Fletcher Farrar

On Earth Day 2021 we are reminded that thorny environmental problems remain. What are we going to do about nuclear power? It has become a darling of many nearsighted earthlovers for not putting carbon into the atmosphere, while potentially deadly nuclear waste piles up with no safe place to store it for thousands of years. […]

Police problems seem so much easier to solve when they are in another state. Local questions involving police use of force, or hate speech on the internet, or minority recruitment, seem not as extreme as issues far away, and so go unattended. Neglected more are systemic inequities in our own businesses, churches or neighborhoods. The […]

In the minds of mid-April gardeners, this year’s garden will be the best ever. So far there are no weeds, no bugs, no heat or drought, no mistakes or regrets. Only seeds and great plans. This could be the year to plant more community gardens, to grow a crop of new gardeners and fresh friends. […]

It is no insult to the Almighty to say it’s time for Congress to go beyond “thoughts and prayers” about ways to curtail gun violence. “Prayer leaders have their important place in this, but we are Senate leaders,” said Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Springfield, as he convened his Senate Judiciary Committee after the latest mass killing. […]

I made a mistake last week by publishing in our print edition an early version of a story about the blight that is dragging Springfield down. The final version, posted online, gives the Illinois Housing Development Authority its say on the disaster that is Poplar Place. So for the complete story read “Blight fight” at […]

This week marks the semi-retirement of Illinois Times business manager Brenda Matheis, who has held that position for the past 18 years. Brenda has done a little bit of everything around here to keep us organized and the bills paid, while managing our print circulation and human resources. We’re happy she’ll continue part time, handling […]

With so much else going on, Abraham Lincoln seems almost forgotten on his birthday this year. A few brave Republicans are trying to rescue his party from Trumpism, and the president from Springfield is still the one most quoted in House and Senate speeches, but we’ve gotten so used to Lincoln he rarely awes us […]

Ask bureaucrats why they’re so slow getting seniors vaccinated and they’ll tell you we don’t know how to use computers, or get on the internet, or check multiple websites. They’ll say older folks are more familiar with telephones, bless their hearts, but there are already several people answering phones and adding more would be expensive. […]

It’s brilliant of Sangamon County public health officials to let 65-plusers get vaccinated if they bring an 85-pluser with them, and after their vaccines wait together the required 15 minutes. They’ll become linked for life. It’s like the driver’s ed rules that require teenagers to spend so many hours of behind-the-wheel training with their parents […]

Democracy doesn’t need an apology. But we can stop blaming Trump, Twitter, Republicans and reporters. And get back to work on vaccination, immigration, education, discrimination and a peaceful nation. Ask what your country can do for other countries. Freedom is a project not halfway done. –Fletcher Farrar, editor and CEO

A season of rapid change, as in Springfield and Washington, is not the time to shrink as though violence, disease and racism will win. It is the time, rather, to say with Nancy, JB, Joe – and now maybe Mitch, and Tim Butler, who’s finding his voice – to say we can do this, we […]