Cover Story
Inside a caring school
It was a chaotic scene recently in the principal’s office. A young student was obviously in distress, kicking, flailing and screaming, as staff calmly spoke while trying to keep him from injuring himself or others. The student gradually calmed down enough that he willingly followed a staff member to a private room, and within half…
Governor flip flops on Invest in Kids Act
With his latest comments Oct. 19, Gov. JB Pritzker has taken almost every possible position imaginable on the Invest in Kids Act. During his first run for governor, Pritzker agreed with the teachers’ unions and progressive activists by calling the program “a really bad idea,” and said he opposed keeping the law on the books.…
Navigator CO2 cancels plans for multi-state carbon-dioxide pipeline
Citing “the unpredictable nature of the regulatory and government processes involved,” Navigator CO2 said Oct. 20 that the company will cancel its $3.4 billion, multi-state carbon-dioxide pipeline project. The Heartland Greenway project, which was supported by the Midwest ethanol industry and labor unions but opposed by environmental and landowner groups, would have transported liquified CO2…
City disburses $3 million grant to address homelessness
Aleisha Young and Russell Patton, both of whom have experienced homelessness, credited a social worker from the Springfield Police Department with bringing stability to their lives. “She helped with everything,” said Young, 35, who sometimes was homeless in the three years since she moved to Springfield from Peoria, where she was born and raised. She…
CO₂ pipeline plans paused
A Nebraska company facing widespread resistance from property owners and environmentalists wants a third opportunity to win regulatory approval in Illinois for a carbon dioxide pipeline that would cross Sangamon County and inject liquid CO₂ from five Midwestern states under farmland in Christian and Montgomery counties. Navigator Heartland Greenway LLC on Oct. 10 asked permission…
Call him Judge Wright
Sangamon County’s State’s Attorney Dan Wright will become the 7th Judicial Circuit’s newest associate judge. And it appears likely that former state’s attorney John Milhiser will return to his old job in mid-November. Dan Wright, state’s attorney since 2018, has been selected to fill the vacancy created by the July 23 death of Matthew Mauer,…
Editors note 10/19/23
Even for us in the news business, sometimes no news is good news. It’s been a month since Illinois became the first state to eliminate cash bail, and we haven’t yet heard much about much going wrong. Dangerous arrestees still await trial in jails, which are less crowded now. That’s because those who before the…
Nellie Needham
During the Great Depression my dad borrowed money from his first cousin Nellie Needham; he paid it back bit by bit, but when he sent in his final payment at the start of WW2 he received it back saying “Of all the relatives I have sent money to, you’re the only one who has paid…
Letters to the editor 10/19/23
We welcome letters. Please include your full name, address and telephone number. We edit all letters. Send them to editor@illinoistimes.com. —- GREAT PROJECT I am so glad to see such state-of-the-art renovation of Lanphier High School (“Reconstructing Springfield’s high schools,” Oct. 5). This will provide wonderful opportunities for the students and helps to revitalize this…
Illinois Symphony launches a new season
When Maestro Ken Lam announced in May 2022 that he would be leaving after five years as music director of the Illinois Symphony Orchestra to accept a prestigious job at the Juilliard School in China, the conductor’s timing was off. The news arrived too close to the start of the 2022-2023 concert season for the…
Meet Maestro Taichi Fukumura, the first candidate, this weekend
Taichi Fukumura has strong ties to Illinois. The season’s first candidate, who will be conducting the concerts this Friday and Saturday in Springfield and Bloomington, spent much of his early career in Chicago. “I was there for seven years or eight years – I’ve lost count,” he said. He had initially moved to the Windy…
The thrilling new musical at the Legacy
Walking into the Legacy Theatre to take my seat for the regional premier of Ride the Cyclone was a little like stepping into a carnival sideshow. Tinkly background music, a fortuneteller’s booth and a slightly askew CYCLONE marquee greeted the audience and set us up for the wild ride we were about to take. Billed…
Road Dance a portrait of perseverance, lead actors elevate Burial and Totally Killer appeals to 80s fans
Dance defies expectations Based on the novel by John MacKay, Richie Adams’ The Road Dance, avoids the melodramatic approach that material such as this is usually rendered in. Taking a more grounded approach, he creates a genuinely moving film, one that benefits greatly from the fierce performances of the cast and a degree of realism…
Autumn harvest doughnuts
When we moved into my great-grandmother’s little old farmhouse over 10 years ago the quantity of stuff that cluttered every room was positively overwhelming. Nana wasn’t exactly a hoarder, but, like many folks who survived the Great Depression and a world war, she didn’t like to throw anything away. It might have been easier if…
October-ized music
While we work our way through the month of October, the outdoor gigs are getting the cold shoulder as we begin to drift indoors to the warm embrace of manufactured heat and creature comforts. Let’s see what we can find going on in the scene. First, I’d like to jump ahead to Sunday, Oct. 29,…
More than 2,000 illuminated pumpkins to light up the night
This weekend, more than 2,000 hand-carved pumpkins will be on display and illuminated at the Thomas Rees Memorial Carillon and Washington Park Botanical Garden. That’s spectacular, indeed! The pumpkins are carved each year by local students, families, groups and artists. Most were done during last weekend’s Carve for the Carillon event but more than 600…
Faith Coalition for the Common Good works to empower people
Faith Coalition for the Common Good is an affiliate of Gamaliel. Founded in 1986, the mission of Gamaliel is to empower ordinary people to effectively participate in the political, environmental, social and economic decisions affecting their lives. Gamaliel’s diverse members apply their faith and values to the pursuit of equal opportunity for all, shared abundance,…
