Untitled Document On economic development . . . Of the three mayoral debates held so far this campaign season, two of them — one co-sponsored by Downtown Springfield Inc., another by the Greater Springfield Area Chamber of Commerce — focused heavily on business issues in the capital city. Although insiders say Ald. Bruce Strom may […]
R. L. Nave
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Hard pressed
Untitled Document Illinois newspapers are lining up against Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s controversial gross-receipts-tax plan, a stance the governor’s office blames on pressure from “big business.” The boards of directors of the Illinois Press Association, which represents about 600 newspapers, and the Illinois Press Foundation last week voted unanimously to oppose the tax plan, which the […]
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Davlin vs. Strom
Untitled Document On taxes . . . Whenever Mayor Tim Davlin wants to make a point about his administration’s record on taxes, he trots out a bar graph showing that Springfield has some of the lowest municipal taxes of similarly sized central Illinois towns. His critics don’t quibble with those numbers; instead, they point out […]
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Red all over
Untitled Document If everything goes as planned, Springfield’s hometown daily newspaper will soon have a new owner. Fairport, N.Y.-based GateHouse Media Inc. last week announced an agreement to buy the State Journal-Register and six other dailies and two weeklies in Illinois and Ohio for $380 million. The seller, Copley Press, of La Jolla, Calif., put its […]
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Durbin acts to aid Darfur
Untitled Document Just weeks after a federal judge ruled Illinois’ Act to End Atrocities and Terrorism in the Sudan unconstitutional, U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin, D-Ill., has introduced a bill to lend federal support to divestment efforts on state and local levels. U.S. Distict Judge Matthew Kenneally, who issued the Illinois ruling, did not close the […]
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Davlin vs. Strom
Untitled Document On homelessness . . . Social-service agencies recently conducted a study of Springfield’s homeless community in which organizations counted 303 homeless individuals around the city, a 20 percent drop over last year’s total. The survey also found a 12.8 percent increase in the number of the city’s “chronically homeless.” Unlike the 2003 mayoral […]
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Davlin vs. Strom
Untitled Document On a little bit of everything . . . From NIMBY mentality to racism to open government to the proposed Hunter Lake to the future of the city’s smoke-free ordinance and back to race relations, Ward 10 Ald. Bruce Strom and Springfield Mayor Tim Davlin parried and jousted Monday in the first of […]
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A pound of cure
Untitled Document On a pleasant Saturday morning, James “Rock” Haley would rather be building a deck or demolishing a vacant home, something he says he learned to do as a teenager using little more than his bare hands. With broad, sturdy shoulders and muscular forearms, Haley looks every bit deserving of the nickname that’s he […]
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Clean slate
Untitled Document The Sangamon County Valley Group of the Sierra Club, the organization that pressed city utility officials last year to implement more stringent pollution controls on Springfield’s new power plant, this week mailed questionnaires to individuals vying for mayor and seats on the City Council. On March 27, at the group’s monthly meeting, the […]
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Bus start
Untitled Document After more than two years, the wheels on the push to bring evening bus service to Springfield are finally going ’round and ’round. Urbitran, a New York-based engineering firm hired by the Illinois Department of Transportation, concludes in a preliminary needs assessment that offering night service to Springfield bus riders is feasible — […]
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No matter
Untitled Document In less than one minute, the nine aldermen present at Tuesday night’s meeting of the Springfield City Council unanimously passed a resolution expressing the council’s support of U.S. troops worldwide and wished them a speedy return home. On Feb. 6, about a half-hour’s worth of debate occurred before two-thirds of the City Council […]
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Running with scissors
Untitled Document Wearing a thick black leather wristband and faded black T-shirt, Mario Ingoglia lounges in a swiveling office chair, most of his weight on one armrest. Seated across from him on the set of Metro Variety, Ingoglia’s cable Access 4 show, is George Bastin, a candidate for the Springfield City Council. Bastin is dressed […]
