The remap fight
House Speaker Michael Madigan cares most about three House votes: The votes every two years for both the next Speaker and the House rules; and the vote every ten years on the new state legislative district maps. But, prying control of those maps away from Speaker Madigan and Senate President John Cullerton is next to…
Mother of dead inmate sues
The mother of a Sangamon County jail inmate who killed herself last year has sued the county and the state of Illinois, claiming that each entity failed to adequately address mental health needs. Tiffany Rusher, 27, died at Memorial Medical Center nearly a year ago, 12 days after she was found hanging in her cell.…
Cop charged in beating may get a break
Former Springfield cop Samuel Rosario might become a defendant in a new court established to handle charges against veterans. The Seventh Judicial Circuit on Monday got Supreme Court clearance to set up a court designed to help veterans instead of treating them as ordinary criminals. A law that took effect in January requires such courts…
The zeitgeist, it is a-changing
Last year’s grassroots progressive runs for office laid to rest much of the Democratic Party’s orthodoxy about who is “electable” and how it’s essential that candidates – in hopes of attracting moderate “swing” voters – run big-money campaigns on small-bore, middle-of-the-road issues. For example, meet these eight big-issue/low-dollar candidates who rejected party orthodox and won:…
Letters to the Editor 3/8/18
PREYING ON PAIN I just finished reading “The Pill Pipeline” (Bruce Rushton, Illinois Times, March 1). One piece of information that jumped out at me was that last year McKesson Corp. paid a $150 million fine for not reporting suspicious opioid activity. That sounded very punitive and draconian until I read on that they had…
Editor’s Note
Two events in Springfield this week recalled more hopeful times in U.S. politics and government. In the play All the Way at the Hoogland Center for the Arts – there’s still time to see it and you should – remarkable performances by Rich McCoy as LBJ, Tony Young as Martin Luther King Jr. and a…
Europe’s disappearing center
Last Sunday, March 4, Italian voters crushed the ruling Democratic Party. Fifty-five percent of the electorate voted for the two anti-European Union and anti-establishment parties, one on the right and one on the left, both populist. This election sends an unmistakable signal that democracy in Italy is both not working and is working well. Throughout…
Study the night sky
On Friday, March 9, celebrate the return of University of Illinois Springfield’s Friday Night Star Parties, hosted by John Martin, UIS associate professor of astronomy and physics. Friday Night Star Parties take place at UIS Observatory, located on the roof of Brookens Library, and will continue on Friday nights from 8-10 p.m., weather permitting,…
The fundamentals of growing fungi
Learn how to grow your own shiitake and oyster mushrooms and receive all necessary supplies to do so, including inoculated shiitake and oyster logs, during this exciting presentation on Saturday, March 10, at Adams Wildlife Sanctuary. The program, hosted by Friends of the Sangamon Valley, has a limited amount of space for attendees so early…
Art crawl
Tour three of Springfield’s top visual arts galleries during the Passport Gallery Tour on Friday, March 9. The reception for “Ambience” will be held at the Springfield Art Association Collective Gallery (420 S. Sixth St.) from 5-8 p.m., and features the photography of David Brodsky, the abstract and landscape paintings of John Hayes, the ceramics…
Whim chill factor
A guy I know through mutual friends finally asked for my number, claiming he’d like to see more of me. I was elated, but he never called. After a month I gave up hope, feeling puzzled and, honestly, kind of hurt. Why do men get your number if they’re never going to call or text?…
Jeanne Ives’ GOP insurgency
“Don’t you think this will be the year of the insurgent?“ Jeanne Ives said as she strolled across the lawn of the Illinois Statehouse. Synonyms for insurgent include rebel or revolutionary, agitator, renegade, freedom fighter. Ives like to think those terms describe her candidacy. The state representative from Wheaton is challenging Gov. Bruce Rauner in…
This old house of worship
Early Illinois settlers established sites of worship, first holding services in someone’s home and later building a church. Each year across Illinois these early churches reach a milestone, their 150th year, and the Illinois State Historical Society (ISHS) holds a luncheon to honor them every three years. This year 28 churches will be honored in…
Reverence at The Pharmacy, revisionism at UIS Gallery
Two very different art exhibits opened in Springfield last week, both dealing with the subject of religion and spirituality, but from contrasting angles. Arizona-based artist Angela Ellsworth’s “Leaving Loves Company” at the University of Illinois Visual Arts Gallery takes a sardonic look at the artist’s Mormon upbringing while “Regeneration” at The Pharmacy Gallery and Art Space presents…
Prison mental health on trial
Care for the mentally ill in Illinois prisons may not be ideal, but it isn’t so bad that it violates constitutional guarantees against cruel and unusual punishment, according to the Illinois Department of Corrections and the company that provides care under a state contract. That’s the crux of the state’s effort to refute arguments by…
Family film series
This week’s screening of the French drama The Midwife brought the Springfield Art Association’s annual Molly Schlich Independent and International Film Series to a close for 2018. However, this coming Sunday, March 11, marks the debut of a new series from the SAA – three weeks of high-quality, family-oriented cinema. The new series kicks off…
Parrty on, Wet bar
Mayor Jim Langfelder has relented. Wet Bar, a downtown bar that’s gotten a reputation for rowdy behavior, will get its 3 a.m. liquor license back, the mayor says. Langfelder in December revoked the 3 a.m. license for Wet Bar, saying that there have been too many fights, disturbances and other incidents requiring police. During a…
Death Wish breaks no new ground
Depending on which side of the gun control debate you’re on, Eli Roth’s remake of Death Wish couldn’t have come at a better or worse time. Fresh on the heels of the Parkland, Florida, school shooting tragedy, the film will play to viewers as either the ultimate justification for fewer gun regulations or a reason…
Party into March
With a hip-hop to the hippity-hop, we march on through the not-so-merry month of March with more music than a month might muster, if a month could muster music. For Thursday excitement, Joshua Allen, a singing, songwriting, guitar player from Rolla, Missouri, rolls into the Trailblazer Lounge on Dirksen Parkway for a night of original…
Susan Williams & Wright Groove
A recent competitor at the 2018 International Blues Challenge in Memphis, this Chicago-based quartet delivers a funky, dual bass player approach to the world of blues. Susan Williams, known to Springfield blues fans from previous performances at The Alamo on Blue Monday, hails from Chicago where she’s fronted her own bands for 30-some years. Now…
Such a good feeling
Old episodes of “Mr. Rogers’ Neighborhood” have been my daughter’s show of choice lately. And truthfully, I’ve enjoyed having this soft-spoken gentleman and his kind earnest words back in my life as well. I often think of what Fred Rogers said on the topic of heart-wrenching and terrifying events in the news, and his words…
folly poem #4
here folks behold a true subversiveschools are closing out the cursiveevery kid the wide world o’er can toss old writing out the door each kid will own his keyboard toy from manchester to mandeloy just throw your granny’s words away the thoughts expressed are now passé all hand-writ history down the drain for your own…
