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 […]
Bruce Rushton
Bruce Rushton is a freelance journalist.
Posted inNews
Fired deputy under pressure
Sangamon County judge John Madonia A Sangamon County judge has signaled that he won’t let stand the decision of an arbitrator who ordered a county sheriff’s deputy reinstated after she pleaded guilty to shoplifting and stood trial for stealing plants. Sherry Waldron was fired in 2012 after a surveillance camera captured her taking potted plants […]
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The wild green yonder
Since 2006, Kent Johnson’s son has cultivated 131 acres at Havana Regional Airport, a grass airstrip in Mason County favored by pilots of ultralight aircraft and small airplanes. Kent Johnson is chairman of the Havana Regional Port District Board that owns the airport. And some folks think the business arrangement that has his son leasing […]
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Former doctor faces drug charge
A former Taylorville physician awaiting sentencing on federal fraud charges has been busted for drugs in Pawnee. Officers were summoned to a Casey’s store in Pawnee at approximately 8:15 p.m. on Oct. 11 by bystanders who said that Dr. Vernon R. Klinefelter was stumbling around the store, disoriented and apparently intoxicated. His 1999 Mercedes automobile […]
Posted inOpinion
Dave McKinney: Mensch
I’ve known Dave McKinney, erstwhile Springfield bureau chief of the Chicago Sun-Times, for about three years now. We have lunch now and again. We’ll catch a Cardinals game when I can get free tickets. It was during one of these games that Dave told me about his new love, the woman who would become his […]
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Rallying the troops
State Journal-Register editorial employees will rally outside newspaper offices. PHOTO BY DAVID HINE UPDATED OCT. 28 WITH VIDEO BELOW After seven years of no raises, editorial employees at the State Journal-Register are asking the public to join them for a Monday rally outside newspaper offices on Ninth Street. “Anybody can come by and march with […]
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A pittie-ful situation
Pity the pit bull. Some see the breed as the devil incarnate, out to ravage men, women and children, not to mention other dogs, with vise-like jaws, lots of teeth and a hair-trigger temperament that has earned it a reputation as the fiercest canine on the planet. Others see a playful, intelligent pooch that’s loyal, […]
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The most expensive lawsuit
With a $2.6 million check from taxpayers in hand, the widow of the late Amon Paul Carlock, who died after a struggle with Sangamon County jailers in 2007, says that she doesn’t feel like a winner. “Nothing will bring Paul back,” says Mary Andreatta-Carlock. “There are no winners in this situation at all.” The settlement […]
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Motivated sellers
Lions and an iron gate guard the entrance to Jeffrey Parsons’ home on the outskirts of Athens. pHOTO BY BRUCE RUSHTON Batman had the Batcave. William Randolph Hearst had San Simeon. The Wicked Witch of the West had an honest-to-goodness castle. And embattled entrepreneur Jeffrey Parsons once had a getaway on the outskirts of Athens […]
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Civil war
Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum PHOTO BY DAVID HINE Dysfunction and acrimony were on full display last week as state lawmakers in Chicago discussed the future of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. Officials charged with running the museum threw brickbats at each other during the hearing of the House State Government Administration […]
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Falling down
A shell of itself: Absent a roof, the Knox Flats building on Cook Street is now shedding windows, according to neighbors. PHOTO BY BRUCE RUSHTON After a third-story window came crashing down last month from the dilapidated Knox Flats apartments near downtown, caretakers of one of Springfield’s oldest homes are demanding that the city demolish […]
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Okto-Beer Fest
Autumn is a great time to enjoy ales, porters, stouts and other malted beverages with substance. PHOTOS BY PATRICK YEAGLE In Munich, more than 4,000 miles away from Springfield, they’ve been partying for almost two weeks now, listening to oompah bands and eating Steckerlfisch (aka roast fish-on-a-stick) and sucking down liters of beer inside massive […]
