Catholics who attend Mass as well as their lapsed brethren agree on some things, according to the results of a recently released survey of more than 1,400 current and former parishioners. There is sentiment in both camps against people who run the church and what they have to say, say researchers from Benedictine University who […]
Bruce Rushton
Bruce Rushton is a freelance journalist.
Posted inNews
Differing opinions
A former Adams County prosecutor and University of Illinois football star now facing murder charges walked free more than eight years ago after an autopsy on his wife failed to determine a cause of death. Dr. Jessica Bowman, so discredited in Sangamon County that prosecutors won’t use her as a witness, performed the autopsy on […]
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Cops clam up
Larry Willis, publisher and co-owner of the County Journal in Percy, about 140 miles south of Springfield, was just doing what journalists do last July when he asked Illinois State Police for a report on a traffic accident. The wreck was nothing earth shattering. There were no celebrities involved or giant fireballs of death or […]
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ALPLM panel to convene peace talks
Members of an advisory board to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library have agreed to sit on a panel designed to explore governance issues that erupted last spring when the board’s chairman pushed legislation to divorce the institution from the Illinois Historic Preservation Agency. Steven Beckett, a University Illinois law professor who chairs the advisory board, […]
Posted inSpecial Issues
Blaze of glory
The author’s watch-pug stands guard over a fire of manageable size. PHOTO BY BRUCE RUSHTON Nothing is more cozy come fall – and winter – than a nice roaring fire. Gas fireplaces can’t compete with the snap-crackle-pop of real wood burning within a hearth turned wonderfully warm by glowing embers of oak, hickory and maple. […]
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Cops and robbers
Dennis Kendall PHOTO COURTESY MACON COUNTY SHERIFF’S DEPARTMENT Dennis Kendall didn’t finish high school, but at 32, he was a homeowner in Decatur before his world came crashing down. He began roofing at the age of 13, his family says, and was once employed by the same company for nine years. He didn’t have a […]
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Torn asunder
Plans for apartments, shops and a cultural center at an empty downtown church in Springfield are on the rocks. Former Ward 8 Ald. Irv Smith has sued his partner in the project, developer Dan Mulcahy, claiming that Mulcahy has inappropriately written checks and applied for a credit card in the name of the company the […]
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Lunar event
Michael Lang, who promoted Woodstock more than 40 years ago, had Max Yasgur’s farm. The Rolling Stones, for good or ill, had Altamont Speedway. The father-and-son team of Barry and Sam Shear have Kennekuk County Park near Danville for Phases Of The Moon, a four-day music and arts festival scheduled for Sept. 11 through Sept. […]
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Mural interruptus
A mural depicting Abraham Lincoln saying farewell to Springfield didn’t end up as planned but nonetheless has been deemed complete. PHOTO BY BRUCE RUSHTON Gilbert Stuart never finished his portrait of George Washington. Coleridge was interrupted by a visitor before he could complete “Kubla Khan.” And then there is the mural of Abraham Lincoln, near […]
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A pedophile’s playpen
Steven R. Battles PHOTO COURTESY SANGAMON COUNTY SHERIFF’S OFFICE When Springfield police called Steven R. Battles in 2010 to ask about his contact with boys, he asked an odd question. “I advised him it was in reference to criminal sexual abuse,” Detective Paula Morrow wrote in her report. “Battles then asked if it was a […]
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Fixing neighborhoods
More than 50 city officials and neighborhood activists gathered Monday to hear what Peoria is doing to revitalize neighborhoods. PHOTO BY BRUCE RUSHTON Faced with budget cuts, city officials in Peoria charged with enforcing building codes and otherwise keeping neighborhoods spiffy have reorganized in hopes of revitalizing neighborhoods. More than 50 neighborhood activists and Springfield […]
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Former teacher pleads guilty
“Believe it or not, I care for you. I love you. You’re like a son to me.” Not words one expects to hear a child molester tell his victim after finally being held accountable years after the fact. But that’s what Steven R. Battles, a former Springfield school teacher, told his victim in the courtroom […]
