U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin gave life to plans for a new East Side community center by securing a $750,000 federal grant, but his choice of the Boys & Girls Club of Springfield to oversee the project has rankled some key community leaders. The Rev. Samuel Hale and the Rev. Silas Johnson, leaders of the Springfield […]
Todd Spivak
Posted inNews
“Best-kept secret”
Charles Schweighauser steered a canoe on nearly all 210 miles of the Sangamon River, from the northern source near Ellsworth to its confluence with the Illinois River at Beardstown. Along the way, the veteran University of Illinois at Springfield environmental-studies professor interviewed dozens of people in seven central-Illinois counties who depend on the river for […]
Posted inNews
Man with a plan
A prominent Springfield developer has plans to level the Esquire Theatre and build an upscale outdoor shopping center that would include a café and small grocery on three acres along MacArthur Boulevard near South Grand Avenue. Though the plan is still in the preliminary stages, Garrison Group Inc. has signed an offer-to-purchase contract with Kerasotes […]
Posted inNews
Heebie-jeebies
Springfield Mayor Tim Davlin is feeling anxious. Two months remain before the dedication of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum, an event expected to draw national media attention, tens of thousands of visitors, foreign dignitaries, and, perhaps, even the president. “I’m nervous,” Davlin says. “You know, we’re all nervous because we have a lot of work […]
Posted inNews
Signs of the times
Former Springfield Mayor Karen Hasara remembers the ample bosom that got people’s panties in a twist. The cleavage belonged — and still does — to Terry Harris, a North End native and owner of a local lingerie and adult-video store. There was Harris, a former model, clad in leather, bent over and holding a whip. […]
Posted inNews
Train wreck
The Bush administration has threatened to derail the nation’s largest passenger train corporation by eliminating all federal subsidies to Amtrak. The proposal has created a firestorm in Illinois as the state’s political leaders say such a move would cause mass layoffs and isolate many rural communities that depend on train travel. Bush proposed the Amtrak […]
Posted inNews
Shelter resources
M.E.R.C.Y. Communities has won a three-year federal grant worth $240,000 to establish eight units of permanent housing for Springfield’s homeless. The funding comes from the Department of Housing and Urban Development, which last week issued $1.4 billion in grants to more than 4,000 homeless programs across the country. That’s the largest allocation of competitive grant […]
Posted inNews
A new “front porch”
The new $2.5 million park about to be built as part of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum complex may include not just an amphitheater for music but also a gazebo for wedding ceremonies and Victorian-era gardens to honor Mary Todd Lincoln. Richard Norton Smith floated some of these ideas for the park, which […]
Posted inNews
Paper chase
Lee Enterprises Inc., a once-obscure media company based in the Quad Cities, is poised to become a major force in shaping Illinois news coverage when it completes the acquisition of St. Louis-based Pulitzer Inc. The Davenport, Iowa-based company on Sunday announced a $1.46 billion deal to buy Pulitzer, which owns more than 100 weekly newspapers […]
Posted inNews
Tying the knot
Last February, after losing Curt Sills, his partner of 10 years, to cancer, Springfield resident Randy Walden sent an angry missive to St. John’s Hospital in which, he says, he complained of “appalling, inexcusable treatment.” It was more than just the cold stares and raised eyebrows Walden says he received from nurses and doctors at […]
Posted inNews
Back to the future
Downtown Springfield is about to resurrect a piece of its history as Union Station, the former rail depot that spans an entire block of Madison Street, undergoes a nearly $10 million makeover. The project includes a dramatic reconstruction of Union Station’s original 110-foot clock tower, crowned by a 40-foot flagpole, both of which were removed […]
Posted inNews
Poskin joins SHA board
Mayor Tim Davlin has handpicked a veteran community activist and social worker to join the five-member Springfield Housing Authority Board of Commissioners. Polly Poskin, 58, will complete the remaining two-year term left by outgoing SHA board chairman Robert Schaaf, who tendered his resignation last month. “It’s hard to live in Springfield and not know Polly […]
