An Illinois Commerce Commission staff member’s blistering criticism and recommended denial of Navigator CO2’s proposed carbon-dioxide pipeline has encouraged opponents of the project. Navigator’s request for ICC approval for the Navigator Heartland Greenway pipeline “is not a benefit to the citizens of Illinois nor in the public interest,” ICC case manager Mark Maple said in […]
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
Black children face highest risk of being gun victims
Black children and kids from low-income households, regardless of race or ethnicity, face the highest risk of being hurt or killed by firearms, a Southern Illinois University School of Medicine doctor found in a national study published by one of the world’s leading medical journals. Dr. Ruchika Goel, a blood-diseases and cancer specialist at SIU’s […]
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More heads in beds
A few more dollars tacked onto daily hotel room charges in Springfield could be used to expand the Bank of Springfield Center and boost the city’s hospitality industry for years to come. That option is among several potential uses for a tourism improvement district, or TID, that the director of the Springfield Convention and Visitors […]
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Police projects expand
What the Springfield police chief called a historic infusion of state cash for crime prevention and community outreach will include $645,000 for a “teen empowerment zone” on the east side and expanded coverage for the ShotSpotter program. “We see this as an opportunity to be proactive in how we deal with violent crime reduction and […]
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Bringing health care to community gardens
When Kaye Barnes and her coworkers in purple T-shirts hand out free produce as they walk around a neighborhood on Springfield’s east side, residents are thankful but also taken aback that these strangers care about them. “They are sort of stunned, shocked and literally surprised,” said Barnes, a community health worker in the Access to […]
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Paramedic charged in Earl Moore Jr. death makes bail
A Sangamon County judge’s previous rulings denying requests to reduce bail for a paramedic charged with first-degree murder in the suffocation death of Earl Moore Jr. were overturned June 16 by an Illinois Appellate Court panel. The $1 million bond previously set for Peggy Finley of Springfield and upheld by Circuit Judge Robin Schmidt was reduced […]
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City to pay $70K to settle civil rights lawsuit
Attempts by two Springfield police detectives to find who stole a wallet and used a debit card inside it to buy about $1,000 in retail items in 2019 would end with a proposed $70,000 payment to two people allegedly illegally detained and questioned but never charged in the theft. Alfred Clayborne, 37, and Andrea Erley, […]
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Race riot site eligible for National Park Service
An archaeological site near Madison Street and the 10th Street rail corridor meets all four criteria necessary to be eligible for inclusion in the National Park Service to commemorate the 1908 Springfield Race Riot, federal officials said June 13. The announcement was an important next step in the effort to persuade Congress to pass a […]
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Spreading fear about transgender people
YMCA of Springfield officials say “untrue statements” have been made online that a child was inappropriately exposed to male genitalia in a Y locker room by either a transgender female or a man pretending to be transgender. “These statements are false,” the nonprofit organization said in a news release June 2. “Any report of this […]
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Preparing for the centennial of Route 66
Preparations for the 100th anniversary of Route 66 in 2026 include a master plan for development along the historic road in Springfield and the rest of Sangamon County to promote more overnight stays. The effort, being coordinated by the Springfield-Sangamon County Regional Planning Commission with a $200,000 grant from the Illinois Department of Transportation, is […]
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Court rules against man filing serial lawsuits
A 32-year-old Springfield man identified by authorities as an anti-government “sovereign citizen” lost his appeal to overturn a lower-court decision Sangamon County prosecutors obtained in 2022 to stop his alleged harassment of them. The unanimous May 2 decision from a three-member panel of Illinois Appellate Court judges dismissing Derick L. Turner’s appeal affirmed an Aug. […]
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City of Springfield cited for refusal to cover gender-affirming care
After being denied health coverage for hormone treatments to support her identity as a transgender woman, a former Lincoln Library manager says she is happy to work for a Chicago-area library where her employer’s plan pays for gender-affirming care. “I’m celebrated and accepted where I am now,” Katherine Holt told Illinois Times on May 30. […]
