Springfield School District 186 tells students who get bullied to answer the attack with a SWAT: Stop, Walk Away and Talk to an Adult. The SWAT program, introduced this past school year in District 186 at the elementary school level, teaches students how to deal with bullying. These strategies include telling a student to stop […]
Neil Schneider
Posted inNews
Group forms to give voice to small businesses
A group of organizations and business owners in Illinois have banded together to create a united voice about health care reform for small businesses. The Small Business Health Care Consortium, or SBHCC, formed in March 2011, with the goal of advocating for Gov. Pat Quinn to issue an executive order creating a pro-consumer, pro-small business […]
Posted inNews
Falsely accused mothers:Reopen shaken baby case
Three mothers traveled to Springfield on June 23 to speak out in support of another woman accused of shaking a baby to death. Pamela Jacobazzi, 57, is currently serving a 32-year prison sentence at the women’s prison in Lincoln for the murder of 10-month-old Matthew Czapski [see “Caregiver or killer?,” by Patrick Yeagle, May 5, […]
Posted inNews
Scholarships mean more than money
The Community Foundation for the Land of Lincoln is giving 40 college-bound students in central Illinois a boost with more than $42,000 total in scholarships. The Community Foundation for the Land of Lincoln and the Frontiers International Springfield Club teamed up to give each student an award of between $500 and $5,000. The Frontiers International […]
Posted inNews
Ex-offenders offered hope
Parolees and ex-offenders often struggle to successfully reintegrate themselves into their community, an issue the Summit of Hope conference intends to change. At the Summit of Hope conference, held last week at Lanphier High School, local groups partnered with the Illinois Department of Corrections and the Illinois Department of Public Health to provide parolees and […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Springfield Sliders, a family operation
Some children draw pictures of dogs and cats, but when Shane Martin was a child growing up in the early 1980s, he drew baseball stadiums. Shane, the new owner and CEO of the Springfield Sliders baseball team, grew up in Farmington, Minn. – a rural suburb of Minneapolis – in a gray tri-level house with […]
Posted inNews
Manure rules
Large livestock farms would have to pay for pollution permits under legislation headed to Gov. Pat Quinn’s desk. The Clean Water Funding Fairness Act, which passed through the Illinois House and Senate on May 22, would force factory farms, commonly referred to as concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs), to pay an annual fee for permits […]
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Increase minimum wage?
A bill that would raise the minimum wage in Illinois is on its way to the full Senate after approval by the Senate Executive Committee. The legislation would increase Illinois’ minimum wage, currently $8.25, by 50 cents a year until it reaches $10.55. This would match the purchasing power of the minimum wage in 1968, […]
Posted inSpecial Issues
Calling all volunteers
With summer rapidly approaching, Springfield residents will be planning various ways to spend their summer through activities like vacations and traveling. So, why not plan on spending a little time volunteering around Springfield? For all ages Individuals looking for volunteer opportunities this summer that will allow them to be outdoors should consider volunteering for Habitat […]
Posted inNews
Action Now protests federal budget cuts
A group of 15 to 20 individuals and members of Action Now gathered outside Republican headquarters in Springfield May 10 to protest and question the decision making of U.S. Rep. Tim Johnson. Johnson, R-Urbana, who previously had shown support for the recently passed $ 3.6 trillion federal budget chaired by U.S. Rep. Paul Ryan, […]
Posted inNews
Run to remember a special veteran
When Brian McMillen walked into her office at Lincoln Land Community College in 2002, Jenny Gietl knew there was something special about him. McMillen had just returned from his second year of active duty in the U.S. Air Force, where he was stationed in Saudi Arabia and Romania, and was looking for a job in […]
Posted inNews
Should Illinois release old and costly inmates?
In 2010, Illinois prisons held 223 C-Number inmates who had been there for more than 30 years. These inmates were a part of a sentencing scheme from a different era. C-Number inmates are prisoners who were sentenced before 1978 to indeterminate sentences – prison terms that only specify a range of years the inmate must […]
