Springfield’s Office of Planning and Economic Development will focus on data and innovation to make city government more efficient, helpful to businesses and in line with Mayor Misty Buscher’s goal of creating more good-paying jobs in the city. Those are among plans for the office under Val Yazell, who was hired back to head OPED […]
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 inNews
Haley: Remarks “taken out of context”
Teresa Haley says her controversial comments about immigrants brought from the Mexican border to Chicago were misinterpreted and taken out of context. The president of the Springfield branch of the NAACP also told Illinois Times she regrets using the term “savages” in reference to the thousands of immigrants who have been flown and bused to […]
Posted inNews
Judge denies Sam McCann’s request to delay trial again
The bench trial of former Conservative Party gubernatorial candidate Sam McCann on illegal campaign fund spending charges will begin as scheduled Feb. 5, a federal judge ruled Jan. 10 when she turned down McCann’s request for another delay in the almost 3-year-old case. U.S. District Court Judge Colleen Lawless also denied McCann’s second request since […]
Posted inNews
Getting back to business
For Nelson’s Catering, the COVID-19 pandemic was an economic disaster but one that the longtime Springfield business survived. Sales were down 80% in 2020 after the pandemic hit Illinois in March of that year. Receipts in 2021 were 60% below previous norms. Even in 2023, when hospitals saw big drops in COVID-19-related admissions and deaths, […]
Posted inNews
City-operated ambulance service to be considered
Springfield City Council members will consider spending $280,000 in the next fiscal year on what could be the first step toward a multimillion-dollar, city-operated ambulance service to supplement privately operated ambulances and shorten response times in medical emergencies. The money to buy a single ambulance appears on page 165 of the city’s 400-page budget proposal […]
Posted inNews
Springfield Clinic, Blue Cross make a deal
After two years of financial and emotional stress for thousands of central Illinois patients, those covered by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois regained in-network access to Springfield Clinic medical providers on Jan. 1. Chicago-based Blue Cross and the clinic issued statements Dec. 22 that they have reached a new five-year agreement allowing the […]
Posted inNews
Rail improvement project delayed
Completion of Springfield’s rail improvement project will be delayed beyond 2025 because the project failed to secure $138 million in funding from the federal government. Springfield and Sangamon County backers of the years-long project had hoped 2025 would be the last year of construction on the massive project to alleviate rail congestion in the city’s […]
Posted inSpecial Issues
MARY ANN LAMM Dec. 21, 1938-June 4, 2023
Mary Ann Lamm’s work ethic and personality were key to her decades of electoral success in Sangamon County, friends and family members said. “She was always a public servant first,” Lamm’s daughter, Melissa Anderson, said of her mother, the former Democratic Sangamon County Recorder who served for 32 years – from 1976 until her retirement […]
Posted inNews
Springfield Clinic, Blue Cross make a deal
After two years of financial and emotional stress for thousands of central Illinois patients, those covered by Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois will regain in-network access to Springfield Clinic medical providers on Jan. 1. Chicago-based Blue Cross and the clinic issued statements Dec. 22 that they have reached a new five-year agreement allowing […]
Posted inNews
Haley suspended by NAACP
The national NAACP has suspended Teresa Haley as president of the group’s Illinois State Conference after the Springfield resident was recorded on video in October calling immigrants “savages” and saying they are “raping people” and attracting more sympathy than Black people with similar needs. Haley’s comments, made during an online monthly video call with NAACP […]
Posted inNews
Scheels Sports Park development on track
Scheels Sports Park at Legacy Pointe remains on track to be fully operational by spring 2025 on Springfield’s south side despite recent questions from City Council members about the way public money will flow to the project and the viability of private financing scheduled that will cover half of the total $67 million in costs. […]
Posted inNews
Elimination of cash bail seems to be working
The Sangamon County Jail’s average daily census has dropped by one-third since cash bail was eliminated in Illinois, crime rates haven’t spiked, and the system providing more information to judges before they make decisions on whether to release defendants before trial is running smoothly. Ninety days after the Pretrial Fairness Act took effect in Illinois […]
