Six schools moved up, four moved down, and overall things seem to be improving with proficiency, graduation and chronic absenteeism rates. That in a nutshell is the finding for Springfield’s District 186 schools in the 2025 Illinois State Board of Education (ISBE) Report Card that tracks performance at the state’s public schools. Lanphier High School […]
David Blanchette
David Blanchette has been involved in journalism since 1979, first as an award-winning broadcaster, then a state government spokesperson, and now as a freelance writer and photographer. He was involved in the development of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum and more recently the Jacksonville Area Museum. David and his wife, Sue, live in Petersburg.
Posted inNews
Superintendent search underway
Jennifer Gill’s 12-year tenure as Springfield School District 186 superintendent will come to a close when she retires at the end of the current school year in June 2026. Meanwhile, the District 186 School Board has been hard at work finding Gill’s replacement, and announced an updated interview and hiring schedule at the Nov. 3 […]
Posted inOpinion
Protecting properties in perpetuity
The property is accessed by a bucolic, barely two-lane road that winds its way through a canopy of trees, occasionally revealing hardy corn stalks on each side reaching for the rural Menard County sky. An inconspicuous sign near a private residence marks the spot where Abraham Lincoln’s first sweetheart, Ann Rutledge, died in a log […]
Posted inOpinion
A civic center for Jacksonville
A Jacksonville organization has signed an option to purchase the historic Illinois Theater building in the city’s downtown and has embarked on an ambitious three-month, $8.8 million fundraising campaign to finance the purchase and pay for the building’s transformation into a new multipurpose civic center. “This civic center will become not only a cultural hub […]
Posted inOpinion
Adventure awaits at the Illinois State Fair
“Adventure Awaits” is the theme of the 2025 Illinois State Fair, and that adventure this year includes a few new wrinkles such as a pickleball tournament, craft beer contest and the return of the Budweiser Clydesdales. But it all starts on Thursday, Aug. 7, with the Twilight Parade, and this year’s grand marshal is the […]
Posted inOpinion
Holiday blessings
A home, sobriety, a future, a new career, and the chance to live. These aren’t your typical holiday gifts but they are greatly appreciated by the recipients, whose lives have been changed, and saved, during 2021. In these pandemic, politicized and polarized times it’s humbling and encouraging to learn that good things still happen to […]
Posted inNews
NPR Illinois celebrates 50 years
Its two-word mission is simple: Explain Illinois. It’s something that Springfield-based National Public Radio Illinois has been doing for 50 years, and accomplishing that mission is a multifaceted, innovative and fiscally capricious effort fueled by public and private support. NPR Illinois delivers a combination of locally produced programs and syndicated National Public Radio shows such […]
Posted inOpinion
NPR is “not just nice; it’s essential”
The NPR Illinois Community Advisory Board is a 20-member group that meets regularly to offer perspective to the station’s management team. The board reviews NPR Illinois’ programming goals, services and significant policy decisions, and helps to facilitate sustainability through fundraising, memberships, underwriting, grants and contracts. Community Advisory Board members also serve as ambassadors on behalf […]
Posted inOpinion
From blight to benefit
What Jacksonville needs most is a few more good homes, and that’s the aim of a new development in the center of the city that will turn dilapidated properties into new single family residences and brownstone-type condominiums. A partnership has been formed between local developer Rabbi Rob Thomas, his wife Lauren Thomas, and Springfield-based commercial […]
Posted inOpinion
Urban farming in Jacksonville
Juan Caballero plants seeds a little differently than most people. “I use my finger to make a hole in the potted soil and that way I can judge how deep the seed will go,” Caballero said. “When I’m in the potting room sometimes I would rather have the light off than on, but it depends […]
Posted inOpinion
A loss for Illinois farmers and food banks
The decision to eliminate federal funding for programs that support farmers and food banks goes against the Trump administration’s commitment to “Make America Healthy Again” according to advocates for local producers and nonprofit hunger abatement organizations. The U.S. Department of Agriculture in February cut two federal programs, the Local Food for Schools program and the […]
Posted inOpinion
Federal government should keep its promises
What is the status of the federal Local Food Purchase Assistance Program funding in Illinois? There were two batches of monies, $28.8 million and then $14.7 million, adding up to a collective $43.5 million. The original $28.8 million was frozen, but now we are being told that we’re able to access those funds and complete […]
