Fletcher Farrar

As Gov. Bruce Rauner finishes his 100th day of wreaking havoc on the Illinois budget, Illinoisans are beginning to realize they got what they voted for. Rauner has used the authority given him by the Illinois General Assembly to slash spending in the current fiscal year, while proposing cuts for the next fiscal year. The […]

Jim Langfelder’s decisive win for mayor should give him the confidence to breathe energy into city hall. His first order of business is to recruit new leadership for City, Water, Light and Power, where his campaign emphasized not only transparency but a shift toward clean energy and renewable fuels. Next he’ll want to ask some […]

 IT went all in to preview the upcoming Springfield municipal election. Last week’s cover story by Bruce Rushton offered depth and context on the race for mayor between Paul Palazzolo and Jim Langfelder, both fine candidates. In previous weeks we’ve covered the contested races for alderman in wards 2 and 7 (see www.illinoistimes.com). This week’s […]

 At this writing, the Illinois House has passed a stopgap budget fix, waiting for the Senate to act to keep government running till June 30. Many Statehouse watchers are so amazed and pleased that legislators and the governor can agree on anything, they forget what is being agreed. Schools and nursing homes are being cut. […]

The drip, drip of records related to the city’s Shredgate scandal continued this week with the city’s release of minutes, a transcript and an audio recording of an hour-long city council executive session held on May 7, 2013. The council, ostensibly, met in private because they were discussing collective bargaining, personnel and pending litigation, but […]

 Every two years the Public Affairs Reporting program at University of Illinois Springfield reminds us of its impact on the world of journalism by inducting successful graduates into the Bill Miller PAR Hall of Fame. Bill Miller was director of the 40-year-old program during its first 19 years, followed by Charlie Wheeler, former Sun-Times reporter, […]

 On Monday staff writer Bruce Rushton broke the story on illinoistimes.com that Vince DeMentri, anchor for WICS television news, had been involved in an election night bar fight at Hooters with Garrett Brnger, another reporter for the station. One of the combatants told police he had been bloodied when he fell from a barstool. Both […]

Mayor Mike Houston lost Tuesday’s primary election, but he can hold his head high for running a campaign focused on the issues and his record as mayor, which isn’t nearly as bad as the final vote tally might lead some to believe. There was ample opportunity to go negative, but Houston resisted the urge and […]

 We are pleased to hear that Gov. Bruce Rauner has recognized the need to give independence to the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum by making it a stand-alone state agency. Now it can get the attention it deserves and work on the accreditation it needs to win respect in the museum world. But the […]

On Sunday, Feb. 12, 1865, his 56th birthday that would be his last, Abraham Lincoln was apparently working at his desk in Washington, D. C. Records show that he was in a merciful mood. After a long conversation with a Judge Fisher about the case of a Dr. E. Worrell, who had been sentenced to […]

 Could we get Sen. Dick Durbin and other public officials to apply some common sense before promoting another big “clean coal” project? It is only natural for job-hungry politicians to crow about Illinois being “the Saudi Arabia of coal,” as U. S. Sen. Barack Obama described his state in 2006. But somebody needs to tell […]