fun keeps on coming, even as the original excitement wears down. I think 10 days is a fair amount of time for a fair. Any more just wouldn’t be fair to all those involved in keeping the fair going. Does…
Offwhyte
Offwhyte, born as Ryan Fernandez on Aug. 22, 1977, in Pell City, Alabama, now resides in Springfield as his music is heard around the world. He defines himself an “American rapper, vocalist, dancer, producer and videographer, known for a sound that is at once complex, intellectual, wholesome and true to the soul.” There’s plenty to…
REMAINS FROM THE RIOT
Excavated remains of homes burned during the 1908 Springfield race riot could be destroyed or buried by city government and railroad officials. According to Jerry Jacobson of the nonprofit organization Save Old Springfield, the remnants – discovered in 2014 near the corner of 10th and Carpenter streets by an archaeological crew working on the high-speed…
vermont poem 2018 #3
vermont poem 2018 #3 the august 5 2018 NYTimes Magazineis devoted in its entirety to the specieshomo sapiens killing itself off (along witha lot of other species) I think in the nearfuture – I haven’t had the guts to read ityet I know about coral reefs, greenland,violent weather, etc etc and that we were warned over…
T-SHIRTS FOR PEACE
Freshly energized by commemorations of the 110th anniversary of the 1908 race riot and the one-year anniversary of the “Unite the Right” rally in Charlottesville, Virginia, Dr. Steve Jackman of Springfield is using T-shirts to spread a message of peace. “What keeps the world spinning?” the shirt asks and answers on the front, “Respect!” The…
Eggplant three ways
I’ve always wondered how the large, pendulous purple orb, called an aubergine, melanzana or brinjal in other languages, came to be known as an “eggplant.” It turns out that the variety grown in Europe during the 18th century was off-white and resembled goose eggs. The first plants to reach the American colonies were grown as…
