The tears still flow. I met Chip Gass for lunch at a Springfield diner March 4. I hadn’t seen him for decades, but we have something in common that places us in a unique community: those with dyslexia. I first met Chip 30 years ago when I was a young reporter in the Quad-Cities and […]
Scott Reeder
Scott Reeder is a staff writer at Illinois Times.
Posted inNews
Overcoming the odds
Born into a world of legal segregation, Greg Harris has pushed to overcome; today at age 73, he is the new U.S. Attorney for the Central District of Illinois. Harris, who was recently appointed to the job by President Joe Biden, is the first African American to hold the post that oversees federal law enforcement […]
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From here to Hollywood
She was once the only Black person living in Athens, Illinois, a village of 2,000; today she is a respected screenwriter in Hollywood with millions of people watching her work. Marissa Jo Cerar’s mini-series “Women of the Movement” focuses on Mamie Till, whose 14-year-old son, Emmett, was killed in Money, Mississippi, in August 1955. Chicago […]
Posted inOpinion
Why I weep when I hear “Danny Boy”
I glanced at the calendar and the date Feb. 26 stared back at me. It was my brother Danny’s birthday. He would have turned 65. A milestone birthday. At 13 you are a teenager. At 16, a driver. At 18, a voter. At 21, an adult. And at 65 you’re a senior citizen. But there […]
Posted inOpinion
Why I weep when I hear “Danny Boy”
I glanced at the calendar and the date Feb. 26 stared back at me. It was my brother Danny’s birthday. He would have turned 65. A milestone birthday. At 13 you are a teenager. At 16, a driver. At 18, a voter. At 21, an adult. And at 65 you’re a senior citizen. But there […]
Posted inOpinion
Pronoun preferences
Pronouns are the workhorses of the English language and I never found them to be particularly controversial – until recently. In case you’ve forgotten your fourth-grade grammar lessons, some examples of pronouns are: he, she, we, they, it. Recently, a Catholic priest in Arizona found out that sometimes the grammar police wear clerical robes and […]
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Fatal consequences
More than two years after her 14-year-old daughter and three other people were killed in a head-on car crash, Brenda Protz is still seeking justice – not just in her own family’s tragedy but for other families who may find themselves in similar circumstances. Police and prosecutors say the fatal crash was a result of […]
Posted inOpinion
Cutting the columnists
Phil Luciano, perhaps Illinois’ best newspaper columnist, hung up his fedora at the Peoria Journal-Star and left the newspaper business. I’ve known Phil for 35 years and have long admired his writing. We were once classmates in a graduate program at Sangamon State University back when “Big Jim” Thompson was in the Governor’s Mansion and […]
Posted inNews
See for yourself
Sangamon County is pioneering a way of making court cases more transparent – it’s livestreaming hearings on the internet. “To the best of my knowledge, we are the first county in Illinois to do this,” said Circuit Clerk Paul Palazzolo. Cameras were first allowed in Illinois courtrooms 10 years ago, under an initiative spearheaded by […]
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From Springfield to statewide
It’s been a long time since someone from Sangamon County sought a state constitutional office, but this year veteran prosecutor John Milhiser, a Springfield resident, is seeking the GOP nod for secretary of state. Since stepping down as U.S. attorney in the Central District of Illinois, Milhiser has taught government, English and history at Lawrence […]
Posted inOpinion
More than puppy love
I picked up the phone the other day and made a dinner reservation for a Valentine’s Day date. The manager wrote down, “Party of two for 7:30 p.m.” I couldn’t help but smile. It will be my 20th Valentine’s Day date in a row with the same person. Folks sometimes ask what brought us together. […]
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Fancy Nancy illustrator donates artwork
An annual art show to raise money for Sangamon County foster children is stepping it up a notch and getting fancy. Fancy Nancy, to be precise. In early January, Illinois Times published a story about a local ministry, The James Project, hosting its sixth annual Artsy: An Art Fair for Kids in Care! to raise […]
