Untitled Document Dr. Sybil Kein was devastated after Hurricane Katrina swept through New Orleans. The storm destroyed not only her home, her car, and her 5,000-plus books but also her entire collection of Louisiana French Creole research — one of the largest in the world. Kein began traveling in the 1970s from the University of […]
Amanda Robert
Posted inNews
California dreamer
Untitled Document One man’s medicine is another man’s . . . felony charge? Guy Lewis Shively, a 19-year-old California native, learned that lesson the hard way Monday when he was arrested near Nashville, Ill., for possession of more than 30 grams of cannabis. Shively and his buddy Mike Frank were driving from California to North […]
Posted inNews
A drop in the bucket
Untitled Document City Water, Light & Power finance director Craig Burns has turned educating people about water into his own personal mission. Residents lose sight of how cheap water actually is, Burns says, especially when they’re faced with a seemingly gargantuan rate increase like the 80.2 percent overall hike approved by the Springfield City Council […]
Posted inNews
Where the wild things are
Untitled Document Jeff Boston may be young, but he’s been around the music business long enough to know that most acts enjoy performing for an all-ages crowd. Boston, a 20-year old music promoter from Carlinville, says that most bands would rather play for younger audiences, who spend more time listening to their music than hanging […]
Posted inNews
The next goal
Untitled Document For Jr. Blues head coach Chris Wyler, the past few weeks have been a dream come true. At the end of March his players fought their way into the fourth-place slot in the North American Hockey League’s Central Division, earning their first trip to the NAHL playoffs in years. Two weeks ago they […]
Posted inNews
Jobs on the line
Untitled Document Two hundred workers could soon lose their jobs if Precision Products, a leading manufacturer of lawn and garden equipment and the largest employer in Lincoln, is forced out of business, company officials say. Precision Products, owned by Gleason Industrial Products Inc., supplies nearly 60 percent of the nation’s hand-truck market, says vice president […]
Posted inNews
Game boys
Untitled Document Like many little boys, Christopher Peper was scolded for playing too many video games. “I just remember my mother telling me, ‘Put that video game down and do your homework. That’s not going to do you any good,’ ” he says. But now the 36-year old Hickox Apartments manager credits his years of […]
Posted inNews
Chemical reaction
Untitled Document Unborn babies face a greater threat from pollution than once thought, says a new study by the Environmental Working Group, a leading nonprofit public-health-advocacy organization based in Washington, D.C. The study found 287 different carcinogens, consumer-product ingredients, and other chemicals in the umbilical-cord blood of 10 anonymous American babies born between August and […]
Posted inNews
Eyes on the prize
“Somebody has to do something, that somebody is us.” Scribbled in blue and yellow chalk on the cinderblock wall of a garage plunked in the middle of a Divernon cornfield, these nine words remind Illuminati Motor Works — a team of local engineers, automotive technicians, and car enthusiasts — what’s at stake. On a cold, […]
Posted inNews
Sheltered from the storm?
Untitled Document Rick Hanselman knows his way around the Springfield housing market. Lately the president of The Real Estate Group, a local residential and commercial real-estate brokerage, has worked in the Panther Creek area, and he says he’s witnessed an upswing in sales of homes priced at $300,000 or more. “That’s more active than I’ve […]
Posted inNews
Word up
Untitled Document Craig Hall is instantly likable. It’s not just his easy smile or his larger-than-life personality. It’s his ability to live every day with a no-holds-barred attitude. He doesn’t dwell on what some may call imperfections; instead, he uses them to his advantage. So what, he says, if he stutters? “I have told my […]
Posted inNews
Abe the scrapper
Untitled Document Everyone knows Abraham Lincoln as the inspiring orator, the war hero, the Great Emancipator, but now a local sports group is billing the 6-foot-4-inch, 180-pound former president as something a bit different. Steve O’Connor, who is heading up the Abraham Lincoln Triathlon Series in Petersburg and New Salem this April and August, claims […]
