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 […]
Scott Reeder
Scott Reeder is a staff writer at Illinois Times.
Posted inOpinion
Getting into the spirit of Halloween
Soon, little masked hobgoblins will be knocking at our doors wanting handfuls of candy and it’s important to remember the rules of good behavior – for adults – not just the children. I often hear oldsters grumble about the unruly behavior of youths, but my experience is that it is the adults who tend to […]
Posted inOpinion
Stopping school shootings
There was no menace left in the school shooter who sat across from me in the prison’s visitor room. Clad in a blue chambray shirt and a tired expression, he told me about that fateful day in 1989 when he entered a day care center in League City, Texas, and started shooting. A bullet ripped […]
Posted inNews
Regan Deering takes on Nikki Budzinski
In a congressional district drawn to favor Democrats, Republicans believe they have reason for optimism. But just how much optimism is justified remains a bit of an open question for the Illinois 13th Congressional District, which pits Republican Regan Deering against Democrat Nikki Budzinski. Deering, 46, and Budzinski, 45, are both seeking political office for […]
Posted inNews
Plans for Pillsbury site
It will cost about $10 million to level the 18-acre Springfield eyesore that was once the largest flour mill in North America. Just where the money will come from to demolish the former Pillsbury plant remains a bit of an open question, said Joel Zirkle, an owner of the Freeport-based engineering and environmental firm Fehr […]
Posted inOpinion
Redefining masculinity
“Boys don’t cry.” That was the oft-repeated refrain my father said to my brother and me growing up. If one of us fell and skinned our knees, it was, “Knock it off, boys don’t cry.” It didn’t matter if we were 4 or 5. Crying was a sign of weakness and of questionable masculinity. When […]
Posted inNews
Pharmacies face shortages
Pharmacists measure and count every day, but one calculation weighs heavily on Tim Gleason. “I have two kids, ages 2 and 5. I work from 9 a.m. to 7 p.m. That means I have less than an hour to spend with them on weekdays before they go to bed. I’m thinking about shortening my hours […]
Posted inNews
Bringing back the building trades
An act of generosity to one young man entering the building trades is emblematic of a larger Springfield partnership among a church, businesses and unions, designed to help Lanphier High School students succeed. When Joey Martin graduated from Lanphier in May, he was part of a pilot building trades program intended to expose students to […]
Posted inNews
The freedom of music
Wrongly locked behind prison bars, Amanda Knox found a way to escape her circumstances by lifting her voice and singing. Knox, one of the world’s most famous wrongly convicted individuals, will be performing Oct. 15 in Sangamon County with the Exoneree Band to raise money for the Illinois Innocence Project. The endeavor covers two of […]
Posted inOpinion
Learning to listen
Grief is a strange thing. You never get over it. You just learn to live with it. I was thinking about that this month when I wrote a story about Dee Stern, a woman who works as a chaplain at HSHS St. John’s Hospital in Springfield. She has just written a book about helping grieving […]
Posted inNews
Illinois labor amendment on the ballot in November
Illinois voters will decide in November whether to amend the state constitution to make it easier for labor unions to maintain membership and to protect benefits of workers who are mostly employed by local and state governments. “The big, big issue is what it does for the public-sector unions; it basically enshrines all their powers […]
Posted inNews
Good grief
We live in a society that denies death. That is the observation of Dee Stern, a chaplain at HSHS St. John’s Hospital, who recently wrote a book on grief. The book, Comforting the Bereaved Through Listening and Positive Responding; What are the Bereaved Trying to Tell Us?, was recently published by Archway Books. Folks often […]
