Editor’s Note

For many years Illinois Times has welcomed summer with the “summerlong” Summerguide, including a big calendar of events so you can plan your leisure, because summer is a terrible thing to waste. Last year our SG was a shutdown shadow of its usual self, but here we are back, 68 pages with ads aplenty, ready […]

It was a privilege to be present for Springfield Business Journal’s recognition this week of Women of Influence, sponsored by Security Bank, which has hallmarked appreciating women and their achievements. Six were honored for their various accomplishments – one for leading Parkinson’s patients to dance, another who moved from politics to health care in a […]

Because the environmental community can only concentrate on one culprit at a time – carbon is the latest – nuclear power is now considered “clean” energy. That requires ignoring the dirt Commonwealth Edison/Exelon spread by bribing Illinois politicians, not to mention the crime against the planet of making Illinois the home of 10,000 metric tons […]

Ending this crisis all comes down to overcoming hesitancy. What is wrong with these people? They know the right thing to do, but instead stubbornly rely on excuses like not trusting the science, or needing time to see if it really works, or needing a friend or a faith leader to nudge them along. Come […]

President Biden likes trillions. Everybody liked the $2 trillion American Rescue Plan, and the proposed $2.3 trillion infrastructure plan makes sense if we can afford it. Now we have the $1.8 trillion American Families Plan that includes free community college and lots of other good ideas – if we can afford them. Fiscal conservatives need […]

On Earth Day 2021 we are reminded that thorny environmental problems remain. What are we going to do about nuclear power? It has become a darling of many nearsighted earthlovers for not putting carbon into the atmosphere, while potentially deadly nuclear waste piles up with no safe place to store it for thousands of years. […]

Police problems seem so much easier to solve when they are in another state. Local questions involving police use of force, or hate speech on the internet, or minority recruitment, seem not as extreme as issues far away, and so go unattended. Neglected more are systemic inequities in our own businesses, churches or neighborhoods. The […]

In the minds of mid-April gardeners, this year’s garden will be the best ever. So far there are no weeds, no bugs, no heat or drought, no mistakes or regrets. Only seeds and great plans. This could be the year to plant more community gardens, to grow a crop of new gardeners and fresh friends. […]

It is no insult to the Almighty to say it’s time for Congress to go beyond “thoughts and prayers” about ways to curtail gun violence. “Prayer leaders have their important place in this, but we are Senate leaders,” said Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Springfield, as he convened his Senate Judiciary Committee after the latest mass killing. […]

Bruce Rushton’s cover story on the eviction moratorium provides rare glimpses into Springfield’s often misunderstood low-income rental housing scene. Landlords need good tenants; nobody evicts anybody with glee. Tenants need good housing, and know they have to pay to keep it. There are bad actors among both tenants and landlords. But under normal circumstances, disputes […]

I made a mistake last week by publishing in our print edition an early version of a story about the blight that is dragging Springfield down. The final version, posted online, gives the Illinois Housing Development Authority its say on the disaster that is Poplar Place. So for the complete story read “Blight fight” at […]