Fletcher Farrar

Sangamon County Board Chair Andy Van Meter, working with state Sen. Doris Turner, has taken a good step by forming a Sonya Massey Commission to examine the underlying causes that led to Sonya Massey’s death. The county and its Republican-dominated board are often left out of serious discussions of systemic racism in law enforcement that […]

As of Aug. 6, the city of Boston, Massachusetts, has had eight homicides this year. Springfield, Illinois, has had seven, as of Aug. 9. In all last year there were five homicides in Springfield. Four of this year’s victims died of multiple gunshot wounds in daylight hours, and three of these were young men – […]

It is excruciating to watch Jack Campbell twist slowly in the wind, trying to survive in his job without admitting he, or the good-old-boy system he supports, did anything wrong. “We failed the community,” he said, but didn’t say how. He asked for forgiveness but didn’t say for what. There are paths to reform already […]

It’s not a bad idea to have an experienced hand in the White House managing the store while his party’s candidate runs around the country campaigning. And a campaign of 100 days, rather than 500 or more, seems about right. Political parties may want to consider the advantages of switching their presidential candidate after one […]

There was good news as Camp Compass ended this week. The free five-week summer learning program, a joint effort of District 186 public schools and the nonprofit Compass for Kids, served a record 940 low-income elementary school children to prevent summer learning loss. Assessment data show that with morning instruction the children are improving in […]

Abraham Lincoln is famous for saying you don’t swap horses in the middle of a stream. Lincoln knew horses, but history shows he would have been smart to switch out some of his generals sooner than he did. It’s clear the Republicans aren’t going to change their lame entry in this year’s race. Polls will […]

When reformers try to lessen penalties for accomplices or bystanders, they inevitably get accused of being soft on crime. They’re “just trying to empty the prisons,” is the way Sen. Steve McClure, R-Springfield, described the effort to change Illinois’ “felony murder” law, explained in this week’s cover story by Dean Olsen. McClure’s characterization is an […]

We’ll all be watching those two old guys on the debate stage next week to see which of them stutters the most, or forgets names, hesitates too long or falls asleep. But by the end of 90 minutes, we’ll surely also get a good sense about which of them has the best ideas and will […]

It was only early this month that we became aware that this governor had any interest in the vacant lot across from his Springfield house. Before that, the Y Block was a Springfield project, which had absorbed plenty of local planning and design ideas, if not consensus or funding. Now, the General Assembly has appropriated […]

Despite changes in culture and technology, summer for Americans still has a romantic, open feel, with visions of long days filled with possibility and freedom. Even when listings are digitized and at our fingertips at illinoistimes.com, our paper Summerguide is a favorite for the same reason as summer. In these 80 pages you can leisurely […]

The May 10 teacher walkout at Grant Middle School over student discipline issues, and the May 11 prayer walk at Southeast High School in the aftermath of a student killed by gun violence, raise big issues for next school year. Clearly the school administration and the teachers union need to double down on planning for […]

The Lincoln Presidential Foundation brought preeminent Lincoln scholar Harold Holzer to Springfield this week to expound on his new book, Brought Forth on this Continent: Abraham Lincoln and American Immigration, and the role Springfield played in shaping his emerging views. Early in his political career he, like Mary, had little use for immigrants, especially the […]