It’s not often that you come across a real-life dynamic duo, but the Springfield community says that Butch Elzea and Diane Mathis are it. For the past 20 months the pair has met with businesses, nonprofit agencies, and academic organizations from all across the capital city and convinced them that the Edwin Watts Southwind Park […]
Amanda Robert
Posted inNews
The force
Ald. Mark Mahoney says it looks like his Ward 6 citizen patrol is already doing some good. Taking one of the first shifts last Friday night, Mahoney drove through neighborhoods that have been identified as problem areas, including sections of Spring Street, College Street, and Iles Park. In one instance, he says, a group of […]
Posted inNews
A new sanctuary
Krishna Brahmamdam gives kudos to his fellow community members. Without them, he says, the Hindu Temple of Greater Springfield wouldn’t exist. After a year of planning, fundraising, and searching for the perfect location, the Hindu community has found its home in the former site of Judson Baptist Church, 1001 W. Walnut St., in Chatham. The […]
Posted inNews
Determined opposition
“I drove through farm ground getting here today — I fall in love with the soybeans, corn, and hay,” Richard Fuller told the small crowd that assembled last week at the Illinois Department of Natural Resources building for round two of the Banner Mine administrative hearing. Fuller, who described himself as a “75-plus-year-old” farmer, suggested […]
Posted inNews
A lack of commitment
Three years ago, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin gave hope to Springfield’s east side. He promised the city’s most neglected residents that he would help them build a much-needed community center, and he delivered. Durbin announced with great fanfare at a Springfield press conference that he had secured an initial $750,000 for the project and that […]
Posted inNews
Lucky and charmed
Five young adults in matching blue-and-burgundy polo shirts sit in a row at a long blond-wood table in the sunny Governor’s Conference Room at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library. At first glance, they could be students from University of Illinois at Springfield or Lincoln Land Community College, but as soon as they open their mouths […]
Posted inNews
The rest of the story
Untitled Document Kevin Young discusses the Kickapoo Indians with a certain familiarity and fondness, as if he and the native Illinois tribe are old friends. “We’ve just kind of followed each other over the years,” he says. Young was born in Rossville, two hours from Springfield in Vermilion County, near Kickapoo State Park. After watching […]
Posted inNews
Dead reckoning
Jack Carey, a general trial practitioner from Belleville and a 30-year member of the Illinois State Bar Association, had barely been president of the organization for 24 hours when its 201-member assembly voted in favor of abolishing the death penalty. The landmark June 28 decision wasn’t unanimous — more like a 2-to-1 vote, Carey says […]
Posted inNews
On the beach
Nearly 35 years ago, a young Frank Edwards stood watch over Springfield Beach. As one of the summertime spot’s lifeguards, he surveyed activity in the pool — an enclosed area about the size of two city blocks — and scrutinized action on the high dive and slides. He watched hungry beach-goers flock to the […]
Posted inNews
About-face?
Untitled Document Aldermen are still demanding answers from the city of Springfield more than a month after they approved an ordinance tacking on an apprenticeship requirement to development projects that receive $500,000 or more in city, state, or federal funds. At Tuesday’s meeting of the finance committee, Ward 2 Ald. Gail Simpson succeeded in passing […]
Posted inNews
The price of coal
Untitled Document Several state environmental experts testified at the Illinois Department of Natural Resources building Monday and Tuesday during the first round of an administrative hearing to determine whether the IDNR erred in approving a permit for the Capital Resources Development Co. to strip-mine a 430.6-acre tract near Banner, a village 25 miles southwest of […]
Posted inNews
Blood, sweat, and cheers
Justin Robbins knelt on the living-room floor in his Piper Glen home with his 4-year-old daughter, Sydney. The pair held hands, closed their eyes, and prayed for Matt Hughes — a self-proclaimed country boy from Hillsboro and nine-time Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight champion who was fixing to fight Georges St. Pierre in a live, nationally […]
