Untitled Document Like everyone else, the high price of gas has forced Robert Smith to do more with less. Whereas most people have adjusted by parking the RV and canceling the family road trip or cutting back on dining out, Smith, manager of Springfield taxi service A Diamond Transportation, says he’s lost one-third of his […]
R. L. Nave
Posted inNews
Pity the fuel
Untitled Document Not even $4-per-gallon-gas has been able to resuscitate the nation’s corn-ethanol industry, which slumped in 2007 as the price of corn, the country’s main feedstock, rose to record levels. “These ethanol plants are making money, but they’re not making a lot, not as much as they were one or two years ago,” says […]
Posted inNews
Still trapped
Untitled Document At least until the Legislature reconvenes in November, or Gov. Rod Blagojevich calls lawmakers back to Springfield for special meetings, Illinois residents will still be able to take out high-interest payday loans that many consumer-rights advocates deem predatory. Passed unanimously by the Senate in April, a bill that sought to strengthen the state’s […]
Posted inNews
Bugle boys
Untitled Document Morrisonville is the kind of Midwestern town where a basketball goal stands in every driveway, an American flag adorns every porch, and, residents joke, people can leave the keys in their cars just in case a neighbor needs to borrow one. The Christian County village of 1,068 also boasts three living recipients of […]
Posted inSpecial Issues
It’s cool to be in school
Untitled Document It’s funny how we spend our youths feverishly anticipating the end of the school year — and the completion of our educational careers — so we can go on road trips with our friends, laze around on sandy shores, and start earning a living. Then suddenly we become adults and realize that life […]
Posted inSpecial Issues
Have yourself a ball
Untitled Document “Most folks just don’t seem to have a taste for testicles no more,” said the waitress who served Chevy Chase’s character the two-year-record-breaking 29th helping of lamb fries in the 1988 film Funny Farm. Though it may be true in many parts of the country that people have lost their appetite for animelles, […]
Posted inNews
Third time a charm?
Untitled Document Almost nine months after initial plans for a new headquarters for the Sangamon County Department of Public Health fell through, county officials expect to issue a third request for proposals by early June. The project’s new RFP will have two parts: the first for vacant property and the second for the facility’s construction. […]
Posted inNews
More for the money
Untitled Document Bespectacled, soft-spoken, and neatly dressed, Jonathan Lackland has a demeanor and appearance that’s more policy wonk than political firebrand or slick high-powered lobbyist. In fact, he looks like one of those guys at government hearings who slide little pieces of paper and whisper things to big-shot public officials when they don’t know the […]
Posted inNews
Lost
Untitled Document The State Employees’ Retirement System is looking for former public employees who may be eligible for benefits — but if they don’t come forward fast enough, they could be out of luck. Take the case of Clint Benton Jr., a former Department of Corrections employee who now lives in Memphis, Tenn. Benton, 77, […]
Posted inNews
Friend-in-Deed in need
Untitled Document For 10 years, Barry Locher was responsible for establishing and maintaining relationships with key Springfield businesses, double-checking hundreds of pages of information, ordering corrections, working within a limited budget, and meeting deadlines — and when he wasn’t doing all that he was running the newsroom of Springfield’s daily newspaper, the State Journal-Register. In […]
Posted inNews
Make like a tree
Untitled Document Residents of the Pillsbury Mill neighborhood had high hopes for the site of the abandoned flour mill on the city’s northeast side. During a fall 2005 planning meeting, community members suggested a mix of environmentally friendly housing, retail shops, and other businesses. Several participants stressed that future developments should make use of green […]
Posted inNews
The revolution will be internalized
Untitled Document What could have possibly changed the man’s life and made it better? Was it a hug? Was it playing catch? Was it picking up a guitar or picking up a paintbrush? These are not the questions most people would ask about someone who’d shot them in the chest. Joshua Foster isn’t most people, […]
