The shovel ceremony marking the opening of Millard Fuller Place last Wednesday was a groundbreaking in more ways than one. For starters, it heralded the creation of a 12-lot subdivision to be filled entirely with Habitat for Humanity homes. But the first Millard Fuller Place home to be built will also break new ground — […]
Dusty Rhodes
Posted inNews
Waiting list
A group of 21 white police officers filed a lawsuit Tuesday attempting to block the Springfield Police Department from choosing new sergeants using a promotional list that was extended after its expiration date. In response, a group of black officers who are already plaintiffs in a race discrimination case against SPD plans to file a […]
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Perks of city life
On Saturday, hundreds of hopefuls will gather at Prairie Capital Convention Center to take the written exam that is the first step toward joining the Springfield Fire Department. But for some, the most valuable question might have been answered on the application, when they listed their home address. Job candidates who live within the city […]
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Another delay
The long-awaited Police Citizen Review Commission is going to have to wait even longer. At the suggestion of Ward 10 Alderman Bruce Strom, the ordinance to create the commission will remain tabled in committee until the three consultants who originally advised the Springfield City Council on the topic can be reconvened. It’s a scheduling challenge […]
Posted inOpinion
Partial disclosure
Jack grew up in Springfield, graduated from high school, joined the Marines, and became a military police officer. After being honorably discharged, he enrolled in college, got a degree in criminal justice, and found a job with the state. In 2001, when he saw a chance to join the Springfield Fire Department, Jack applied, partly […]
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Man with a plan
Ward 5 Alderman Joe Bartolomucci is talking trash again. This time, though, it’s not some notion to use buoys to prevent terrorists from entering everybody’s favorite fishing hole on Lake Springfield or refusing to pay the city’s phone bill because of one sagging line on North Grand. This time, it’s literal trash — downtown litter. […]
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Folding their tent
A truce has been declared between the Inn at 835 and nearby residents wary of the elegant bed & breakfast’s expansion plans. With no objection from the Vinegar Hill Neighborhood Association, the inn’s owners recently received almost complete approval from both the Historic Sites Commission and the Springfield Planning and Zoning Commission to build a […]
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Comeback
Undercover narcotics officers from the Springfield Police Department got a bit of a surprise this week when a suspected drug house they were investigating turned out to be selling something other than the usual crack cocaine. With Mayor Tim Davlin along to observe, officers served a search warrant on a house at #3 Manor Court […]
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Minds online
In this age of computer technology, it’s not surprising that university students are demanding that schools make more courses available by way of the Internet. What is surprising, however, are the specific courses they demand. After all, when was the last time you heard a kid say, “When I grow up, I want to be […]
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The price of justice
As a professor in the Legal Studies program at University of Illinois at Springfield, Larry Golden is used to lecturing students about profound philosophical concepts and traditions of the justice system. But as co-founder of the Downstate Illinois Innocence Project, he is getting an eye-opening education himself in what he calls “the real nitty gritty” […]
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Goodbye, Glenn
As co-anchor of the WICS-TV (Channel 20) 5 a.m. news show, Sunrise Today, Glenn McEntyre has spent the past couple of years living life on the same schedule as a newborn — slumbering by sunset, awake before dawn, sounding annoyingly cheerful and looking infuriatingly fresh. But that’s appropriate, because McEntyre was just cutting his broadcast-journalism […]
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Never Say Die
Last Sunday, in a cramped visitation cubicle inside the Crawford County jail, Julie Rea-Harper climbed onto a small stool and balanced carefully on her bare feet. She wanted her visitors on the other side of the bulletproof glass to admire her toenails, freshly painted a delicate shade of peachy pink. A few days earlier, when […]
