Earlier this year Springfield School District 186 made a job offer to an aspiring African-American grade-school teacher who had performed well in the district as a student teacher. “She accepted the offer, then went to Atlanta to visit a friend,” says Bob Leming, assistant superintendent and head of human resources at District 186. “Her friend […]
IT PICKS
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Donut hole
Mel-O-Cream’s downtown shop at 215 S. Sixth St., which opened on Sept. 11, 2001, closed its doors last Friday. A lack of business was the reason, says manager Eric Green. While the store is closing, Green says Mel-O-Cream isn’t leaving downtown. He plans to offer a scaled-down menu at a nearby business. He wouldn’t name […]
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Mr. Jones Delivers
Rod Blagojevich inherited a $5 billion budget deficit when he became governor in January. Ten thousand state employees had already opted for early retirement; more than 1,000 had been laid off. For the Democrat governor and the Democrat-controlled legislature, there seemingly wasn’t much left to cut. The challenge in the spring session became finding new […]
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Ready, set, commence!
Senior boys on District 186 track and field teams will have to run pretty fast to make graduation and the statewide finals in Charleston next year. Both events take place on the same day, Saturday, May 29, 2004. “There will definitely be a concern among parents,” says Tammy Bolden, athletic director for Southeast High School, […]
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This time, no Rat
About this time last year, Duke Tumatoe and his Indianapolis-based blues band, The Power Trio, gave a free concert at Jazz Central Station atop the Springfield Hilton. Tumatoe didn’t know he was playing for free. Nobody knew, except the local promoter who allegedly ran off with Tumatoe’s money. A few months earlier, a man using […]
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A call to action
At the eighth annual Mayor’s Prayer Breakfast, held on a dreary, rainy Tuesday morning at the Crowne Plaza hotel on Dirksen Parkway, Mayor Tim Davlin joked about people arriving in “canoes” and “pontoons.” He could have mentioned another boat, counting the number of SUVs in the parking lot. Minutes earlier, a Catholic priest waiting to […]
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Cutting class
Tennessee started experimenting with class sizes in 1985 as part of a broad education reform effort led by then-Gov. Lamar Alexander. Kindergarten students were assigned to one of three classroom settings: in classes with no more than 17 students, in classes with 22 to 26 students, and in classes with 22 to 26 students and […]
Posted inMusic
We are women, hear us sing
In 1998, Champaign-based Amasong, a chorus consisting of only lesbians and feminists, won a Gay and Lesbian Music Association award — a GLAMMY — for its song, “The Water is Sweet Over Here.” For the gay and lesbian community, GLAMMYs are nearly as good as GRAMMYs. Listening to Amasong sing, a GRAMMY isn’t out of […]
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Neighsayers
In 1986, with Bill Shoemaker as his jockey, the steed Ferdinand won the Kentucky Derby in a race that’s still considered one of the greatest ever. For Shoemaker, who died on Oct. 12, it was his fourth and final Derby victory. For Ferdinand, it was one of 29 races that earned his owners more than […]
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Water world
There was a time, more than three generations ago, when thousands of tourists and sportsmen traveled to two lakes near the confluence of the Spoon and Illinois rivers. The visitors couldn’t resist the abundant wildlife — and enough bass, yellow perch, paddlefish and carp to give the area the reputation as the fishing capital of […]
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Trouble man
Early in 1999, Jerry Wiley, chief fiscal officer for the Illinois Department of Veterans Affairs, went to meet John Johnston, his new boss. The one-on-one meeting was one of many that Johnston, who’d just been named IDVA director by Gov. George Ryan, had scheduled with key staff members. Wiley brought with him some concerns. In […]
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Making the grade
It wasn’t enough for Heather Dell, a cultural anthropologist from the University of Illinois at Springfield, to teach her students about economic inequality around the world. Dell helped her “What is Power?” class form a United Students Against Sweatshops (USAS) chapter this spring. She brought students with her to Nicaragua during spring break to tour […]
