For weeks, candidate ads have dominated television viewing. Text messages and phone calls are nonstop. Yard signs are popping up like my late season tomatoes. Much of this messaging is for candidates who will serve in Washington, D.C., or in the State House. While that part of the ballot is important, the most direct and […]
Opinion
Posted inOpinion
Observations of an immigrant court observer
I consider Chicago my hometown. My entire family was raised on Chicago’s south side and I grew up in a southeast suburb called Dolton, a working-class town traversed by railroad tracks and surrounded by industry. Fun Fact: Pope Leo grew up in Dolton about a mile from my house. So when ICE began its cruel […]
Posted inLetters to the Editor
Letters to the editor 10/22/26
We welcome letters. Please include your full name, address and telephone number. We edit all letters. Send them to editor@illinoistimes.com. SUPPORT SECOND AMENDMENT She didn’t ask for Joe (Biden) to be killed, she is defending her Second Amendment rights (“Beni Harmony heads to the White House,” Oct. 8). When I️ was in high school, kids […]
Posted inRich Miller
Ethics laws and good advice
The Legislative Ethics Commission Chair said last week that the LEC will meet soon and discuss whether to recommend changes to state ethics laws during the upcoming veto session, which begins in about a month. But the chair of the bipartisan commission, Rep. Jeff Keicher (R-Sycamore), told us he was against taking any action before […]
Posted inOpinion
Landlord registry would harm tenants
A landlord registry in Springfield will vastly increase rents for many low-income tenants. Consider this scenario: A man buys a house in 2016 for $45,000. It has a family living in it who were paying $650 a month to the previous owner. The new owner keeps them on as his tenants at the same rent. […]
Posted inJames Krohe Jr.
Ghosts
You know how some movie stars are when they try to make a comeback. Yeah, they’re a little old now, and not all the plastic surgery worked and that last movie bombed. But with some new kinds of roles, a good script and director, a new generation might come to appreciate what she can do. […]
Posted inLetters to the Editor
Letters to the editor
NEED A LANDLORD REGISTRY While Molly Wallace was gathering information for her article, there were many tenants and employees who work with or for landlords who were afraid to come forward (“Housing is a human right,” Oct. 1). Fear of retaliation from landlords and real estate agents here in this city is very real. This […]
Posted inRich Miller
Welch budget comments raise eyebrows
Illinois House Speaker Chris Welch raised some eyebrows after he attended a meeting in suburban River Forest to talk about the proposed “O’Hare Flyer” project, which would run express commuter trains back and forth from downtown Chicago to O’Hare Airport. Welch told attendees he could prevent two state agency budgets from moving forward if he […]
Posted inLetters to the Editor
Letters to the editor 10/8/26
We welcome letters. Please include your full name, address and telephone number. We edit all letters. Send them to editor@illinoistimes.com. WHY SO NEGATIVE? Springfield suffers from a self-esteem problem, and this column by James Krohe Jr. definitely adds to it (“Down the gardened path,” Oct. 1). We have a huge project that’s federally funded coming […]
Posted inRich Miller
Paid influencers and political ads
My associate Isabel Miller and I worked on a story last week about paid influencers in campaigns. We decided to look into it after reading news reports about how the Chicago Teachers Union has been using paid influencers in its battle to control the elected Chicago school board and Chicago Mayor Brandon Johnson is also […]
Posted inLetters to the Editor
Letters to the editor
BIG WIN Last spring, Jamie Toole (at the time chief storyteller of the Springfield Lucky Horseshoes) came and spoke at an Enos Park neighborhood meeting. He spoke passionately about how baseball should be affordable and accessible to everyone. In addition to the Shoes, he spoke about the Women’s Pro Baseball League coming to town in […]
Posted inJames Krohe Jr.
Down the gardened path
Imagine pedaling happily along a paved path where murals and stand-alone art works distract you from the shabbiness or outright ugliness of Springfield’s backsides, passing frolicking children and couples strolling hand in hand thinking how lucky they are to be living in a city that… well, that part of the daydream is not quite clear […]
