Mark McDonald’s greatest professional reward is knowing that people enjoy the product he produces. “When I go to the grocery store and people say ‘I love your show,’” McDonald said, “that makes it all worthwhile. I love that.” McDonald has been the only host of the Public Television series “Illinois Stories” since its inception 19 […]
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 Jacksonville.
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Global headquarters
The COVID-19 pandemic, supply chain issues, the war in Ukraine and other developments have brought into sharp focus the global relationships that reach into every part of our daily lives. What happens around the world affects our health and safety, what we can buy and how much we pay for it, and what the future […]
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School comes to Kidzeum
Groups of excited second graders dashed from area to area, clutching notebooks and tablet computers as they explored, documented, measured, calculated and learned. The scene was the Kidzeum of Health and Science in downtown Springfield, and the students were part of the School District 186 STEAM (Science, Technology, Engineering, Art, Mathematics) Residency Program. This recent […]
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DCFS headed in the WRONG DIRECTION
Building more emergency shelters and funding more foster homes seems on the surface to be a logical way to start improving a troubled child welfare system in Illinois. The Illinois Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) has been beset by images of children sleeping in department offices because they have nowhere else to go, […]
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Taking health care to the streets
“The sad part is, I never smoked.” Zevernett Holloway had been inhaling the equivalent of 28 cigarettes per day for the past 43 years by simply living in her Springfield home. “I did not know about radon until I heard about it about five years ago,” Holloway said. “Then I met Nick through this program, […]
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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 […]
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Building on Black history
The Judge John Taylor House, the long-planned anchor of a neighborhood development at 12th and Cass streets in Springfield, is getting emergency stabilization work this winter that should buy some time for organizers to raise the needed funds for its full restoration and adaptive reuse. The Springfield Economic Development Commission on Nov. 2 voted to […]
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Building on Black history
The Judge John Taylor House, the long-planned anchor of a neighborhood development at 12th and Cass streets in Springfield, is getting emergency stabilization work this winter that should buy some time for organizers to raise the needed funds for its full restoration and adaptive reuse. The Springfield Economic Development Commission on Nov. 2 voted to […]
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The making of a respectable lobbyist
Randy Witter has learned a thing or two during his 48 years of lobbying work at the Illinois State Capitol. “I learned early on that if you treat everyone the same way, whether it’s the governor or the janitor, with the same respect, you’re going to get further ahead,” said the 72-year-old Witter. “You don’t […]
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George Ryan looks back
George H. Ryan has faced some harsh critics during his 87 years of life, much of it spent in the public eye. But there was no tougher crowd than the roomful of murder victims’ families that he invited to the Illinois Executive Mansion in 2002. “They were bitter. They were terribly angry,” Ryan said. “I […]
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Will state workers come back to offices?
It happened in Chicago. Could it happen in Springfield? Governor JB Pritzker has taken the first steps to restructure the state’s real estate portfolio with an eye toward reducing the workplace cost for state employees. The governor announced in January that the state of Illinois will sell the James R. Thompson Center and place many […]
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NPR Illinois to lose university funding
Public funds for public radio in central Illinois will be phased out over the next five years. But National Public Radio (NPR) Illinois plans to use this fiscal lemon to make lemonade through enhanced fundraising and increased news coverage. The $7 million deficit sustained by University of Illinois Springfield (UIS) during the COVID-19 pandemic has […]
