Cover Story
Emergency response under scrutiny
Poor people and Black people who live in the Springfield area have told Teresa Haley they will be “more cautious” in the future after calling 911 in medical emergencies. Haley, who is president of the Springfield NAACP chapter and the group’s statewide leader, said she is glad if residents are more vigilant and willing to…
Demolition delay
The Springfield City Council may reconsider its Feb. 21 vote granting Horace Mann Educators Corp. $600,000 in tax-increment financing revenues to demolish two downtown buildings and create a parking lot and green space in the 600 block of East Washington Street. Ward 8 Ald. Erin Conley said she will ask the council at its March…
See The Mousetrap in London, New York, Springfield
“Murder isn’t all fun and games – or is it?” says a character in Agatha Christie’s play The Mousetrap, currently receiving a sprightly, elegant production by Spencer Theatre Company at the Hoogland Center for the Arts in downtown Springfield. The fact that this 70-year-old play is being performed here isn’t out of the ordinary, but…
Firefighters push for municipal ambulance service
The union representing Springfield firefighters wants to see the city move into the ambulance business, transporting patients to the hospital in the most urgent situations to reduce waits for care. “We’d like to grow our department,” said Kainan Rinaberger, president of Springfield Fire Fighters Local 37. “We have the resources. We have the people. We…
Emily takes liberties with Bronte’s life; Marlowe has been there, done that; Devil’s Peak is clever
Mood, acting save Emily Actress Frances O’Connor is fully aware that her debut film as a writer/director, Emily, is the product of as much imagination as fact. To be sure, very little is known about Bronte’s life, much supposition surrounding just what her inspiration was for her novel Wuthering Heights, the extent of her romantic…
Martinis better than Bond’s
After a long day fighting spies in the service of Her Majesty’s Secret Service, there is apparently nothing more relaxing than ordering a vodka martini dry, shaken not stirred. James Bond’s iconic cocktail recipe has become so ubiquitous that it’s become the standard formula served at most bars and restaurants. Generally it is made with…
February finish
Well that one just flew by, as February comes to its final weekend for 2023. I do hope you enjoyed your Fat Tuesday and are working your way through the week afterward and onward toward the end of Lent. Let’s see what we can hear out there. Before moving on to the happenings, we report…
Student art display at museum
A gallery of more than 90 colorful pieces of art created by District 186 students has opened at the Springfield and Central Illinois African American History Museum (SCIAAHM). This is the second year for the “Art for the Ages” exhibit, which opened Saturday. Students in kindergarten through 12th grade created the pieces, which include paintings,…
Editors note 2/23/23
Planners working on a new master plan for downtown Springfield have asked the public for ideas. Here are a couple: Don’t tear down historic buildings to build surface parking lots. And don’t provide public subsidies for wealthy corporations, or anyone else for that matter, to demolish buildings for surface parking. Horace Mann Educators Corp. applied…
Pritzker campaigns for Smart Start preschool plan
One day after delivering his budget address last week, Gov. JB Pritzker took to the road Feb. 16 to rally support for his proposed “Smart Start” program to expand access to preschool and child care throughout the state. “It is important for us to make sure that every 3- and 4-year-old in Illinois can go…
CWLP testing the latest carbon capture technology
Construction crews have been working through winter weather on a new $67 million project on the site of the Dallman power generating station on the north end of Lake Springfield. City Water, Light and Power broke ground Dec. 8, 2022 on a carbon capture system funded by the U.S. Department of Energy and the state…
State party focuses on school board races
Gov. JB Pritzker told reporters a few weeks ago that he was concerned about some local school and library board races. “There are organizations that are anti-LGBTQ, that are racist, they’re anti-Muslim, that are supporting candidates for these local boards. And they’re trying to take over at a local level and build up candidates at…
Honoring outstanding citizens of today, celebrating great citizens of tomorrow
Six new Lincoln Laureates will be honored at the 59th Annual Lincoln Academy Convocation and Investiture on April 29 in Springfield at the Illinois State Capitol. Laureates are individuals who have made significant contributions to Illinois or whose achievements have brought honor to the state. “Their life stories are inspiring and show the obstacles and…
travel poem #6
in Dublin you can buy a T shirt printed with the entire first page of Ulysses. I want one! I also want one with Molly Bloom’s forty-page first sentence which may be too much to ask of a T shirt: where, for instance, can you breathe? 2022 Jacqueline Jackson
Letters to the editor 2/23/23
We welcome letters. Please include your full name, address and telephone number. We edit all letters. Send them to editor@illinoistimes.com. —- SPECIAL INTERESTS What a slanted article (“The museum built on Native American burial mounds,” Feb. 9). I was the Illinois state representative in the early 1990s representing Fulton County, including the Dickson Mounds facility.…
Blowing up balloons
The Northern Illinois Bottlecap Balloon Brigade is a hobby club with a couple dozen members – some adults, some children – who like to watch balloons circle the globe. For $12 apiece, they buy balloons from a California manufacturer, rig them with radio transmitters and send them skyward, Aviation Week reported. One of their projects…
SIU and hospitals dive deep into antiracism
The conference on “The Hope and Promise of Co-liberation Work” began with a celebration on Friday, Feb. 17. It was followed by two days of lectures, panel discussions and breakout sessions that together showed how far the Springfield medical community has come on the road to racial and ethnic inclusion, diversity and equity. And how…
More ideas for the beautiful Shawnee Hills
I am an avid hiker and believe that there may be room for more U.S. national parks. However, in the story (Illinois Times Feb. 2) on a proposed Shawnee National Park, I noticed some points that need clarifying. The area now in Shawnee was not all a pristine, untouched area in the 1920-30s. Intensive farming…
