Cap City

High school students from Sangamon County will be among more than 30 budding Midwest entrepreneurs scheduled to gather Sunday at the Keller Convention Center in Effingham for a trade show sponsored by the Midland Institute, a nonprofit organization based in Effingham that seeks to instill business thinking in young folks. The event will feature products […]

We’ll confess that we sometimes don’t know what to make of the Chicago-based Better Government Association. On the one hand, they’re in favor, as the name implies, of better government, which is a good thing. On the other hand, one person’s example of better government is another person’s Mosquito Abatement and Mayfly Treatment Commission. This […]

Fossils? Fuhgedaboudit. Picasso? Please. The best museum in Illinois isn’t up north. Rather, voters in a recent online election chose the Abraham Presidential Library and Museum in Springfield as the best museum in the, well, Land of Lincoln, besting such Windy City institutions as the Field Museum and the Art Institute of Chicago. Results of […]

Albuquerque-based artist Allyson Packer, Nick Wylie of Seattle and Illinois State University student Zack Buckley have been chosen as this summer’s artists-in-residence by the Enos Park Residency program, a partnership between the Springfield Art Association, the Enos Park Neighborhood Improvement Association and the City of Springfield. The program offers four-week to 12-month residency awards to visual artists. Wylie will use […]

If nothing else, Airbnb isn’t shy. In a missive sent this week, the company accused hotels of gouging during commencement exercises, squeezing proud families of graduates even more than they’ve already been squeezed by tuition, educational loans, Domino’s pizza tabs and the like. And the number of Airbnb guests in college towns including Evanston, Wheaton […]

Area students are getting a free education in how to manage their money, thanks to Taylorville Community Credit Union, which is bringing Banzai, a national online financial literacy program, to 12 schools in and around Taylorville, Edinburg, Hillsboro, Litchfield, Morrisonville, Nokomis, Pana and Raymond.  “Kids have their own bank accounts, and they work through assignments […]

The Village of Elkhart Veterans’ Park renovation project has been awarded a preservation grant for World War I monumentS in need of conservation, repair, stabilization or other restoration treatment. The park is home to a WWI Doughboy statue that was presented to the village by the returning veterans of World War I in honor of […]

Shortly after being named executive director of Oak Ridge Cemetery in 2011, Michael Lelys got a peek at something most folks rarely see: handwritten internment records memorializing Abraham Lincoln’s burial. It’s contained in one of two books from way back that list the dearly departed who are buried in the historic cemetery. The books, being […]

The ongoing “Illinois Top 200” project allows Illinois residents a chance to vote every two weeks on the state’s most inspiring leaders, greatest books and top businesses, among other superlative categories. By the state’s 200th birthday on Dec. 3, voters will have chosen 10 favorites in 20 different categories. The most recent category was Illinois’ […]

 Beginning June 1, employees of Springfield Public School District 186 and Sangamon County government, as well as their families, will be able to access a new supplemental health service. The school district and the county are partnering with Troxell and Memorial Health Partners to offer a new service called Memorial Choice Health Services which will […]

RIP, Grape and Wine Resources Council. So long, Offshore Wind Energy Economic Development Task Force. Hit the road, Manufactured Home Quality Assurance Board. These are just some of the government bodies created by the Illinois General Assembly that are heretofore no more, thanks to Gov. Bruce Rauner, who last week eliminated 19 state boards and […]