While progress has been made, not all goals have been accomplished with $35 million in state grants from cannabis tax revenue awarded a year ago. Five entities with presences in the capital city, including the city of Springfield, the Springfield Urban League, Land of Lincoln Legal Aid, Illinois Legal Aid Online and the East Springfield […]
Bruce Rushton
Bruce Rushton is a freelance journalist.
Posted inNews
“I can’t breathe”
One inmate told state police that Jaimeson Cody said “I can’t” when Sangamon County jail guards ordered him to put his hands behind his back. Two others told investigators that Cody said, “I can’t breathe” as Sangamon County jailers struggled to put him in handcuffs, then a restraint chair last April 27. Cody, 39, never […]
Posted inNews
The wild sue yonder
The Springfield Airport Authority board voted Tuesday to sue the city of Springfield over taxes that the airport says have been wrongly kept in municipal coffers since 2004. Meanwhile, board chairman Frank Vala announced that he’s received word United Airlines will be cutting Chicago flights. After the 4-2 vote, Vala hung up on a reporter […]
Posted inNews
The wild sue yonder
The Springfield Airport Authority board voted Tuesday to sue the city of Springfield over taxes that the airport says have been wrongly kept in municipal coffers since 2004. Meanwhile, board chairman Frank Vala announced that he’s received word United Airlines will be cutting Chicago flights. After the 4-2 vote, Vala hung up on a reporter […]
Posted inNews
Jailers tased inmate at least five times, records show
A man who died a month ago after a struggle with Sangamon County jailers was shocked by a Taser at least five times times, according to jail records. Jaimeson Cody, who was 39, died 20 hours after entering the jail when Divernon police arrested him on suspicion of domestic violence. About 10 hours after he […]
Posted inOpinion
Snoozing and cruising
Pandemic, for me, is over. Never mind the New York Times, which warns that Sangamon County remains at high risk – there’s a neat-o gizmo on the home page, updated daily, that lets you check out disease danger, county by county, nationwide. Two months after getting my second shot, I felt guilty, then giddy, when […]
Posted inNews
City hit with six-figure verdict
A Sangamon County jury has awarded $750,000 to the family of Eric Jones, who was 16 in 2007 when he drowned in Lake Springfield while trying to save his brother. Jones didn’t know how to swim. Nonetheless, he ventured into water above his head when his brother Michael, who also didn’t know how to swim, […]
Posted inNews
GOP brings controversial speaker to Springfield
Candace Owens, scheduled to speak tonight, May 20, in Springfield, says that Donald Trump, given oxygen in the White House last fall before being taken to Walter Reed Medical Center, wasn’t that sick. Mob justice brought down Derek Chauvin, the former police officer convicted of murdering George Floyd, she maintains. Climate change? “Dot-com, though,” Owens […]
Posted inOpinion
Illinois ballads
Time for me to drive? About the only thing that our new state tourism song has going for it is that it was inspired by a band from Illinois. Otherwise, JB would have us eschew public transportation, pile into carbon-spewing cars and roam the Land of Lincoln in search of fun. I’m not sure how […]
Posted inOpinion
Lights, action, but no cameras
Those of us old enough to remember VHS can appreciate recent footage from the Sangamon County jail, where six people have died since 2007. It’s herky-jerky stuff, with frames taken every second or so, and plenty of grain – better footage, almost, was taken on Omaha Beach nearly 80 years ago. There’s no sound. And […]
Posted inNews
Catch me if you can
The state and federal governments have granted $67 million for a project at City Water, Light and Power aimed at capturing carbon dioxide from coal before emissions reach the air. Construction is expected to begin next year, with operations commencing in 2023. “We’re committed to run this, roughly, through 2024,” said Kevin O’Brien, director of […]
Posted inNews
The nuclear option
Years ago, opposing nuclear power was cool. A partial meltdown at Three Mile Island lit a nationwide fire in 1979, when an estimated 200,000 anti-nuke protesters flocked to New York for a demonstration six months after what remains the nation’s closest brush with nuclear energy catastrophe. Tens of thousands marched elsewhere. “If they can open […]
