An annual countywide property auction last week brought in $40,000 more this year than last, but county officials say the total could have been even more. On Aug. 11, Sangamon County held its yearly public auction of properties with delinquent taxes, selling off 109 properties and raising $95,275 in revenue for the county. Last year’s […]
Patrick Yeagle
Patrick Yeagle started writing for Illinois Times in September 2009. Originally from Farmer City, Ill., he graduated from Northern Illinois University in 2008 with a bachelor's degree in political science and a second major in journalism. He then graduated from the University of Illinois-Springfield in 2009 with a Master's degree from the Public Affairs Reporting program. In addition to Illinois Times, his work has appeared in the Chicago Tribune, the Chicago Daily Law Bulletin, the Peoria Journal-Star, the Northern Star, the Parkland Prospectus and other publications. Yeagle writes about state government, the environment, energy, healthcare, elections, education, community issues, and more. He enjoys taking photos of news events, cityscapes, very small objects and wildlife. He enjoys running and has completed a marathon, three half-marathons, a 198-mile relay race and several shorter races. Other hobbies include cooking, gardening, making music and outdoor activities.
Posted inNews
Closed murder case still raises questions
On a mild November night in 1993, three young men went into a below-ground stairwell at Ridgely Elementary Schoolm 2040 N. Eighth St., in Springfield. Two of them left on foot; the third left in a coroner’s body bag with two gunshot wounds to the head. The murder of 14-year-old Harold “H.P.” Page III on […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Do it right in the dog days of summer
Watch this: I love that clip from Will Ferrell’s film Anchorman, and it fits tangentially into today’s post. Summer in the Midwest is a time of wretched, smothering humidity and baking heat, the combination of which usually makes you sweat without exerting any effort. If you dare to move around while outside in this sweltering […]
Posted inArts & Culture
A grand tradition at the Grandstand
It wasn’t too long ago that the popular rock band Hootie and the Blowfish sold out the Grandstand at the Illinois State Fair. In 1995, the year after late author David Foster Wallace wrote about the fair in Harper’s Magazine, more than 13,350 people from around the state packed the venue to see the band […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Grandstand timeline
1958 Louis Armstrong Jane Russell/James Garner/Jonathan Winters WLS National Bam Dance 1959 Grand Ole Opry Edd “Kookie” Byrnes/Alan King/ Les Brown & the Band of Renown 1960 Grand Ole Opry (w/ Roy Acuff, Patsy Cline and Ray Price) The Three Stooges Bob Hope 1961 Anita Bryant Neil Sedaka The Three Stooges Grand Ole Opry 1962 […]
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City snatches up properties before public auction
Just days before they were scheduled for public auction, 41 properties with delinquent taxes were bought up by the City of Springfield. Sangamon County assistant treasurer Mark Crawford says the city exercised its right as a taxing district to purchase a long list of properties in Springfield for which property taxes have not been paid […]
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Shakeup in juvenile justice
Three weeks after the director of the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice announced his resignation, two different studies are calling for major changes in the troubled agency’s operations. Kurt Friedenauer announced his resignation as IDJJ director on July 14, having served in that position since the department’s creation in 2006. Friedenauer oversaw IDJJ’s slow separation […]
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This is the village it takes
On a quiet street in Rantoul sits a small neighborhood of 15 nondescript duplex houses, part of a larger subdivision built decades ago to house the families of pilots and workers at the now-closed Chanute Air Force Base. Although it’s impossible to tell just by looking, something remarkable is happening here: adopted kids from troubled […]
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The joy of helping others
Hope Meadows has received numerous awards for its innovative approach to adoption and volunteerism, including the AARP Inspire Award, the Illinois Governor’s Home Town Award and the Adoption Excellence Award from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The program has also received nationwide attention in the media, being featured in the New York […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Inside a runner’s mind
Perhaps it was the heat. By 9:30 in the evening, one would normally expect the sweltering fever and thick humidity of the day to dissipate, but the sultry blanket of summer seemed to defiantly drape itself over the park even as the waning crescent of moon slowly climbed into the night sky. Full of root […]
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Cohen: ‘Illinois needs honesty, not perfection’
Illinois hasn’t heard the last of Scott Lee Cohen. After winning the Democratic Party’s nomination for lieutenant governor in the February primary election, Cohen bowed out of the race, and he is now running for governor as an independent instead. Last week, he met with the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce as part of his […]
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Boarded properties flying under city’s radar
The walnut saplings growing from the foundation of the house at 920 S. 11th St. in Springfield have grown so large, they obscure most of the house. Whitewashed plywood covers the door and windows of this dilapidated bungalow, and rust stains the siding where the gutters have given up, leaking rainwater from the rotting roof […]
