Springfield is planning almost $23 million in federally funded infrastructure improvements in the fiscal year that begins March 1 as part of a city budget plan flush with cash from COVID-19 relief funds and benefiting from sales and income tax revenue connected with surging consumer demand. The projects, to be funded from the total $33.8 […]
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.
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Helping Hands plans more permanent supportive housing
About 80 homeowners who tried unsuccessfully to block a Springfield zoning change in 2021 for a proposed 24-unit apartment complex only now are learning the tenants would be people who used to be homeless and need what’s known as permanent supportive housing. Gail Van Den Bossche, who lives around the corner from the proposed Park […]
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Mayor appoints acting director of Lincoln Library
The new acting director of Lincoln Library says she may not have a college degree in library science, but her education and experience in government and the nonprofit world will serve her and the library’s patrons well. “My skills set … lends itself to what is asked of the library director at Lincoln Library,” acting […]
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Another criminal investigation for Jenny Thornley
A former Illinois State Police Merit Board employee who was fired by the small state agency in July 2020 for alleged felony theft, forgery and official misconduct received $71,400 in workers’ compensation and disability payments after her termination. It’s unclear why Jenny Thornley, 41, received the benefits for more than a year based on her […]
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COVID surge strains health care workers
Springfield’s health care workers say they are exhausted as the COVID-19 pandemic enters its third year. They say they’ve never seen more death, and they’ve fought politics that hindered efforts to contain the spread of coronavirus. Based on that experience, they say the public should temper any optimism about the latest drop in new COVID-19 […]
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Apartment complex to get overhaul
Families looking for affordable housing will be the beneficiaries after state officials approved low-interest financing for $10 million in renovations at Pine Woods Apartments in Springfield, according to Ward 7 Alderman Joe McMenamin. “This will be really attractive to folks who have a modest income,” McMenamin said after St. Louis-based Bywater Development Group received Illinois […]
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Former Vibra Hospital sold
A Springfield developer has acquired the shuttered former Vibra Hospital of Springfield and says he plans to rent it to an undisclosed tenant involved in “ancillary health care.” Developer Chris Stone told Illinois Times he finalized the $1.43 million purchase from Pennsylvania-based Vibra Healthcare on Dec. 6 and plans to have the tenant move in […]
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Former Vibra Hospital sold
A Springfield developer has acquired the shuttered former Vibra Hospital of Springfield and says he plans to rent it to an undisclosed tenant involved in “ancillary health care.” Developer Chris Stone told Illinois Times he finalized the $1.43 million purchase from Pennsylvania-based Vibra Healthcare on Dec. 6 and plans to have the tenant move in […]
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Mayor fires director of Lincoln Library
The director of Lincoln Library, who moved to Springfield from La Crosse, Wisconsin, when she was hired two-and-a-half years ago, says she was fired by Mayor Jim Langfelder Jan. 20. Rochelle Hartman, 59, told Illinois Times the following day that she was surprised and bewildered when Langfelder summoned her to City Hall and told her […]
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Dispute between city and Springfield Airport Authority continues
The Springfield Airport Authority hasn’t followed through on its threatened lawsuit against the city of Springfield to obtain disputed sales tax revenue on the sales of aviation fuel at Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport. But lawyers for both sides have started to talk, and the SAA has filed a Freedom of Information Act request to determine […]
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New grant program for minority business owners
Dee Clay hopes to acquire adjacent land so she can install a drive-through window and make other improvements to her restaurant on Springfield’s east side with a grant from the city’s share of recreational marijuana tax revenue. Clay, the owner of Clay’s Popeye’s BBQ, 1121 South Grand Ave. East, said devoting some of the revenue […]
Posted inNews
Mayor fires director of Lincoln Library
The director of Lincoln Library, who moved to Springfield from La Crosse, Wisconsin, when she was hired two-and-a-half years ago, says she was fired by Mayor Jim Langfelder Jan. 20. Rochelle Hartman, 59, told Illinois Times the following day that she was surprised and bewildered when Langfelder summoned her to City Hall and told her […]
