Untitled Document Lincoln scholars and the librarians who serve them are celebrating — oh so quietly! — the newly approved plans to preserve the “Lincoln Room,” the hub of Lincoln and Illinois research at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Last winter, the 25,000-volume collection was facing a bad breakup: A plan to overhaul the […]
Dusty Rhodes
Posted inArts & Culture
Feeding the good wolf
Untitled Document At the beginning of class, Mary Ryan goes around the room and shakes hands with her students, calling each man by name, making eye contact, offering a smile: “Hello, Frank. How are you, Dave? What’s up, James?” It’s a casual ritual, but it’s her way of reminding the men in their prison uniforms […]
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Pig tort
Untitled Document When the fight involves 3,350 hogs, their excrement, a farm couple, some “city slickers,” and two lawyers, you’ve got to expect some mud to be slung — and that’s just what’s happening in the ongoing legal saga of family farmers Bob and Sandy Young, their proposed swine-fattening operation, and a few of their […]
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Revolutionary spirit
Untitled Document Until last weekend, the biggest party Joshua Foster ever hosted was a backyard cookout attended by 50 people. Then he got this crazy idea to host a festival at Harvard Park Elementary to raise money for musical instruments and art supplies. He lined up enough bands to fill two stages all day, art […]
Posted inNews
Dog gone
Untitled Document Nick Bartolomucci admits that his dog Pepper was an amazing creature. Rescued by Bartolomucci as a starved, dehydrated, mangy 5-month-old pup, the pit bull/Labrador retriever mix returned the favor by nursing Bartolomucci through the death of his mother, the breakup of a 19-year romance, and the loss of his job. “He was my […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The death of Superman
Untitled Document Letitia Dewith-Anderson once scared me silly. She rang my phone, which she didn’t do very often, and when I answered I could tell that this call was of some gravity. “I’ve got bad news,” she said solemnly. My heart dropped. A few years earlier, her husband, Bill Anderson, had learned that he had […]
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Seventh heaven
Untitled Document The first thing you see when you enter Patty Redpath’s house is two laundry baskets brimming with shoes — big shoes, little shoes, sneakers, boots, sandals. Aside from Patty, everybody removes his or her footwear at the door to minimize the amount of dirt in the house. The next thing you notice is […]
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The time bandit
Untitled Document Paul Carpenter moved one step forward in his efforts to return to work in law enforcement this week when his attorney filed a motion to dismiss the final criminal charge against the former Springfield police detective. Carpenter had been indicted on charges of wire fraud and official misconduct in October 2006, at the […]
Posted inNews
Land of stinkin’
Untitled Document An estimated 500 large factory farms are being allowed to operate and possibly pollute with virtually no oversight from the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency, according to legal pleadings filed last month by a statewide watchdog group. In a petition filed March 27, Illinois Citizens for Clean Air & Water asked the U.S. Environmental […]
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Bound for glory
Untitled Document The inevitable has happened. As anyone who listens to WUIS (91.9 FM) knows, reporter Kavitha Cardoza always had too much talent to be broadcasting from a radio station next to a cornfield — and, sure enough, she has just landed a job with National Public Radio’s Washington, D.C., affiliate, WAMU-FM. She will sign […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The right to say thank you
Untitled Document I hardly slept a wink the night before I met my mother. I was in a motel, just off Interstate 35, on the outskirts of the city where she lived with her family. Our clandestine meeting required more scheming than an international narcotics deal, and I was so nervous that I tried on […]
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What’s in store
Untitled Document What’s that old saying — when God closes one door, he opens another? It’s almost the same for Goodwill shopaholics. Though the godfather of all thrift franchises is closing its store at 2305 Monroe St. on Sunday, it will open two other facilities in the weeks ahead. Sharon Durbin, executive director of Land […]
