A slightly tense and confrontational passion filled the air of an old meeting room at Union Baptist Church on Springfield’s east side. Gathered there on a humid Thursday evening last week were more than 50 activists, neighbors and business owners – all concerned about the state of their neighborhood. Their meeting was precipitated by tragedy, […]
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
Opponents: New sex offender laws won’t help
Two state bills beefing up Illinois’ sex offender laws await only the governor’s signature to become law. But some groups say the legislation would waste money and fail to prevent future sex crimes. Senate Bill 3084, known as the retroactive sex offender registration bill, would require lifetime registration for certain sex crimes committed more than […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Steal these ideas
“To this place, and the kindness of these people, I owe everything.” Abraham Lincoln uttered those words in his famous farewell speech to Springfield almost 150 years ago. Since then, Springfield has undergone numerous transformations, riding the tide of change while retaining the pioneer spirit that settled this area in 1818. As the 21st century […]
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State shuffling agency offices
State offices in Springfield are about to do the do-si-do as Illinois shuffles office spaces in an attempt to eliminate costly expired leases. The leases are negotiated by the state’s Central Management Services agency, which spent almost $41.3 million for real property rental in Fiscal Year 2010. Many of the new leases replace expired “holdover” […]
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Election board owed $585,000 in unpaid fines
Click for a searchable PDF of all fines as of 5-5-2010: http://www.illinoistimes.com/Springfield/file-45-.pdf More than a half million dollars in unpaid fines have yet to be collected by the State Board of Elections for violations of state election law. Many of the 477 delinquent fines are several years old, totaling $585,623.75. The fines were issued to […]
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Media expert: Print’s not dead
Larry Maynard has heard it numerous times: “Newspapers are dying and will totally disappear within five years,” he repeats skeptically. “In the 1930s, radio was supposed to kill the newspapers,” he says. “In the 1950s, it was broadcast TV. In the 1980s, it was cable TV. In the 1990s, it was the Internet, but newspapers […]
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Kids in prison
What do you do when you catch a criminal? Conventional wisdom says you lock them up and hope prison scares them straight. But what if that doesn’t work, and what if that criminal is only 13 years old? That’s what Illinois lawmakers thought they were providing four years ago when they established the Illinois Department […]
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Central Illinois group fights for bank accountability
Trenda Kennedy has seen the recession up close and personal. The Springfield resident lost her job when the economy tanked because her company closed its Illinois office, and she soon fell behind on her mortgage payments. When Kennedy approached her bank about refinancing her mortgage, however, she was basically put on hold. That was more […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Run it before they Ruin it
Any avid runner knows the joys of a road without cars. Though you only need about four feet of personal space, it’s a wonderful feeling to have an open road before you and no metal beasts whizzing by with seemingly total disregard for your safety. It’s the difference between feeling like you have the whole […]
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Immigration reform coming
Sitting on his living room couch in Beardsville, a young Mexican immigrant named Alejandro smiles wistfully as he recalls marrying his wife Maria in 2006. They met and married in Beardstown, raising two sons, Alex, 5, and Diego, 2. But Alejandro’s smile quickly turns into a pained grimace as he describes how Maria took their […]
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Auditor: State pays too much for expired office leases
An audit of Illinois’ Central Management Services agency released April 13 shows multiple deficiencies in the agency’s operations, including misspent funds and numerous accounting errors. The audit, from the office of Illinois Auditor General William Holland, shows CMS made unnecessary emergency expenditures and accounting mistakes in several areas, and the department continues to pay too […]
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Springfield foreclosure rate up slightly
The foreclosure rate in Springfield continues to hover around one percent, but one Springfield woman has a plan to help reduce it and prevent future foreclosures. First American Core Logic, a mortgage data analysis company based in California, says Springfield’s rate of foreclosures was .99 percent in February 2010, just above the .98 percent rate […]
