The classic recipe calls for dark rum, but amber works fine for a Dark and Stormy. PHOTOS BY PATRICK YEAGLE Ahhhh – the summer cocktail. Both refreshing and teasing, the perfect elixir for summer’s dog days evokes a happier time of spring, with cherry blossoms bursting and everyone’s team with a chance to win the […]
Bruce Rushton
Bruce Rushton is a freelance journalist.
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Pay up
Awarded $300,000 by a federal jury last week, Vincent Trimble is due for release next year. A former inmate of Taylorville Correctional Center last week won a $300,000 verdict against a prison doctor with a history of lawsuits alleging poor care that resulted in at least one previous six-figure payout. Vincent Trimble, who is now […]
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A dead issue
Rep. Dan Brady, R-Bloomington Gov. Bruce Rauner last week appointed the first state Coroner’s Training Board that will be in charge of training coroners and others involved in death investigations. Rep. Dan Brady, R-Bloomington, who last year sponsored the bill that created the board, said that he believes the new board will both improve training […]
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Mautino campaign workers subpoenaed, source says
Auditor general Frank Mautino Campaign workers for Illinois auditor general Frank Mautino while he was a state legislator have received federal grand jury subpoenas, according to a source with direct knowledge of the matter. The source who confirmed the federal investigation spoke on condition of anonymity because he is not authorized to publicly discuss the […]
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One year, and counting
PHOTO BY PATRICK YEAGLE It took nearly a year for the honeymoon to end, but Mayor Jim Langfelder this spring finally faced a room full of constituents angry at him. City council chambers in April bulged with people clutching signs: “Enough is enough: Protect our kids.” The signs were held high as speaker after speaker […]
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City wins pension case
A Sangamon County judge has sided with the city of Springfield in ruling that retiring city employees can’t cash out accrued vacation time to increase final paychecks and thus boost pension benefits. In almost all cases, pensions are based on the size of salaries earned during final years of employment. Several unions sued the city […]
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Head of Lincoln papers out
Daniel Stowell Daniel Stowell, director of the Papers of Abraham Lincoln Project at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum, has been placed on administrative leave. Meanwhile, grant writing duties for the project that aims to digitize every document ever read or authored by the Great Emancipator have been transferred to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential […]
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We earn it
As scrutiny of pensions has grown, some part-time elected officials in Illinois have opted out of pension plans. But not in Sangamon County or the city of Springfield. Springfield aldermen and Sangamon County board members who accrue pension benefits based on part-time work have passed muster in recent years with the Illinois Municipal Retirement Fund, […]
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Pension board asks judge to solve retirement riddle
PHOTO BY METRO CREATIVE CONNECTION The Springfield Firefighters’ Pension Board has gone to court in an attempt to settle a question over pension benefits for firefighters. At issue is holiday pay for firefighters, which has historically been included in calculating pension benefits. Firefighters get paid for eight hours on holidays, regardless of whether they work. […]
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EXCLUSIVE: Pension perks
Local elected officials due for pensions would have to keep logs showing that they have worked enough hours to qualify for pension benefits under a bill now pending in the state legislature. That could mean a lot of paperwork for local pols. Elected officials aren’t required to take pensions, but all but one member of […]
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State settles minority contracting case
Capitol Strategies, a Springfield technology firm, and two affiliated companies have agreed to pay $550,000 to the state of Illinois for violating laws intended to ensure that minority-owned firms benefit from state contracts. The company remains a state contractor. In addition, Berjaya, Inc., a separate Chatham-based company, has agreed to pay a $10,000 fine and […]
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Next!
Clarissa Williams is no longer publisher of the State Journal-Register.Illinois Times has confirmed that Williams was let go today. Her replacement will be Rosanne Cheeseman, former publisher of the Erie Times-News in Erie, Pennsylvania, which, like the SJ-R, is owned by GateHouse Media. GateHouse acquired the Pennslvania paper in January. Williams became publisher of the […]
