Untitled Document A Sangamon County public official gets caught in a cocaine scandal. The state’s attorney can’t handle such a high-profile case himself: No matter what the legal outcome, critics will claim that he gave his buddy some kind of sweet deal. So the state’s attorney pitches this hot potato to somebody else: Special Prosecutor Charles […]
Dusty Rhodes
Posted inNews
Same song, second verse
Untitled Document For the second time in three years, the volunteer vocalists of the Illinois Symphony Chorus have lost their leader to an unhappy departure. Richard Robert Rossi, who joined the ISO in August 2005, shortly after the board terminated the employment of previous chorus conductor Marion van der Loo, surprised ISO executives by tendering […]
Posted inNews
Same song, second verse
For the second time in three years, the volunteer vocalists of the Illinois Symphony Chorus have lost their leader to an unhappy departure. Richard Robert Rossi, who joined the ISO in August 2005, shortly after the board terminated the employment of previous chorus conductor Marion van der Loo, surprised ISO executives by tendering his resignation […]
Posted inNews
Jacked
Jack Bishop, the former executive director of the Phoenix Center who left the AIDS service organization under a cloud of controversy, has again been accused of financial mismanagement. The Internal Revenue Service has notified Phoenix board members that Bishop failed to pay payroll taxes, and last month each board member was sent a bill for […]
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Taking shape
Untitled Document At last week’s kickoff ceremony for the construction of Habitat for Humanity’s largest-ever project in Sangamon County, the presiding cleric couldn’t get anything right. Every time the Rev. Chuck Edwards mentioned that the house would be home to Patty Redpath and her seven kids, 2-year-old Olivia Redpath corrected him — loudly. “No!” she […]
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New chapter
Untitled Document Next week will mark the beginning of a new chapter in the life of Patty Redpath and her big brood of adopted children [see Dusty Rhodes, “Seventh heaven,” April 24], as Habitat for Humanity breaks ground on a home for the Redpath family June 18. Helping out during the first intensive days of […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Reinforcing the %uFFFDblue wall of silence%uFFFD
In 2002, this paper published a picture of Alva Busch using a blow dryer to remove decals from his work vehicle. At the time the snapshot was taken, in 2001, Busch was an Illinois State Police crime scene investigator working in the East St. Louis area. Why was he removing the emblems that identified his […]
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Plan of action
Untitled Document The members of a group seeking improved regulation of factory farming voiced their concerns in a two-hour meeting with federal Environmental Protection Agency officials on Tuesday and came away believing that the agency may investigate allegations that Illinois EPA has neglected its duties. Illinois Citizens for Clean Air and Water petitioned EPA in […]
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Dead end
Untitled Document The Illinois State Police and the Springfield Police Department each won a major victory in federal court within the past week, but those on the side of the two officers who lost say the decisions don’t bode well for any cop with a conscience. ISP Lt. Michale Callahan and SPD Sgt. Ron Vose […]
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Least likely to succeed
Untitled Document Chevonne Watson walks from the Lawrence Adult Education Center to her rent-subsidized apartment three miles east in Poplar Place because she can’t afford bus fare. For her daughters’ frequent doctor appointments, she pushes 2-year-old Promise in a stroller while 7-year-old Justice makes it on foot from Poplar the three miles west to Memorial […]
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Empowerment, not entitlement
Untitled Document Center teaches parents how to take charge of their own lives By DUSTY RHODES Parents who enroll in the family literacy program at Lawrence Adult Education Center get more than reading, writing, and arithmetic. They get parenting classes, help finding child care, coaching on how to deal with their kids’ problems at school, […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Summer lovin’
Untitled Document The first summer that Mike Dial went to camp, he spent a lot of time sitting in the administrative office. Plagued by attention-deficit disorder, hyperactivity, and, by his own admission, “a nasty temper,” Mike would become so enraged that staff members still recall the visible manifestations of his fury. “He would get so […]
