An east-side community center still in its infancy has lost the support of one of its founders. She filed a police report alleging battery 10 days before dissolving the organization, apparently without the consent of remaining board members. Leannette Black, Charles “Muhammad” Strickland, Elmer Perkins and Matt Blakey officially founded the Progressive Youth Foundation and […]
Rachel Wells
Posted inNews
All but married
As Susan Frain and Susan Faupel sit next to each other discussing civil unions, civil rights and the basic notions of partnership and commitment, they laugh, they listen and they remember the other’s part in past dialogues played out over the course of their 23-year relationship. Intellectual equals with similar liberal notions and anti-establishment ideals, […]
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Now, how about equal rights for singles?
Illinois’ civil union law undeniably brings a greater sense of equality between same-sex couples and married couples. That’s a good thing – love is love, and if married couples get hundreds of benefits and protections, same-sex couples should have that opportunity too. But now that the law has passed, it’s time to look beyond what […]
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Tougher sentence sought for Ponzi schemer
A Springfield man who cheated dozens of people out of millions of dollars could face six and a half years in prison, if a federal judge grants prosecutors’ latest request. James U. Dodge pleaded guilty in September of running a Ponzi scheme which targeted several Springfield residents, including Dodge’s friends, fellow retirees and a parapalegic […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Not ready for the big time
As the University of Illinois Springfield in October 2008 made another move toward full membership in the National Collegiate Athletic Association, then-Chancellor Richard Ringeisen said the eventual achievement could only mean good things for the school’s future. He said he was excited because joining the Great Lakes Valley Conference, an academically high-achieving NCAA Division II […]
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State education funding woefully inadequate
Properly educating a schoolchild in Illinois takes upwards of $2,200 more per pupil than the state currently ensures, according to the latest report from Illinois’ Education Funding Advisory Board. EFAB, which earlier this month issued its first findings since 2005, is charged with recommending to state lawmakers an appropriate “foundation level” – the minimum amount […]
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Schools ‘wrap’ troubled kids
In the fall of 2009, one Springfield elementary student was sent to the office for discipline 30 different times. The next semester, that number was down to 12 visits, with only three before he became temporarily homeless. The decrease was achieved through the district’s most intense behavior intervention program, a PBIS (Positive Behavioral Interventions and […]
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Coal ash disposal draws ire
Strolling along Macoupin Creek in October, environmentalists observed in the middle of the day flowing water the color of a moonless night sky. While the samples they grabbed weren’t analyzed at a lab, Mary Ellen DeClue, of Citizens Against Longwall Mining, is convinced she knows why the water was black – it had been contaminated […]
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Historic Buffalo house still standing, for now
The survival of a mid-19th century structure, part of which could date as far back as the 1830s, is hardly assured, but the historic house located on the edge of Buffalo may not meet a fiery end as once expected. The owners of the house and the property on which it rests had donated the […]
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Plan to preserve Enos Elementary
A Springfield school slated for demolition in 2013 might end up with an extended life, if an idea for turning Enos Elementary School into residential lofts becomes a reality. Springfield School District 186 plans to demolish Enos Elementary School, built in 1915 and located in the northwest corner of Springfield’s medical district, in order to […]
Posted inArts & Culture
‘Instead, my unending love’
It always seemed to take Albert Link a little longer than most to break down and make a part of his life the simple conveniences of everyday modern life. As often as he told his family, “I love you,” he also told them, “We don’t need it.” “But he would back that up,” said his […]
Posted inArts & Culture
The starving arts
Fred Jarosz is a talker. To meet him, the executive director of the Hoogland Center for the Arts, and ask him about the health of the arts in Springfield is to be taken on a whirlwind aural tour of board meetings, donor outreach and Hoogland performances and workshops. With great exuberance, Jarosz peppers his tales […]
