It isn’t just my imagination. Cindy Cody, the local expert on the City Council, officially confirmed that, yeah, come to think of it, it is kinda weird that three of the ten council members share the same name. Cody, deputy clerk for almost 17 years, says she can’t remember a time when even two council […]
Dusty Rhodes
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Harris’s legacy
A federal judge has denied the City of Springfield’s motion to dismiss the race discrimination lawsuit filed by Renatta Frazier, Rickey Davis, and other current and former black Springfield Police officers. In an order published Tuesday, Judge Jeanne E. Scott let stand most of the claims contained in the complaint. She dismissed former Mayor Karen […]
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Justice delayed
During the recent municipal elections, five men ran for the job of mayor. Four of them promised repeatedly that if elected they would immediately remove John Harris from his position as Springfield’s Chief of Police. Harris has been chief nearly eight years–much longer than any chief in recent history. He has survived his share of […]
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Five Grads
Gloria Donaldson-Sampson came to Springfield in the 1980s as an inmate of the Department of Corrections assigned to a work-release program at the Sojourn Shelter. She enrolled in classes at what was then Sangamon State University and was hired as a student worker at Illinois Issues magazine before her drug addiction seduced her into violating […]
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“What’s the rush?”
The engagement has been announced and a wedding date set, but the proposed union of the city and county health departments may not pan out to be the quickie Vegas ceremony Mayor Karen Hasara wants it to be. For starters, the mayor’s main selling point–the claim that a merger with Sangamon County’s health department would […]
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Aldermania
You’d think a reporter would remember the night he covered a City Council meeting that lasted so long he left in the middle of it to file his story, waited until the newspaper rolled off the presses, then returned to the council chambers to deliver the next day’s news to the aldermen, whose meeting still […]
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The Soul of wit
What are numbers, anyway? John Knoepfle, one of Illinois’ most esteemed poets, has a big birthday coming up Tuesday. Not that big. His age is still well inside the two-digit range. But it is the kind of birthday that sounds a bit better on a bottle of scotch than on a writer of poetry. The […]
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Worlds away
If you don’t happen to be one of those lucky long-term employees with enough vacation time stacked up to leave for a month, don’t worry–you can drive 100 miles southwest and find yourself a world away. Down Interstate 55 and west on State Highway 140 lies the tiny village of Elsah, nicknamed “the town that […]
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Let It B & B
On December 10, 1994, Bob Bartel drove from Springfield to Benton on a mission. He wanted to buy for his wife, Janice, the new Beatles CD being released that day. Of course, the CD, Live at the BBC, was available in Springfield, but Bartel wanted the receipt to say Benton. Why? Because Beatles guitarist George […]
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No favors please
Black Guardians Association, the group of African-American police officers, is asking the City of Springfield for a very special favor. Namely, no special favors. In a brief press release issued this week, BGA expressed “concern regarding the City of Springfield’s past lack of commitment to diversifying its police force.” But the press release goes on […]
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Help wanted
There’s apparently another job opportunity at the City of Springfield: legal advisor to the Springfield Police Department. Bill Workman, who had held that position since late 2000, was terminated May 7. Corporation Counsel Jenifer Johnson confirmed the move, but said she can’t comment on personnel matters. Bradley Wilson, who is defending Workman in a civil […]
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Cop Out: The Aftermath
City responds with nothing, then everything The revelations of last week’s cover story, “Cop Out,” inspired a special city council meeting last Monday at which Springfield Police Department Chief John Harris was the guest of honor. Aldermen Frank Kunz and Frank McNeil repeatedly asked the chief and the SPD’s legal counsel, William Workman, how they […]
