As administration after administration ignores the city’s fractured streets and crumbling sidewalks, aldermen are finally stepping in to face and fix years of neglected infrastructure needs. A new subcommittee, co-chaired by Ward 6 Ald. Mark Mahoney and Ward 1 Ald. Frank Edwards, plans to hold four public meetings in different areas of the city over […]
Amanda Robert
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Supreme Court begins review of caps on malpractice awards
Untitled Document On Oct. 31, 2005, Abigaile LeBron was delivered via cesarean section at Gottlieb Memorial Hospital in Melrose Park. She was born with cerebral palsy and severe brain damage. A year later, her mother Frances filed a medical malpractice lawsuit against the hospital and her doctor and nurse. The suit, which alleges that Abigaile […]
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‘Diversity is who I am’
Wesley Robinson-McNeese was taught as a young child to disregard boundaries. He grew up as a member of an East St. Louis church, the same church that later introduced him to a world outside the impoverished city’s streets and instilled in him the drive to make a difference. He entwined his faith and his desire […]
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Ice dreams
A hockey coach with a little less optimism might see the return of only two veteran players as a season-staller, but not Chris Wyler. In fact, the Springfield Jr. Blues head coach welcomes the change. Last year’s team was more of an “inheritance,” Wyler says, with a 25-man roster that included 12 returning players recruited […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Paint it Red: History made real, brutally honest
David Logan recalls the words of E.L. Rogers, the editor of Springfield’s black newspaper, The Forum, in 1908: “He said, ‘You can either make history, or you can paint it red.’ Make it or make it glaring.” That’s what Logan, an assistant professor at Benedictine University-Springfield College, intends to do with Paint it Red, an […]
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County board cutback: Is ‘Fewer and
Just as U.S. Sen. Barack Obama (D-Ill.) promises reform on Capitol Hill if he’s elected, five Democratic challengers running for the Sangamon County Board promote revolution here at home, starting with the structure of county government. They call their proposal, “Operation Fewer and Better,” and on Nov. 4, voters will be asked whether the county […]
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Mean Streets of Springfield
At just past seven o’clock on a Wednesday night, they head for Jamal’s. New moms hugging babies to each hip, teenagers in hoodies and on bikes and small boys sporting T-shirts and shorts despite the chilly air filter down the sidewalk. Cars boom and bounce beside them, spilling their passengers into the mix. Most aren’t […]
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Oral histories head for the Internet
The Springfield African American History Foundation (SAAHF) has deposited the memories of 56 local African-Americans into a special collection at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library since 2006, and this fall, it will move the project another step forward, says foundation secretary Barbara Dickerman. “The library’s goal is to have all of the oral histories on […]
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Summit addresses predatory lending
Dawn Dannenbring, a staff organizer with the Central Illinois Organizing Project, a faith-based community organization that promotes social justice issues, has watched as the number of home foreclosures in the United States has surged from 8,000 per day to 12,000 per day since April. “It’s exploding right before our very eyes,” she says. Central Illinois […]
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The pros and cons of Con-Con
Bob Gray, president of the Citizens Club, steps to the podium in a third-floor room of the Hoogland Center for the Arts. In 1970, he reminds the members, legislators drafted a new state constitution. They included a provision that every 20 years (counting from when the idea took hold in 1968) voters could call for […]
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Nehemiah plans more new homes
The City of Springfield and an east-side affordable housing organization will again partner to construct new homes for low-to-moderate income residents. On Oct. 6, the public affairs and safety committee will consider a measure to sell five parcels of land to not-for-profit Nehemiah Expansion, Inc., for $500. The Rev. Silas Johnson, chief executive officer of […]
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Jury finds Seidler a “sexually violent person”
In November 1983, Kenneth Seidler of Springfield broke into the home of a 48-year-old woman and raped her in front of her two young daughters. He was convicted of rape by a Sangamon County jury and sent to the Illinois Department of Corrections to serve a 40-year sentence. Because “truth in sentencing” laws, which mandate […]
