After last year presenting the fewest stages in its soon-to-be 24-year history, organizers behind First Night 2011, Springfield’s New Year’s Eve celebration of the arts, are gearing up for a year of more. Sponsorships for this year’s alcohol-free arts event, which begins at 1 p.m. on Dec. 31 and runs through midnight, came in 28 […]
Rachel Wells
Posted inArts & Culture
Uncovering the history buried by King Coal
Coal, to Jeff Biggers, is a symbol of lives lost, land destroyed and the worst of big business with too much political clout. But, to him, the black and dusty rock is also a symbol of his and so many Illinoisans’ heritage – one that in many ways has been all but erased. Amid the […]
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Why Macon County’s school tax passed
Money and organization were the biggest differences between winners and losers in two neighboring counties’ school sales tax referendums, say those on both sides of the debates in Macon and Sangamon counties. Sangamon County voters in November soundly defeated, with 55.6 percent of the vote, a 1 percent sales tax increase that by law could […]
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New east side center steers youth in the right direction
Leannette Black grew up in San Francisco, where she remembers her mother making and selling hot tamales and hamburgers out of their home to raise money for drum and bugle corps costumes. “I saw all these people moving around me and it was just community,” says Black, who after serving in the army until 1992 […]
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Study urges caution on underground CO2 storage
Carbon dioxide leaks from deep underground wells could make otherwise good water undrinkable, a study by two scientists at the Duke University Center on Global Change found in a study released earlier this year. Opponents of a “clean” coal project in Taylorville say the study helps make their case against the project. But a scientist […]
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Beyond civil unions: What’s next?
As Republicans spoke out against a civil union bill approved by both the House and Senate last week, they argued that the measure would open the door to same-sex marriage, a prediction advocates for the gay and lesbian community say is precisely on target. “We’ve been very upfront from day one that we view the […]
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Charity says ‘No, thanks’
Not all dogs that find temporary refuge at animal shelters are destined for a new home with space to roam and lots of loving pats to the head. But, volunteer Nancy Hunter says, when a shelter houses more than 30 dogs that have lived there since at least 2006, some nearly their whole lives, it’s […]
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Impatient with Medicaid patients
“Patient responsibility” was the phrase of the day Monday for the Republican co-chair of a special state Senate committee formed to review and recommend reforms for the state’s Medicaid system. The bipartisan committee, charged with issuing a report and legislative recommendations by Jan. 3, was formed in an effort to sway Republicans, who have sought […]
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Fired cops face civil rights jury next week
Two former Springfield cops will face a jury next week in federal court for allegedly violating the civil rights of Larry Washington, the former Vice Lord gang member who was arrested in March of 2005 after Springfield police found cocaine stashed in his kitchen pantry. The criminal case against Washington, who says the drugs were […]
Posted inArts & Culture
From the heart
Give what’s in your heart. It’s a phrase that, when applied in the figurative sense, precisely summarizes what most social service agencies ask of their donors, hoping that in those hearts is the generosity to donate precious commodities – time, money, supplies, tools and more. For the Central Illinois Community Blood Center, which offers the […]
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It’s a zoo out here
When Rainier, a wolverine born last spring, sees a visitor to Henson Robinson Zoo rounding the corner to see her, she scampers to the front of her exhibit, ready to follow the new face from one end to the other before darting back to track the next. The lively Rainier, one of the creatures that […]
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Coal miners find common ground with anti-coal author
Asked if he was a proponent of coal as he waited for a lecture featuring an anti-coal author to begin, Mark Bloom, sporting an International Coal Group jacket and sitting next to his Williamsville mine’s safety inspector, responded, “Isn’t everybody?” Well, no, not exactly. Jeff Biggers, whose lecture the coal miners were attending, wrote Reckoning […]
