Dean Olsen

Gov. JB Pritzker’s decision to more than double state funding for programs designed to reduce homelessness in Sangamon County will help the community make meaningful progress and blunt a potential reduction in federal funding from the Trump administration, Springfield officials say. “We’re just not used to this type of investment,” Josh Sabo, executive director of […]

The two ambulance workers charged with first-degree murder in the 2022 death of Earl Moore Jr. will be tried separately, a Sangamon County judge has ruled. Circuit Court Judge Robin Schmidt on Dec. 2 granted the request from both defendants, Peter Cadigan, 53, and Peggy Finley, 47, both of Springfield. The former employees of LifeStar […]

Organized labor showed out in force at a public meeting Dec. 3 to support a proposed $500 million data center in southwest Sangamon County, while a smaller yet vocal coalition of critics questioned the project’s long-term impact on the local economy and electric rates. “This project is about more than steel and concrete,” Aaron Gurnsey, […]

The proposed $500 million data center that CyrusOne wants to build in southwestern Sangamon County would generate up to $6 million more each year in property taxes by the early 2030s, an official from the Dallas-based company told Illinois Times. “It would be a real asset to the county,” Bradd Hout, location and power strategy […]

Former Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy Sean Grayson’s lawyers say he deserves a new trial for the 2024 murder of Sonya Massey because the presiding judge erred when allowing the jury to hear Grayson’s disparaging remarks about Massey after the fatal shooting. “As a result, the events following the shooting had no relevance to the issues […]

A court hearing is scheduled Dec. 4 to finalize a $7.6 million settlement that would pay people whose personal information was seized by hackers in a targeted cyber attack that temporarily crippled Hospital Sisters Health System in 2023. The nonprofit health system, based in rural Sangamon County near Riverton, discovered the suspicious cyber activity “by […]

Crews dispatched by the city Nov. 24 cleaned up what remained of an encampment of homeless people in the 800 block of North Ninth Street in Springfield that had persisted since the spring. Cleanup of the site – spread across three vacant lots owned by the city, Sangamon County and a private landowner – took […]

It’s unclear whether the Sangamon County Board can, or will, delay a vote for six months or more on zoning, as some residents have requested, for what would be the county’s first data center. But the board has taken a step to broaden discussion on the controversial proposal by scheduling a Dec. 3 public hearing. […]

With one listening session under its belt, the newly formed PURPLE Coalition is beginning what its members hope will be years of advocacy on behalf of Blacks and other chronically disadvantaged people in the Springfield area. Tiara Standage, president of the People United for Reform, Power, Liberation and Equity Coalition, said the organization was born […]

A second-degree murder conviction for former Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy Sean Grayson on Oct. 29 in the death of Sonya Massey was a “serious miscarriage of justice,” Massey’s father said after the jury verdict. Grayson, 31, who was charged with first-degree murder in the July 2024 shooting death of Massey, 36, in her Woodside Township […]

The Sangamon County Board’s timeline for considering and potentially approving the county’s first data center – a $500 million complex in rural Talkington Township – has been lengthened by at least a month. And County Board Chair Andy Van Meter said additional public meetings, or a website, or both, will be used to increase opportunities […]