Gov. Bruce Rauner. PHOTO BY ANTHONY SOUFFLE/CHICAGO TRIBUNE/TNS During the 2014 gubernatorial campaign, Gov. Bruce Rauner pledged that his would be the most open administration in the nation. “I want to make Illinois government the most efficient, transparent (state government) in America,” Rauner said in a 2013 stump speech, according to the Rockford Register Star. […]
Bruce Rushton
Bruce Rushton is a freelance journalist.
Posted inNews
Lawyers doing God’s work
Bishop Thomas Paprocki During his early days as a parish priest in the 1980s, Bishop Thomas Paprocki, leader of the Diocese of Springfield, founded the Chicago Legal Clinic to help the poor with such matters as bankruptcy, child custody disputes and arguments with landlords. Fresh out of DePaul Law School, he saw a need. “I […]
Posted inOpinion
The gift that keeps on giving
We here at Illinois Times are neither rich nor proud, which is why we shop for bargains at local thrift stores. So it was that we stopped by the Goodwill on Dirksen Parkway today during the lunch hour. It was the typical assortment of used shirts and pants and shoes and what-not from Joseph A. […]
Posted inNews
Urban League accused of bias
Hit with a $100,000 verdict in a discrimination lawsuit decided last week, the Springfield Urban League faces a second lawsuit from a former Head Start employee who says that she was the victim of racial and religious discrimination. Rhonda King, a former teacher and parent advocate at the Urban League’s Head Start program in Jacksonville, […]
Posted inNews
Sanctity of life
Rev. Thomas Paprocki PHOTO BY PATRICK YEAGLE The Rev. Thomas Paprocki espouses exorcism and opposes gay marriage. He has said that Muslims should be treated differently than others at airport security checkpoints because most terrorists are Islamic. In short, Paprocki is known as a conservative’s conservative. But there is another side to the leader of […]
Posted inNews
Judge rules against Urban League
A jury has issued a $100,000 verdict against the Springfield Urban League, ruling that the organization discriminated against a former Head Start teacher who lost her job in 2010. Jamie Schnitker, who worked at Head Start programs in Jacksonville, said that she was terminated after 13 years with the Urban League because she is white […]
Posted inNews
Hilton switching brands
The Hilton Springfield will become a Wyndham next year. Owner Bob Egizii confirmed that the towering 30-story hotel with 365 rooms on East Adams Street in downtown Springfield will end its association with Hilton at the end of this year. He said he has reached an agreement with Wyndham to become a Wyndham franchise. “Wyndham […]
Posted inNews
Dog bites man, who sues
Stewart, depending on who’s talking, is either a mutt in need of a home or a dangerous dog that needs to be euthanized. One thing is clear. Stewart is now at the center of a lawsuit filed by an Animal Protective League volunteer who says that the pit bull mix bit him for no reason. […]
Posted inNews
Keeping public contracts secret
A Sangamon County judge has rejected a plea from a Massachusetts company that claims that requests for the company’s contracts with more than a dozen Illinois school districts are harming business and damaging the company’s reputation. Lawyers for Ameresco had argued that requests under the state Freedom of Information Act for contracts should be barred, […]
Posted inNews
Campbell goes to pot
Jack Campbell, who lost a bid last year to become Sangamon County sheriff, has been tabbed by the state Department of Agriculture to run the agency’s Bureau of Medicinal Plants, the office tasked with enforcing state laws and regulations pertaining to medical marijuana growers. Campbell, who remains employed by the sheriff’s office as a sergeant, […]
Posted inNews
Take me out to the ballgame
Springfield has seen a number of major league players both from here and passing through. From left to right: Jayson Werth, Robin Roberts, Ray Chapman and Dick Schofield. Illustration by David Hine. In almost every large town in the state, base ball clubs have been organized this spring. We notice in our exchanges, not only […]
Posted inMusic
Notes from Chicago
Before this past weekend, my last Grateful Dead show was at Portland Meadows in Oregon, about six weeks before Jerry Garcia played his final show at Soldier Field. It was the latest in a string of when-will-this-end concerts bordering on tragedies as Garcia, once a brilliant musician, deteriorated both physically and sonically, missing notes as […]
