Fletcher Farrar

Comes news this week of the passing of Florence “Flossie” Hardin, in Santa Barbara, Calif., at age 102½. A longtime Springfield resident and spouse of prominent attorney John Hardin, Florence at retirement age came to work at the fledgling Illinois Times in 1976 as our founding bookkeeper and voice of sanity. She pioneered the slogan […]

We don’t agree with the Illinois Policy Institute on much, but when it comes to municipal pensions, the institute is a messenger who shouldn’t be shot. Springfield has the worst pension mess of any large city in the state, according to a report issued by the institute this week. It’s both simple math and familiar […]

In the best tradition of grass-roots activism, a citizens group is leading the way where public officials fear to tread. A group called Invest in 186, calling for a referendum to  increase property taxes to support Springfield public schools, makes its case in an op-ed on this page, and in a news story on page […]

At Monday night’s Citizens Club meeting to ponder Sangamon County’s low ranking in health indicators – 80th among 102 counties in Illinois – a new guard seems ready to move in where the old guard has stopped advancing. After Jim Stone, the county public health director, proudly reported he had already started a pilot project […]

Gov. Pat Quinn gave an upbeat State of the State address, but nobody is convinced. There have been too many cuts and bill-paying delays for anyone to believe the state is on the mend. It is good to see Sen. Andy Manar taking a leadership role in the search for new state revenue. Poor state […]

“Why so many small babies in Sangamon County?” is the question from this issue that haunts. See page 11 for the article by Lauren P. Duncan, our editorial intern. Sangamon County’s rate for low birth weight babies (under 5.5 pounds) is 9.3 percent, well above the national average of 6 percent. Why? One SIU doctor […]

King Day came and went this year with the usual good feeling. The Frontiers International breakfast swarmed with politicians rarely seen in Springfield – Aaron Schock, Rodney Davis. . . even Sue Scherer was there. The speaker was, as usual, all over the place but she didn’t go on too long, so we were all […]

Finally, millions who have been denied health insurance are now getting coverage. But when the bills for Obamacare start coming due, it will become more obvious than ever that policy needs to shift from reaction to prevention, from treating disease and obesity to persuading more of us to eat good food and move more. In […]

The Illinois Times staff welcomes Lauren P. Duncan, our editorial intern from the UIS Public Affairs Reporting master’s degree program. From now till June you’ll see her byline frequently in these pages, as she reports from the Statehouse and around the town. A 2012 journalism graduate of Southern Illinois University-Carbondale, Lauren is from Dix, Ill., […]

For our Jan. 1, 1976, edition, Illinois Times asked local leaders to prognosticate on the year ahead. Irv Smith, then the Sangamon County Superintendent of Schools: “I think it’s predictable Springfield schools will continue to drop in enrollment as long as people are undecided on what integration is going to bring. In mid-sized cities. . […]