Groundwater surrounding City Water, Light and Power’s coal ash ponds, located across the street from Lake Springfield, contains as much as nine times the amount of arsenic considered safe in drinking water, according to environmental testing performed in spring of 2010. Arsenic is a semi-metal that’s been linked to cancer of the bladder, lungs and […]
Rachel Wells
Posted inNews
Budget cuts tie Helping Hands
Without access to a car, 49-year-old Lloyd McCullough walks more than four miles, six days a week, to get from Helping Hands shelter on the corner of 11th and Adams streets to his stocking job at Menard’s, on the northeast edge of town. Homeless since a breakup in May, McCullough hopes each night that his […]
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Breakfast, lunch and dinner – on you
Springfield Park District executive director Mike Stratton has used his taxpayer-funded credit card to purchase nearly $2,000 worth of restaurant food since April of last year, when he laid off about 30 employees, according to an Illinois Times analysis of Stratton’s credit card statements from August 2006 through June 2011. Stratton became park district executive […]
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Moving kids from fat to fit
This school year, in a little patch of yard beside a set of mobile classrooms at Southern View Elementary School, students and their teachers are hoping to find a few new flavors. As a way to teach students about health and wellness, the District 186 school is building a garden in a sunny spot that […]
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Activist youth gets involved in Ward 6
A new graduate of Springfield Southeast High School, Nathan Piper, says he’s tired of hearing his peers talk about how much they want to leave Springfield, specifically his part of town, Ward 6. “Going to Southeast, we had a lot of Ward 6 students … and a lot of them said ‘our area of town […]
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All in the family
For about two months this summer, the Springfield Park District’s main receptionist position was held by the girlfriend, now fiancée, of Mike Stratton, the executive director of the $11 million local government. Michelle Merz Greer, Stratton’s fiancée as of earlier this month, submitted to the district an application for a receptionist position dated April 13. […]
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The flushing factor
Poor water quality plagues two Springfield streams, and part of the problem is the Springfield Metro Sanitary District, according to a recent study measuring fecal coliform bacteria, present in both human and animal waste, in Spring and Sugar creeks. The district occasionally sends untreated wastewater into the two streams at eight different points. As a […]
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Gambling on the fairgrounds
Step right up! Welcome to the Illinois State Fairgrounds, where kids can milk cows, and cows can win ribbons and anyone 21 years and older can contribute to an electronic, press-a-button, hear-a-beep, wait-to-(probably)-lose-while-it-looks-like-you’re-winning casino king’s cash cow – the slot machine. Gambling opponents say that’s what Springfield should expect to see if Gov. Pat Quinn […]
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A living legacy
Everything but the basic framework may be new, but the 60-year-old auditorium at 101 E. Lawrence Avenue will reopen next month with due honor to the past, says Scott Richardson, director with local community theater group Roxy Theatricals and the new private owner of the former Springfield Theatre Centre building. For $58,000, Richardson purchased the […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Hark! A behemoth is here.
The first thing I did this morning upon actually opening my eyes was read today’s State Journal-Register. As I turned to page 11 – the front page of the “City & State” section – I can’t say that I was surprised to see yet another story about Springfield’s newest Big Box. My fellow staff writer […]
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School Choice waiver dropped
District 186 has decided not to ask the Illinois State Board of Education to approve a waiver that would have limited the number of Public School Choice notifications it sends out from more than 4,000 to about 40. Public School Choice is part of the federal No Child Left Behind law that applies to Title […]
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New push for reusable bags
At eight of Springfield’s largest grocery centers, between 80 and 92 percent of customers choose plastic bags at the checkout counter, according to a survey by Springfield’s Better Bag Project, an initiative sparked by the efforts of retired pathologist Joan Barenfanger and lawyer Jane Denes about 18 months ago as a way to encourage use […]
