Scott Reeder

When Linda Nelson turned the ignition on her old Honda Accord, the vehicle roared louder than a hot rod. At first the Springfield resident thought her car’s muffler had fallen off, but she soon learned someone had crawled under her 23-year-old car and cut away its catalytic converter while it sat in her driveway. She […]

The number of foster children in Sangamon County is near an all-time high and there are not enough homes for them to live in, the executive director of The James Project shared with Illinois Times recently. The shortage has become so acute that children are bunking on cots in Department of Children and Family Services […]

Months after demanding that fellow lawmakers close the “revolving door” that allows legislators to leave the General Assembly and immediately lobby their former colleagues, state Rep. Tim Butler is quitting to do just that. The four-term Springfield Republican lawmaker announced three days after being reelected to the post that he has accepted a position with […]

“I don’t want a eulogy written. People keep coming up to me with a sad look in their eyes and saying, ‘You had such a wonderful career.’” At age 30, state Rep. Avery Bourne, R-Morrisonville, says she has plenty of career still ahead of her. She is leaving the General Assembly in January after an […]

Safe Families for Children has a new building and a new director and the group, which provides short-term foster care, plans to expand to help more Springfield-area families. Hospital Sisters Health System recently donated office space at 700 N. Seventh St. in Springfield to the nonprofit. “They get the space rent-free. They don’t pay utilities. […]

While much has been written about the plight of Japanese Americans during World War II, the story of how the U.S. government persecuted Italian Americans has largely gone untold. A trio of central Illinois filmmakers is changing that with the documentary Potentially Dangerous, which tells the story of the internment of Italian Americans as well […]

Although he has spent much of his life working in courtrooms and at the Statehouse, David Risley has found a new platform for advocating for criminal justice reform: a podcaster’s microphone. “If things are going to change in the way we approach crime and criminal justice, it won’t be working from the top down,” he […]

Some people have taken to calling it the stealth amendment: an effort to amend the Illinois Constitution in a manner that will benefit organized labor. But just how it would work and what exactly it would do has many folks scratching their heads. Amendment 1, which voters will decide Nov. 8, would amend the state […]