Scott Reeder

Tunzala Ahaieva knows the terror of war and the joy of finding a new home. And that new home is in Springfield, thanks to the generosity of a group of local supporters. The 31-year-old Ukrainian woman arrived in Springfield in March, along with her husband and son, with assistance from Abraham Lincoln Unitarian Universalist Congregation. […]

Imagine a place where pupils study Aristotle and also learn how to plane boards. San Damiano College for the Trades will do just that. The future central Illinois school just hired its first president, Kent Lasnoski, who is moving to Springfield from Wyoming, where he led another Catholic college. He hopes to open the doors […]

First came the threatening letters from city hall: mow your grass or we will and then we’ll slap you with a fine. Mike, a homeowner on Lincoln Avenue south of Washington Park, was dismayed. He didn’t consider his lawn overgrown or unkept. In fact, he had nurtured it to look different from his neighbors but […]

Some people will soon be paid $5,000 to move to Jacksonville, Illinois. The Jacksonville Regional Economic Development Corporation is offering the bounty as part of its ongoing effort to lure professionals to the community of 17,600 and surrounding Morgan and Scott counties. According to the U.S. Census, during the second decade of this century Jacksonville […]

While delays within the U.S. Postal Service are not usually applauded, one made this month by Postmaster General Louis DeJoy was celebrated in Springfield. The Postal Service has chosen to pause until January moving some functions of Springfield’s packaging and distribution center to St. Louis. This is part of a national endeavor to consolidate processing […]

“I’ve been hit, struck, kicked, spit on and scratched,” Brian Daugherty said as he explained the challenges he and other teachers face at Grant Middle School. In response to what they perceive as escalating violence, Daugherty, a music teacher, and more than 30 other teachers and staff refused to go to work May 10. The […]

The city of Springfield is launching a pilot program geared toward helping first-time homebuyers by rehabilitating dilapidated properties on the city’s east side. “On the east side of Springfield, we own properties as a city, and we’re not doing enough to revitalize the neighborhoods,” said Ethan Posey, Springfield’s director of community relations. “We own a […]

Despite a past pledge to reopen his halfway houses for men being released from prison, Dave Kettelkamp said that he is calling it quits after his venture, House of the Rainbow, was displaced by the high-speed rail project. Ironically, Kettlelkamp said he is getting out of the lucrative business of housing former Department of Corrections […]

Gov. JB Pritzker says it’s time to look beyond prisons when promoting economic development in rural Illinois, but that’s little consolation for the 500 workers at Logan Correctional Center who fear losing their jobs. The state is eying shutting down the prison in Lincoln and rebuilding Illinois’ main prison for women elsewhere. One possibility under […]

A year ago, it was a political football, but April 29 it came full circle as a $1 real estate transaction. During the administration of former Springfield mayor Jim Langfelder, George Petrilli was fined more than $46,000 by the city for failing to maintain the dilapidated property at 820 N. Sixth St. But he paid […]

A Springfield lawyer was asked to resign from her city job this month after allegations of unethical behavior came to light from her time working for the Office of the Illinois Attorney General. At the heart of the controversy is Salena Young and the two men with whom she lives; both also worked with her […]