Last week, my younger son lost two teeth in the same day. We all know what that means: he was in for windfall from the Tooth Fairy. At a dollar per tooth, he was due two bucks minimum. He was eager to collect the cash, but he knew he had to follow a certain onerous […]
Dusty Rhodes
Posted inOpinion
Smith revives GOP club
The Sangamon County Evening Republican Club, declared disbanded and dead about a year ago, will be resurrected just in time for Easter, according to several former party officers. Irv Smith, who chaired the GOP’s county-wide organization from 1983 through 2005, says he is revitalizing the social and fundraising organization because local Republicans lack direction. “It’s […]
Posted inOpinion
Raise the colors
Last summer, while William Ferguson was working as a junior counselor at the Urban League’s Freedom School, a child fell and broke his arm. Ferguson used two sticks and a bandana to fashion a makeshift cast, to keep the child’s arm immobile until paramedics arrived. It was one of many skills he never dreamed he […]
Posted inOpinion
United Way changes where charity dollars go
For most worker bees, the annual on-the-job charity drive means a chance to make a painless payroll-deduction pledge to a worthy cause and then celebrate with a pizza party in the company cafeteria. Most workers don’t stop to read the fine print or fret about what happens to their donations. After all, a good cause […]
Posted inOpinion
Advocates urge state
In February 2006, a resident of Howe Developmental Center died from having a pap smear. For most women, such a test is somewhat uncomfortable. For this woman — blind, profoundly retarded, non-verbal and suffering from heart disease — procedures like dental exams, mammograms and pap smears were so traumatic that the staff normally gave her […]
Posted inOpinion
Is state police chief on the way out?
The installment of Pat Quinn as governor may give new meaning to the old phrase “changing of the guard.” For starters, Quinn prefers the minimalist approach to security — as opposed to impeached former governor Rod Blagojevich, whose frolicking 40-member Executive Protection Unit earned him some unwelcome media scrutiny. But there may be bigger changes […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Former guv inspires creativi-T
Hooray, it’s T-shirt weather! Oh sure, the thermometer does not entirely agree, but trust me, we’ve never had more reasons to shuck the wooly turtlenecks and show off our tees. See, all the pain and shame our state has suffered with our governor’s arrest, impeachment and subsequent talk-show circuit tour brought the irresistibly eccentric Rod […]
Posted inOpinion
Rising star
“So how was the inauguration?” If you had asked Lisa Madigan that casual question on Barack Obama’s third day in office, you would’ve been treated to a 15-minute rhapsody on the joys of having a seat on the platform looking out over the podium and onward toward the estimated 1.5 million well-wishers thronging the mall. […]
Posted inOpinion
State’s slow aid payments squeeze Springfield agencies
The trickle-down effect of the gridlock gripping the state government’s budget is approaching crisis level for some local social service agencies. Last week, the board of directors at the Phoenix Center sent an e-mail to about 200 friends and potential donors saying that the Illinois Department of Public Health has yet to make a single […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Life has gotten bleeping crazy
Years ago, when I was new in town and causing trouble, Rich Miller phoned me, out of the blue, and invited me to lunch. As I recall, he gave me something like 15 minutes notice to show up at a downtown restaurant. I figured his real lunch appointment must have canceled and I was a […]
Posted inArts & Culture
A housing crisis and its new year’s resolution
This time of year, when you can offend one person by saying “Merry Christmas” and tick off the next with “Happy Holidays,” it’s nice to know you can still count on karma, that spiritual version of what goes around, comes around. Take, for example, Dorothy Milford, first introduced to Illinois Times readers in April 2007, […]
Posted inOpinion
First impeachment witness testifies administration broke rules
Despite the media’s hobby of grasping for any thread to connect President-elect Barack Obama to the scandal surrounding Gov. Rod Blagojevich, they passed up the chance to connect Obama to the first live witness at the House impeachment hearing last week — director of the General Assembly’s Joint Committee on Administrative Rules, Vicki Thomas. During […]
