Cover Story
Redefining home
Nearly everyone loves an immigrant success story. For five years, one successful immigrant has been working to inspire the young people of Sangamon County to become involved in the economic development of their community. Sitting at a corner table inside Pease’s at Bunn Gourmet, Nabih Elhajj shares the journey that brought him from the country…
Blagojevich emerges from prision unchanged
Former Gov. Rod Blagojevich emerged from prison just like he went in – defiantly proclaiming his innocence and ostentatiously displaying his carefully coiffed victimhood. If you were too young to know about Blagojevich or your memory is hazy, you’re now getting a lesson in Rod 101. He knows what reporters want and he’s more than…
piscatorial & potatoes poem #1
doing a tedious job just now shredding fish for a potluck casserole – I decided to think a pleasant thought – an unbidden one wasn’t pleasant: I was 7 or so on a dock at a little wisconsin lake a small boy at the end of the pier flung back his fishing line prepared to…
Letter’s to the editor 2/27/20
FRIENDLY, BUT NO AGREEMENT I read your recent Cap City article (“Shocking,” Feb. 20) about a complaint by assistant U.S. attorney Tim Bass about others in the U.S. Attorney’s Office, in the course of the corruption prosecution of former Representative Aaron Schock. I have, as the U.S. Attorney from 2010 through 2016, a different perspective.…
Transgender inmate accused of rape
A transgender woman sent to Logan Correctional Center from a men’s prison has faced rape accusations and remains at the women’s prison in Lincoln after the governor’s office reportedly overruled a move by corrections officials to return her to a men’s facility. More than one Logan inmate has reported being sexually assaulted by Janiah Monroe,…
Tim Neuman
A central Illinois farm boy, born and raised, this singer-songwriter-performer takes those well-engrained country roots and adds an “eclectic mix of rock and pop” to create his signature sound. Now based in the Indianapolis area, in the last decade Tim played over there with several bands before recently launching his own Tim Neuman Band. He…
LET’S GO SWIMMING!
Owing to snow, there was no school Wednesday. The groundhog remains safely below ground. But this all will change soon enough, and when it does, there will be no better way to spend an afternoon than floating in the backyard pool or, perhaps, even paddling a few laps. No worries if you’re prone to sink…
Blithe Spirit
Noel Coward remains one of the giants of 20th century theater who combined Art Deco glamour, 1920s sexual frankness, witty dialogue, high style and seemingly endless martinis with his personal courage and barely concealed sexual orientation. Blithe Spirit is one of Coward’s most famous comedies, a joyful, brilliantly written and constructed romp finding hilarity in unintended…
SCOTT REMEMBERED
The late Jeanne Scott blazed legal trails. Valedictorian at Sacred Heart High School when it was girls only, she went on to become the first female Sangamon County Circuit Court judge and, later, the first woman appointed a federal judge in central Illinois, a post she held for a dozen years before retiring in 2010.…
Leap into the music
Welcome to the end of February, and with this being 2020 – which is a Leap Year – welcome to Leap Day Weekend. To me, and by extension, hopefully to you, it’s an extra special February 29 because said day falls on a Saturday. That is good for getting out to see live music since…
Plastic pollution
In an effort to tackle the growing problem of plastic pollution, a group of state lawmakers from both legislative chambers touted a series of bills Feb. 18 that would tax or ban single-use plastics and aim to boost recycling. The four proposals have the support of organizations such as the Illinois Environmental Council and the…
A pub crawl of a concert
The Choir of Man is the runaway hit of the international music and theater scene and it is hitting the road for its first U.S. tour. It is a show that combines high-energy dance, live music and foot-stomping choreography with the talent of nine ordinary blokes who perform everything of wide appeal – sing-along classics,…
U of I law professor violated sexual harassment policy
A University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign law professor has been found in violation of the university’s sexual misconduct policy. That’s according to internal investigative reports from late last year, obtained by Illinois Times through a public records request. The law firm hired by the university to investigate new claims against Jay Kesan from 15 women suggests…
MAP is back
The annual budget address presented by the Illinois governor is not the hottest event of the year for most college students. “I’m actually not at all invested in politics,” said Lauren Hernandez, one of the two Lincoln Land Community College students invited by Democratic Gov. J.B. Pritzker to attend his speech last week. As part…
National Recitation Contest
The Springfield Area Arts Council will host 16 high school students who will participate in the statewide poetry recitation contest. The students are winners and runners-up in competitions held this month in eight regions across Illinois. Starting in their own classrooms, these students studied, memorized and recited renowned classic and contemporary poetry at each level…
Faulty CGI makes for a bland Wild
Gene Kelly doing the old soft shoe with Jerry the Mouse. That was the image I couldn’t shake while watching Chris Sander’s sanitized version of Jack London’s The Call of the Wild, in which the protagonist, the massive canine Buck, is not played by a real dog but is a computer-generated image. To be sure,…
Rahm is not the best messenger for mayors
THE NATION CITY: Why Mayors Are Now Running the World, by Rahm Emanuel. Alfred A. Knopf, 2020. The 2020 campaign season is upon us in splendor and glory. It is remarkable for several reasons, including the presence of two former mayors in the political mix. The office of mayor has rarely been deemed a steppingstone…
Home-brewed kombucha
The end of our one-year lease in Oklahoma City is approaching and we are beginning the process of boxing up our belongings and deep-cleaning the apartment. We have a $1,000 security deposit on the line, and we’ve been told that our landlord is super picky. The apartment has been well-maintained and is generally spotless… except…
Budget blues and greens
Perhaps the wisest thing that Gov. J.B. Pritzker said during last week’s budget address came near the end, when he talked about why he wants to increase funding for the Department of Children and Family Services. “There is an old saying that the best time to plant a tree was 20 years ago,” the governor…
Editor’s note 2/27/20
My father used to like to say, too often, “There are two kinds of parents in this world – those who have trouble with their kids, and those who are going to.” Dad’s joke was not funny. But it can comfort parents going through family problems to know they are not alone, while reminding others…
What if voting were mandatory?
How many winning U.S. presidential candidates since 1900 have received at least 50% of the votes of all registered voters? Answer: Zero. That’s right, not one. But even more stunning is the fact that if you take a failure to vote as equaling “none of the above” (NOA), then NOA has been the top choice…
