Cover Story
Struggling to stay put
A year ago, Rick and Carla Phelan were on the cusp of homelessness. They’d been there before, but pandemic was different. After two nights spent sleeping in their 2004 Buick LeSabre with their dog – their son stayed with relatives – the Phelans were among the first in Sangamon County to drive home that a…
District 186 students to return four days per week
Starting Tuesday, April 6, students on the hybrid schedule in Springfield Public Schools will start four-day weekly schedules for in-person learning. Previously, hybrid students attended either Tuesdays and Thursdays or Wednesdays and Fridays. The new Tuesday-Friday schedule will be maintained until the end of the school year, according to an email sent to parents by…
A fan of sheet pans
There are few pieces of kitchen equipment as versatile and hardworking as the humble half-sheet pan. This 13-inch by 18-inch rimmed metal pan has short, one-inch-deep sides that perfectly contain diced vegetables or savory juices from roasting chicken while still allowing for sufficient airflow to facilitate browning and rapid cooking. Half-size sheet pans are slightly…
On March music
Look out below as we whip on through the month of March like a lion laying down with the lamb, or something such as that anyway. More music bubbles to the surface of the scene as we all continue to do our best to follow safety precautions while the pandemic seems to slip-slide away ever…
March monarchs on the move
Plan on venturing outdoors this weekend? The zoo is a great destination for some early spring adventures. Henson Robinson Zoo began as a dream of a prominent Springfield citizen, Henson C. Robinson. In 1967, the city of Springfield donated a tract of land to the Springfield Park District and construction of the zoo began the…
Action, intrigue and laughs
Courier a gripping, true espionage tale Dominic Cooke’s The Courier tells the little-known story of Greville Wynne, an English salesman who doubled as a spy for England in the early 1960s. Putting himself in great danger in order to shepherd vital information out of the Soviet Union in an effort to expose the country’s activity…
Barks and bites
This being Sunshine Week, when we celebrate the First Amendment and remember that democracy demands open government, we should know that danger lurks. “These people are working in a group together and therefore we can say it is these people named above who are running a campaign that is so nasty and dirty we need…
Democracy depends on the right to vote
Has the Republican Party given up on democracy? Democracy is the foundation of the Constitution, the fact that the people have a say in who represents and leads us. The majority sets the agenda for governing while many constitutional provisions protect the rights of political, religious and ethnic minorities. Many amendments have expanded the access…
Editor’s Note 3/18/21
Bruce Rushton’s cover story on the eviction moratorium provides rare glimpses into Springfield’s often misunderstood low-income rental housing scene. Landlords need good tenants; nobody evicts anybody with glee. Tenants need good housing, and know they have to pay to keep it. There are bad actors among both tenants and landlords. But under normal circumstances, disputes…
Pritzker’s polling drops, enthusiasm wanes
For the first year or so of his administration leading up to the beginning of the pandemic, Gov. JB Pritzker’s polling wasn’t exactly horrible, but it was still pretty darned underwhelming. But after some spectacular crisis-induced polling spikes last year, the governor has seemingly come back down to earth. The first poll taken by Morning…
archival find # 47
because of grampa’s deafness he and my dad often communicated by writing back and forth – here’s a scrap I just found where they are discussing a capable but hotheaded and opinionated overseer-employee: “Let’s write him an excellent recommendation,” my grampa scribbles, “and then find him a job as far away from us as possible!”…
Letters to the editor 3/18/21
We welcome letters. Please include your full name, address and telephone number. We edit all letters. Send them to letters@illinoistimes.com. —- FAILURE TO TEACH I do not know if she intended this, but Cinda Klickna’s recent column on the importance of teaching grammar raised far more questions than it answered (“Phonics needs grammar on its…
Cannabis comrades
Working with cannabis was a dream come true for Leddie Lewis of Springfield. Her father had been diagnosed with cancer in 2015. Before he died in 2016, medical cannabis helped improve the quality of the days he had left, she said. “It pushed me into this drive to want to help other people.” Lewis started…
Getting out the vax
On March 9 the Sangamon County Board approved a $62,700 plan to partner with SIU School of Medicine in Springfield for a vaccine media campaign. The goal is to “increase vaccine confidence among communities of color,” Rikeesha Phelon, SIU Medicine’s executive director of marketing, communication and engagement, said during the county board meeting. Phelon told…
Another type of virus outbreak
A recent outbreak of norovirus in Springfield is confirmed to have sickened nearly 100 residents. Arby’s on Dirksen Parkway was identified as the source. The building – 3009 S. Dirksen Pkwy. – closed its doors a second time last week and will remain closed through the end of March, according to an Arby’s spokesperson. The…
Stopping the steal?
An appellate court has overruled Sangamon County Circuit Court Judge Gail Noll, ruling that she goofed when dismissing a case filed by a candidate for Rochester Township road commissioner. Darin Whitten went to court after losing the Republican nomination by between one and three votes; one person at a December GOP caucus meeting wrote in…
