Eleven massage parlors in Springfield have been closed down, while another 25 believed to be operating legitimately will be issued local licenses in coming weeks. City officials mandated the closures as part of the much-anticipated rollout of an ordinance passed by the City Council in June 2024 to crack down on massage establishments believed to […]
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
SIU’s economic impact
Southern Illinois University School of Medicine’s economic value to the Springfield area and the rest of the state has been quantified at more than $1 billion annually. That’s according to a recently published economic impact report on the SIU system that was put together by two SIU economists, Jebaraj Asirvatham and Scott Gilbert. Illinois taxpayers […]
Posted inNews
Virtual patients, real problems
Randy Rhodes, a 54-year-old truck driver with a southern Illinois twang, appears impatient and cantankerous after his wife forced him to visit a doctor to get a rash on his arm checked out. He tells the doctor that he wants to “get this over with quickly.” But after some prodding, he admits feeling tired more […]
Posted inNews
Lesko gives raise to his deputy recorder
Newly elected Sangamon County Recorder Frank Lesko tried but failed to give a former employee of his in the city clerk’s office a 15% raise to become his second-in-command. Both Democrats and Republicans on the GOP-controlled County Board’s Building and Grounds Committee pushed back on the proposed $80,000 pay level for Nicole Cunningham, and the […]
Posted inNews
A pledge to improve
The Jan. 16 agreement between Sangamon County officials and the U.S. Department of Justice ended a federal race and disability discrimination probe of county government but failed to satisfy critics in the wake of the police-involved killing of Sonya Massey. Sheriff Paula Crouch said in a news release from the county that the DOJ review, […]
Posted inNews
Voters to decide on eliminating county recorder’s office
Sangamon County voters on April 1 will decide whether to eliminate the office of recorder of deeds and transfer its duties to the county clerk, effective Dec. 1, 2026. The timeline of the vote and its impact were different from what was originally proposed by Republican leaders of the GOP-controlled County Board. But Democrats on […]
Posted inNews
No free rent
Springfield officials recently finalized an agreement with the owner of the Wyndham City Centre hotel in which the hotel will resume paying rent for use of a city-owned parking lot at 700 E. Monroe St. But on a higher-profile issue – whether the Wyndham hotel will be renovated in the near future – Tower Capital […]
Posted inNews
An unclear process
Longtime Springfield alderperson Chuck Redpath was appointed city clerk Jan. 7 by a divided City Council after a raucous, two-hour-long meeting in which several council members and the public said the process was rushed, unfair and corrupt. The vote for Redpath was 5-3, with two alderpersons voting “present.” Ward 6 Ald. Jennifer Notariano wiped away […]
Posted inNews
Out in the cold
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 […]
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 […]
Posted inNews
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 […]
Posted inNews
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 […]
