Springfield teens are a nomadic lot, though not by choice. It seems that each time they settle into a new funky abode, where they’re free to let their fraying jeans hang low and spike their hair to the high heavens, some outside force comes along to shoo them away. Jerry Roof, a 17-year-old senior at […]
Todd Spivak
Posted inNews
Transit fix
Richard Fix says he has heard the same complaints since he became managing director of Springfield Mass Transit District 15 years ago. Perhaps that’s why the SMTD manager appeared bored as several local residents pleaded for the extension of citywide bus service at his agency’s monthly board meeting on Tuesday. “It’s nothing new,” said Fix […]
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Coming together
It all began with a serial burglar. Some two years ago, in midafternoon, an intruder looted jewelry and electronics from Erin Conley’s home on the edge of Lincoln Park. The incident marked the second residential burglary that day on Conley’s block of North Fourth Street. The break-ins led Conley to help initiate a neighborhood-watch program, […]
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Revisionist history
A former University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign professor has denounced recent efforts to recreate what is considered the country’s first town founded by an African American. Prominent black history scholar Dr. Juliet E. K. Walker charges that those now leading a federally funded archaeological dig in Pike County, Ill., are “distorting” history and “discrediting” her […]
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Da Senator
Democratic U.S. Senate candidate Barack Obama says he welcomes a possible challenge from former Chicago Bears football coach Mike Ditka in the November election. “The speculation is fun for everybody,” Obama says. “Particularly the press, who I think is bored with the lack of an opponent for me so far.” Ditka, 64, told Chicago-based reporters […]
Posted inArts & Culture
“Uglier than ugly”
Beauty may be in the eye of the beholder, but it seems architectural historians alone find reason to swoon over the massive William G. Stratton Building, located directly west of the Capitol. Lawmakers and state workers whose offices are in the Stratton have long complained that the ’50s-era building is outdated and inefficient, blocks views […]
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The Spoilers
Ralph Nader was “snubbed.” He was “rejected,” “rebuked,” “spurned,” “bypassed,” “set adrift.” Plainly put, the legendary consumer advocate and perennial presidential candidate “blew it.” So read headlines across the country and around the globe after the Green Party formally disowned the man who did the most to raise its profile. At their national convention, held […]
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Turning over rocks
A Springfield attorney and a statewide trade group have launched independent investigations into safety conditions at Oak Ridge Cemetery. The Illinois Cemetery and Funeral Homes Association responded to an anonymous complaint they received citing a pair of injuries to children at the state’s largest cemetery. In letters to both Mayor Tim Davlin and Oak Ridge […]
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Behind the eight ball
A crippled Illinois Republican Party is scrambling to fill the vacancy left by U.S. Senate nominee Jack Ryan after the sudden implosion of his candidacy last week. While several replacements for Ryan are under consideration, state Rep. Raymond Poe, a Springfield Republican, says party leaders ideally need to coax a self-financed candidate, with widespread name […]
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Competitive edge
More than 70 emergency homeless shelter agencies across Illinois will share state grants totaling $2.4 million. And the two biggest recipients, according to Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s office, are Springfield-based Contact Ministries and Fifth Street Renaissance. They competed against nearly 100 other nonprofits for the money. “We are very pleased, because the more resources we receive, […]
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Ryan’s hope
Jack Ryan’s bid for the U.S. Senate may be toast, as some Republican Party leaders began calling on him to quit the race after the release of his divorce files on Monday. The documents include allegations from Ryan’s ex-wife, actress Jeri Ryan, that he took her to sex clubs where he tried to force her […]
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Little big man
Stifling their yawns and wiping sleep from their eyes, a steady flow of slightly disheveled lawmakers shuffled into the Capitol. Most were still recovering from the previous night’s marathon legislative session that held them hostage past midnight. House Speaker Michael Madigan assumed the podium sporting a fresh haircut and dapper suit that countered the general […]
