A bill to regulate online lenders that target small businesses with loans that can carry more than 100-percent annual interest rates is moving, albeit slowly, through the Illinois General Assembly. While not capping interest rates, the bill would require lenders to disclose interest rates upfront and bar giving loans to businesses with repayment schedules that […]
Bruce Rushton
Bruce Rushton is a freelance journalist.
Posted inNews
Hellhole
Leftover campaign signs have replaced missing panels in the garage door. To the left is a missing window. Photo BY BRUCE RUSHTON The predictable has happened at a crumbling rental home on Peoria Road owned by Springfield city clerk Frank Lesko. The chimney recently toppled, leaving a hole in the roof now covered by a […]
Posted inMusic
Spin the black circle
Matt Hill, the clerk minding the store recently at Dumb Records on South Grand Avenue, seems a nice enough guy. On a recent afternoon, Hill was playing selections by Scarves, a Seattle band whose interpretation of punk is described by The Stranger, the Emerald City’s leading alt-weekly, as “interestingly constructed, clean and sparkly guitars and […]
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Judge sides with officer
Sangamon County Associate Judge Rudolph Braud has upheld the decision of an arbitrator who ruled that a Springfield police officer who tested positive for steroids cannot be fired. Loren Pettit, who was fired in 2014 after testing positive for clenbuterol, an asthma medication banned in the U.S. that is used as an illegal performance enhancer […]
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Jackpot
CARTOON BY CHRIS BRITT Nearly 20 years ago, former Gov. Pat Quinn looked like a proverbial pauper. Quinn had less than $150 in his campaign war chest as of June 30, 1998, a seminal moment for campaign funds in Illinois. As part of a campaign-finance reform bill passed by the legislature that year, money collected […]
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Fraud alleged in bankruptcy
A U.S. bankruptcy court trustee has leveled fraud accusations against Maureen Suhadolnik, former owner of Gold’s Gym, which closed last year amid bankruptcy proceedings, In court papers filed last month, trustee Nancy Gargula says that Maureen Suhadolnik, whose gym declared bankruptcy in 2014 and was closed after being taken over by Illini Bank last fall, […]
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SJ-R goes into lending
The recent proposition to small business owners by the State Journal-Register sounded a bit like a come-on to buy time-share condos. Come on down to the newspaper and get a free lunch, publisher Clarissa Williams urged in a column published March 3 on the paper’s editorial page. Besides eating for free, you can learn how […]
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Illinois Times loses FOIA case
Bruce Rauner. Terrence Antonio James/Chicago Tribune/MCT Sangamon County Circuit Court Judge John Madonia has sided with Gov. Bruce Rauner in a lawsuit over disclosure of the governor’s appointment calendar, refusing the newspaper’s request for legal fees. The newspaper sued the governor last fall, one day after the attorney general’s office ruled that the governor’s appointment […]
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Fired city officer sues, claims bias
With one lawsuit pending in state court, a fired Springfield police officer has sued the city in federal court, claiming that he was terminated because he is black. Loren D. Pettit, who was earning more than $72,000 a year when he was terminated in June 2014, was the first officer in the history of the […]
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Lifestyles of the rich and elected
CARTOON BY CHRIS BRITT Fancy cars. Luxury hotels. Trips to the tropics and beyond. Money paid to “unknown.” Meals bought in bars without kitchens and money sent to an address that doesn’t exist. All this and more appears on campaign disclosure reports filed by Illinois legislators, who are barred from spending campaign money on anything […]
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Mautino gets lawyer
Illinois Auditor General Frank Mautino Illinois auditor general Frank Mautino has retained J. William Roberts, former Sangamon County state’s attorney and former U.S. attorney for central Illinois, to assist him in responding to questions about his campaign spending while a member of the state House of Representatives. Questions include a probe by the Illinois State […]
Posted inNews
Say cheese
PHOTO BY METRO CREATIVE CONNECTION The Illinois Supreme Court this week ruled that cameras will be allowed in courtrooms throughout the state. The state’s highest court began allowing cameras and audio recording devices in courts four years ago as an experiment. Since then, the court has approved the use of cameras and audio recorders by […]
