Editor’s Note

It makes for a happy new year to welcome to Illinois Times our new intern from University of Illinois Springfield’s Public Affairs Reporting master’s degree program. He is Don Howard, 61, from Georgia. These days journalism as truth-telling attracts all kinds, so it isn’t unusual to find an atypical student reporter. Don is a former […]

“On earth, peace” was the hope of the angels, but practical peacemakers must get the snowball started. Two efforts are noteworthy. Dr. Robert W. Smith, dean of the College of Public Affairs and Education at University of Illinois Springfield, has called for a National Conference on Restoring Civility in American Politics. He suggests the home […]

When the red-suited, white-bearded, overweight man walked into a Springfield holiday party for children this week, a second-grader confronted the Santa character. “You’re not real,” she shouted angrily. “You’re not real!” Come to think of it, in a world where many adults believe in Elon Musk but not Dr. Fauci, that’s not a bad impulse. […]

Democrats now have a solid majority in the U.S. Senate, and a lock on both houses in the Illinois General Assembly. What are they going to use their political power for? It’s time for a full-scale debate on a ban on assault-style weapons and high-capacity ammunition magazines, the kind that have been used in multiple […]

We’re fortunate to have few vocal election deniers in these parts. But after “Stop the steal” became attempted armed robbery at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, writer Dusty Rhodes of Springfield decided to take a closer look at how voting gets done. She volunteered to be an election judge. In her column, “Election integrity […]

Abraham Lincoln issued his Thanksgiving Proclamation in 1863. This was at the depth of the Civil War when, “harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict,” the proclamation reads, as if to say, except for this war, there would be peace. Among other “gracious gifts of the Most High God,” are that […]

As Thanksgiving approaches, thank goodness we made it through the midterms. Election deniers lost; ballots won. Arizona and Pennsylvania redeemed themselves. Georgia is next. Work remains. Pritzker needs to slow the end of bail. Biden needs to find a graceful exit. Republicans need to dump Trump. Doris Turner needs to lead with confidence. We need […]

This week’s cover story features The Outlet, its new home and big plans for the future. It is a story of Springfield coming together to address the crisis of men and boys. Boys are struggling in the classroom. By high school two-thirds of the top 10 percent of the class are girls, while about two-thirds […]

When there is so much confusion in this nation’s politics, when misinformation itself is on the ballot and election deniers campaign for election, it is more important than ever to vote. A vote is an endorsement of the process, and marks each voter as a participant in a system under attack. If the process thrives […]

Next week we’ll take a break from all the politics and news and instead devote the entire issue to the Best of Springfield results. Our annual poll asking our readers to vote for their favorite people, places and things in the Springfield area only continues to get more popular, with a record number of people […]

I was trying to give international observers a Springfield perspective on the upcoming mid-term election. Has there been a problem with misinformation or disinformation during this political campaign? Not really, I told them. Has there been interference with the election process, or with press freedom to report on the election? Not here. I was being […]

Ah, it’s autumn, the time when thoughts go back to hayrides, bonfires and the old neighborhood back home. Those were the days when some of us thought we didn’t have to worry about white supremacy or gender equality, because we didn’t know what we didn’t know. I remember when alternative journalism just meant beating the […]