Unhoused people who stay at Helping Hands of Springfield’s shelter say they are forced to leave the building every day for an hour and sometimes two each afternoon, bundled up and shivering in the cold, while workers clean the building and then check clients back in again. Several clients said the situation existed even before […]
Dean Olsen
Dean Olsen is a senior staff writer for Illinois Times. He can be reached at:
dolsen@illinoistimes.com, 217-679-7810 or @DeanOlsenIT.
Posted inSpecial Issues
SONYA MASSEY Feb. 2, 1988-July 6, 2024
To her large, extended family, the July 6 shooting death of Sonya Massey was a shocking and devastating loss of a single mother and a God-fearing woman struggling with mental-health issues who loved her two teenage children and was loved. To the world, the end of the 36-year-old Woodside Township Black woman’s life – brought […]
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Referendum would give voters the option to recall future sheriffs
The odds appear to be against Democrats who are trying to convince the Republican-controlled Sangamon County Board to put a referendum on the April 1 ballot that would give voters the power to remove sheriffs from office. County Board member Sam Cahnman, a Springfield Democrat, said he will introduce his proposal to put the recall […]
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Springfield Clinic disrupts area health care industry
Two recently opened rooms overlooking Springfield Clinic’s main campus hold the promise of shorter waits for patients who need the blood vessels feeding their hearts examined or treated for potentially life-threatening blockages. Two miles away, a new Urgent Care Plus, scheduled to open in January near Springfield’s two acute-care hospitals, is designed to serve many […]
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Amy Rasing slated as new director of OPED
Springfield Mayor Misty Buscher wants to promote the city’s operations coordinator for state and federal grants to head the Office of Planning and Economic Development. Buscher told Illinois Times on Dec. 10 that she will ask the City Council to approve Amy Rasing to succeed the retiring Val Yazell as director of the office. The […]
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Amazon hub is coming to Springfield
It appears that Amazon, one of America’s Big Five technology companies, will open and operate a planned $20 million warehouse and distribution center in 2025 at North Dirksen Parkway and Bissell Road in Springfield. Sangamon County property records show Amazon bought a 31-acre site at the Springfield’s intersection’s southeast corner for $2.85 million on Nov. […]
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SAFE-T Act is a double-edged sword
Sean Grayson will remain in jail at least another 35 days because of a ruling Dec. 3 by the 4th District of the Illinois Appellate Court. In an unsigned order, the Springfield-based 4th District said it will give State’s Attorney John Milhiser until early January to appeal the Appellate Court’s Nov. 27 order calling on […]
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An alternative to the ER
As many as 70% of patients who seek care in the emergency rooms of Springfield Memorial Hospital or HSHS St. John’s Hospital could be served quicker, and at less cost, by a new outpatient facility scheduled to open in early January. That’s the view of the future co-medical directors of Springfield Clinic’s Urgent Care Plus, […]
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Sean Grayson likely to be granted pretrial release
Unless the Illinois Supreme Court steps in, Sean Grayson will be released from custody on Dec. 6 while he awaits trial for the July 6 murder of Sonya Massey. Grayson, 30, had been ordered detained by Circuit Court Judge Ryan Cadagin since the former Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy was arrested and indicted by a grand […]
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Helping the unhoused
Having a roof over his head at night when temperatures dip into the 30s is “way better” than spending the night outdoors at North Grand Avenue and North Fifth streets, Alfonso Bland says. Bland, 48, said he had been living and sleeping at a homeless encampment at the southeast corner of the Springfield intersection for […]
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Problems at Poplar Place
Dignitaries from Springfield and the state were all smiles during a recent grand reopening of Poplar Place, a formerly run-down rental housing complex for low- and moderate-income people on the city’s east side. But Katherine James, 52, a Poplar Place resident with physical disabilities, said the renovations – costing $46.5 million in funding and financing […]
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Springfield grapples with increased crime
Antwaun Readus Sr. started to choke up at the podium as he described how he has been called upon to use his barbering skills to prepare as many as 10 Black adolescents and young men for casket viewings after they became victims of violence. “Do you know how hard it is to sit here and […]
