“She is almost too good to be true,” says The Washington Post of mezzo-soprano Denyce Graves. “A vital artist, a beautiful woman, a regal presence,” the newspaper gushed. There are opera singers and opera stars. Then there’s Graves. How many opera figures have their own perfume and jewelry lines? Graves is performing at the University […]
IT PICKS
Posted inNews
A defining moment
Gary Hoyland says he was present at a school board meeting last year when an audience member stood up to complain about recent budget cuts. The man, Hoyland says, accused officials of Springfield School District 186 of not being candid with the public. The criticism didn’t go over well: In response, board members and administrators […]
Posted inNews
Quick takes
Neighborhood college The Council of Neighborhood Associations is sponsoring weekly neighborhood improvement classes every Thursday night through November 6. Learn how to prevent crime, preserve historic structures, and solve problems with creative solutions. Tonight’s sessions–“How to Form a Neighborhood Association” and “Tenants and Landlords”–will be held at the Lincoln Library, Seventh and Capitol, from 6:15 […]
Posted inNews
The med district’s road show
Progress has been slow since Springfield landed Illinois’ second state-designated medical district earlier this year. Its nine-member commission has four vacant seats, and so far the state has provided no funding. Just before sunrise on September 16, 22 people gathered in a Memorial Medical Center parking lot to board a Chicago-bound bus. The group hoped […]
Posted inNews
Rebuilding the Road
Back in 1961 David Knudson had just graduated from Ferris State University in Big Rapids, Michigan. He was looking for a job in California and took Route 66 all the way there. “It was an absolutely fascinating experience, a 2,400-mile carnival,” he says. “But I had hardly any money at all. And me and a […]
Posted inNews
Money, money, money
After losing its referendum to increase property taxes in March 2002, Springfield School District 186 said it had no choice but to lop $10 million from its budget and eliminate 178 jobs and dozens of programs. Then earlier this year the district hired consultants to lead a series of public meetings to repair the damage. […]
Posted inNews
Best of Springfield, part two
Best idea out of City Hall The departure of Chief John Harris Best Democrat 1. Tim Davlin 2. Dick Durbin 3. Jesse White Best Republican 1. Tony Libri 2. Larry Bomke 3. Raymond Poe Best Teflon politician 1. Tim Davlin 2. Rod Blagojevich 3. Neil Williamson Best departure from public office 1. George Ryan 2. […]
Posted inNews
Best of Springfield winners, part one
Best use for the Governor’s Mansion You readers must be dreamers, even visionaries. What else could explain your brilliant, top-notch idea for what we should do with the Governor’s Mansion? We should use it, most of you proposed, as a place where the governor and his family can live. Why didn’t Rod Blagojevich think of […]
Posted inNews
Remembering Evan James
Memorial Day was always special for Donna James and her family. It was her son Evan’s birthday. Now the date carries a miserable irony. A few years ago Evan joined the Marine reserves after graduating from high school in La Harpe, a town halfway between Macomb and the Mississippi River. September 11, 2001, was supposed […]
Posted inNews
Lost lives
Since March 20, 287 U.S. soldiers have lost their lives during the invasion and occupation of Iraq. As of this week, total deaths among coalition forces are 337. More soldiers have lost their lives since May 1, when President Bush declared that major combat operations were completed, than during the actual war (148 compared with […]
Posted inNews
Moefield’s patch
Each year Ray Moefield spends his two-week vacation at home in White Heath, harvesting hundreds of pumpkins, carving them, and scattering the jack-o’-lanterns across his family’s property. People come from miles around to look at the unique and eerie display. It all started 17 years ago by accident. Moefield, 51, and his mother, Bonnie, were […]
Posted inNews
Scare tactics
Shawn McKinney says he’s made grown men fall to their knees in terror. Once he even had a teenage girl lose control of her bladder. He dismisses such shocking tales as commonplace events at Terror on the Square, his haunted house in a former funeral parlor in downtown Petersburg. People have been known to walk […]
