Complaints about noise from Sacred Heart-Griffin’s football stadium have been pouring in to the Springfield Police Department since the facility opened two years ago, but the city of Springfield has done little to stop it. “Thirty-four pages?” exclaimed Mike Duvall, who lives more than a mile away from the stadium, when told how many pages […]
Bruce Rushton
Bruce Rushton is a freelance journalist.
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Driving while sober
It seems simple enough. People convicted of driving under the influence of drugs in Illinois should actually be under the influence of drugs. But that isn’t always the case. And so the Illinois State Bar Association is pushing to change a law that has resulted in sober people being prosecuted and convicted for driving while […]
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Really? He’s buying a hotel in Springfield?
Khalaf Ahmad Al Habtoor, center, liked what he saw in Springfield after visiting the area in October to hear former president Jimmy Carter, left, speak at Illinois College. PHOTO BYPATRICK YEAGLE What do Beirut, Budapest, Dubai and Springfield have in common? All three cities have – or will soon have – hotels owned by Khalaf […]
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Sticky-fingered deputy
A Sangamon County Circuit Court judge has rejected the decision of an arbitrator who decided that Sherry Waldron should keep her job as a sheriff’s deputy despite being accused of stealing plants and pleading guilty to shoplifting in a separate incident. In throwing out the March decision of arbitrator Dennis McGilligan, circuit court judge John […]
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Billionaire buys downtown hotel
Khalaf Ahmad al Habtoor COURTESY HOTELIERMIDDLEEAST.COM One of the world’s richest men is buying the President Abraham Lincoln Hotel in downtown Springfield. Steve Horve, the hotel owner, would not disclose a purchase price but said that an offer to buy the property from Khalaf Ahmad al Habtoor came about a month ago and was unsolicited. […]
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Onward, Christian soldiers
Bishop Thomas Paprocki Some things – views on abortion, gay marriage and divorce – are non-negotiable. But Bishop Thomas Paprocki during a Monday forum at Benedictine University said that there is room for conversation on other issues raised by respondents to a survey aimed at figuring out why so many Catholics are no longer active […]
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High marks
Jennifer Gill inherited a district fresh from leadership and financial turmoil. PHOTO BY PATRICK YEAGLE Jennifer Gill wasn’t always a leader. Her days at Springfield High School were busy ones. She spent a year on the student council. Worked on the yearbook staff during her senior year in 1987. Belonged to the Spanish Club, the […]
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Bears go to court
The Chicago Bears have gone to court seeking refuge from the tax man. The Bears this month sued the Illinois Department of Revenue in Sangamon County Circuit Court, claiming that the state is overtaxing a team that Forbes magazine recently valued at $1.7 billion, making the Monsters of the Midway the eighth most valuable franchise […]
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Drunk patrol
ILLUSTRATION BY GARY MARKSTEIN/TRIBUNE MEDIA SERVICE The mean streets of Sangamon County have gotten a bit meaner for those who imbibe before they drive. Two years after the sheriff’s office, citing budget concerns, reassigned a deputy who had been dedicated to enforcing driving under the influence statutes, the office has reestablished the position. Whether the […]
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Please speak louder into my lapel
A local police officer has learned firsthand that it pays to watch what you say now that the state’s antiquated eavesdropping statute has been ruled unconstitutional. Sgt. Sam Gool of the Buffalo-Mechanisburg Police Department resigned last summer, Illinois Times has learned, after he told a woman that a driving under the influence case against her […]
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Rauner, shaker-upper in chief
Governor-elect Bruce Rauner visited Springfield last week to say thanks for electing him. You would never have guessed the election was over, with Rauner winning by a bigger margin than most pundits and pollsters had predicted, if they had envisioned a Republican win at all. Three days after the polls closed, the governor-elect spoke at […]
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Another day, another hearing
A bankruptcy judge last week levied a judgment of more than $2.2 million against embattled entrepreneur Jeffrey Parsons, above, who didn’t show up for court. PHOTO BY PATRICK YEAGLE The fortunes of Jeffrey Parsons rose and fell on the vagaries of precious metal markets, according to a testimony last week in federal bankruptcy court. And […]
