In a large, two-story home on the southeast side, Alyce Lyle hopes to realize her dream of starting her own elementary school. A substitute teacher for nearly 20 years in Springfield’s School District 186, Lyle has long wanted to provide kids an educational experience different from what is being offered in the city’s public school […]
Todd Spivak
Posted inNews
Architecture matters
Since graduating from Springfield High School in the late 1960s, John Norquist has enjoyed national renown as a politician, author, and advocate for historic preservation. The former mayor of Milwaukee returned to his hometown last Friday as a featured speaker at the American Institute of Architects’ annual conference. Norquist, 55, gave an hourlong lecture on […]
Posted inNews
High stakes
If the state opts to wager on more casinos as a way to dig itself out of debt, some say it’s Illinois schools that will lose. During the six-day legislative veto session that began this week, Senate President Emil Jones plans to introduce a controversial bill that would expand the number of state gaming licenses. […]
Posted inNews
A search for answers
More than seven months after the fatal explosion at Formosa Plastics Corp. in Illiopolis, federal investigators have finally gained access to the long-restricted area of the chemical plant where the incident occurred. Carrying a respirator, U.S. Chemical Safety Board member Lisa Long entered the site with a team of four other investigators for the first […]
Posted inNews
Rising son
State Sen. Barack Obama made history on Tuesday by becoming just the fifth African American to win a seat in the U.S. Senate and the third since Reconstruction. Obama “spanked” Republican opponent Alan Keyes, as he promised he would weeks ago, by garnering more than 70 percent of the vote in what was the most […]
Posted inNews
From bad to worse
The Springfield Housing Authority still has not determined how to implement drastic funding cuts to the area’s Section 8 program despite assurances that a plan would be announced this week. For the time being, SHA has backed away from its plan to plug the funding gap by seeking reimbursements from Section 8 landlords dating back […]
Posted inNews
Trick or Treat?
This Tuesday, ballots will be cast in what has been billed the most important presidential election in generations. Voter registration across the nation is at an all-time high. Hundreds of millions of dollars have beenspent to sway voters; tens of thousands of attorneys are being deployed to states to safeguard against Election Day shenanigans. All […]
Posted inNews
The unkindest cuts
The Springfield Housing Authority was warned months ago that funding for its Section 8 housing-voucher program would be severely reduced. But hundreds of local landlords who are involved in the program only recently discovered that they are the ones being squeezed. SHA says landlords have already begun to drop out of the program due to […]
Posted inNews
His way with words
The late Chicago journalist Steve Neal was hailed as a watchdog at last Thursday’s dedication of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library, although some of his subjects remember him more as a bulldog. The veteran Sun-Times columnist’s coverage of alleged cronyism is credited with forcing a major shakeup in the leadership of the $150 million library […]
Posted inNews
Be afraid . . . very afraid
Longtime peace activist Dr. Helen Caldicott arrived at Illinois Wesleyan University in Bloomington last week with a doomsday message intended to spur students to action. “You live in a very, very dangerous area, and most people don’t even understand that,” said Caldicott, referring to the nuclear-power plant that sits a mere 24 miles away in […]
Posted inNews
Taking stock
A local volunteer-based environmental group has released what is widely being hailed as the most comprehensive inventory of natural areas ever compiled in central Illinois. Vern LaGesse, president and founder of Friends of the Sangamon Valley, oversaw the nearly three-year project, which entailed walking or canoeing virtually every inch of forest, prairie, and wetland in […]
Posted inNews
Funding, finally
Back in May, Medical District Commission president Michael Boer tried to pacify a roomful of rowdy north endresidents concerned about an apparent land grab in their area. By July, he assured them, government funding would be secured to create a development plan for Springfield’s state-designated medical district. Homeowners would be consulted, he said; new development […]
