Illinois auditor general Frank Mautino Illinois auditor general Frank Mautino continued collecting campaign contributions and spending money after the General Assembly voted to put him in charge of auditing state agencies to ensure that public funds are properly spent. Mautino, a Democrat who served 24 years as a state representative before he was sworn in […]
Bruce Rushton
Bruce Rushton is a freelance journalist.
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Punishment reduced in plea
Mark Willett A Springfield man whose conviction for battery to his infant daughter was overturned by an appellate court has pleaded guilty to the offense in a plea bargain that will shave seven years from a 16-year sentence meted out by a judge. Mark Willett, 28, told police that he had gently shaken his two-month-old […]
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Reversal of fortune
A federal judge in Seattle has thrown out a $21.5 million verdict won by a Springfield businessman who says that he suffered a brain injury after being hit on the head in 2011 by a sliding glass door while aboard a cruise ship during a journey around the world. In tossing the jury verdict won […]
Posted inArts & Culture
He fought the good fight
James Craven As a judge, James Craven wasn’t the sort to embarrass lawyers by calling them out publicly while court was in session. “I run into all kinds of people who appeared before him once, twice, many times,” says his son, Don Craven, one of four children, all of whom became lawyers. “They describe him […]
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An immigrant’s tale
Ossie Langfelder Ossie Langfelder could have ended up in China. Or Decatur. Or any number of places besides Springfield, where he ended up mayor. He was not initially impressed with the capital city when his family moved to Springfield while World War II raged in Europe, with the United States still at peace. It was […]
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The builder
Robert L. Evans Boom! Boom! Boom! Explosions ripped the air as a demolition team set off charges to bring down the Sankey high-rise apartments a few blocks east of Washington Park. Then silence. But no crash. As smoke from explosives cleared on Oct. 22, 2013, both 14-story towers remained in place. It took 10 minutes […]
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Pot ads come to Springfield
More than a dozen billboards promoting a coming marijuana dispensary have been posted around town in the past week or so. PHOTO BY BRUCE RUSHTON Legalize it,And I will advertise it. –Peter Tosh, 1976 The billboard on South Ninth Street, a few blocks south of the Sangamon County courthouse where pot smokers and dealers […]
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Paper caper
A Springfield woman has pleaded guilty to stealing toilet paper that had been intended for the poor. The rolls purloined by Tamika Brownlee, who will celebrate her 35th birthday on Saturday, were among an estimated 10,000 taken from a trailer parked at St. Martin de Porres Center at 1725 South Grand Ave. E. last summer. […]
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Dark days for Foresight
Chris Cline, founder of Foresight Energy Recent weeks haven’t been easy on Foresight Energy. The St. Louis-based coal company founded by Chris Cline, the mining baron who moved from Appalachia to Illinois a decade ago on the theory that Midwest coal would be a path to even greater prosperity, has seen its stock tumble from […]
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Sticker shock
The Springfield Economic Development Commission has blessed a mayoral plan to spend $125,000 on a consultant who would gather proposals to develop an oversized city block just north of the governor’s mansion, vet developers and recommend a plan that would likely require millions of dollars in public subsidies. Options for subsidies include tax increment financing, […]
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Park police riddled with problems
Former captain Jonathan Davis The Springfield Park District police department is fraught with problems, and the park board should spend hundreds of thousands of dollars to fix them. That’s the conclusion of a consultant who was paid $12,000 to study the district’s troubled police department and recommend improvements to address deficiencies in recordkeeping, equipment, staffing, […]
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Pot dispute lands in court
A legal marijuana grow operation in Grass Valley, Calif., on November 12, 2015. Photo by Randall Benton/Sacramento Bee/TNS A company that wants to grow medical marijuana in Carlinville has sued the state Department of Agriculture and a rival company that has been granted a license to grow pot, claiming that the license was issued in […]
