The articles presented in our special section beginning on page 14 constitute the winter edition of REGEN, for “Grownups getting stronger.” Published quarterly by Illinois Times since 2020 as a standalone magazine, REGEN has highlighted active and energetic seniors (who don’t like being called seniors). The first issue explained, “We reject the notion that older […]
Fletcher Farrar
Fletcher Farrar is the editor of Illinois Times .
Posted inEditor's Note
Editor’s Note
We who are “upsessed” about Washington must resist being distracted from Springfield and local affairs. It was here our Vachel Lindsay in 1914 preached “the new localism”: “The things most worthwhile are one’s own hearth and neighborhood. We should make our own home and neighborhood the most democratic, the most beautiful and the holiest in […]
Posted inEditor's Note
Editors note 11/27/25
“Accountability, without systemic transformation, is not justice,” the Massey Commission writes in its elegant “Response to the Grayson Verdict,” posted on the commission’s page on Sangamon County’s website (sangamonil.gov). The Oct. 29 verdict brings a “breath of hope” and a “whisper of justice,” the statement reads. “We are called now to listen to the pain […]
Posted inEditor's Note
Editor’s note 11/13/25
Just as everybody knows who started the war in Ukraine, everybody knows the party to blame for the big jump in health insurance premiums. And we know who tried to cut off SNAP benefits, fired thousands of government workers and caused airline chaos. It wasn’t Sen. Richard Durbin of Springfield. He and a few other […]
Posted inLetters to the Editor
Letters to the editor 10/9
When I heard the topic for the guest presenter – alcohol and drugs – I thought these elementary school children would be bored by it. At first, while the speaker droned through preliminary remarks, there was little interest, but as soon as he mentioned drugs, hands shot up. “My dad was on drugs,” one of […]
Posted inEditor's Note
Editor’s Note
This week’s cover story by Dean Olsen, about what federal Medicaid cuts mean for the Springfield area, couldn’t be more timely. That’s because the cuts, enacted by Congress and signed into law earlier this year, have become the focus of the federal government shutdown, which began Oct. 1. Democrats say the cuts are too deep […]
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50th Anniversary special
Beginning on page 13 is our anniversary section, with articles by three who were in the “room where IT happened” 50 years ago: Bill Friedman, founding publisher; Alan Anderson, founding editor; and Jim Krohe, contributing editor. These are followed by our “Gallery of Covers,” seven pages of Illinois Times covers, one for each of the […]
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Maybe freedom of the press isn’t guaranteed after all
As a young newspaper reporter in April 1972 I traveled with friends to the A.J. Liebling Counter-Convention in New York City. Counter-Convention meant this gathering was operating as a counter to the meeting of the American Newspaper Publishers Association, taking place New York at the same time. A.J. Liebling was a press critic and New […]
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PAGE ONE
In the following pages we display one cover a year for each year we’ve been publishing. That’s 51 covers. Since we didn’t get started until late in 1975, we’ve used the first nine months of 2025 to complete 50 years. Does that make sense? The covers we picked, one per year, weren’t picked at random, […]
Posted inEditor's Note
Editor’s note 9/11/25
This upcoming 50th anniversary of Illinois Times has us digging deep into the archives, call it IT archivology. Here’s an issue from May 16, 1991. Things were so different back then. A cartoon by Bob Waldmire showed a limo with VIPs, one balloon saying, “What’re we doing in this neighborhood?” Another VIP answers, “This place […]
Posted inLetters to the Editor
Letters to the editor 9/11/25
We welcome letters. Please include your full name, address and telephone number. We edit all letters. Send them to editor@illinoistimes.com. GREAT PROJECT Thank you to Yolanda Rice for investing in this community (“Former King’s Daughters Home to house nurses,” Aug. 28). I hope there is an open house when the project is complete. I remember […]
Posted inEditor's Note
Editor’s note
On March 5, 1770, British troops were patrolling the streets of Boston, where colonists resented the presence of armed men in their city uninvited. Rocks and verbal abuse were thrown at the soldiers, whose tempers flared and military weapons were fired, resulting in deaths of civilians. The event became known as the Boston Massacre, which […]
