Editor’s Note

City council meetings are lasting a lot longer than they used to, with a five-hour meeting this week that was again dominated by discussions of how to alleviate homelessness. There were disagreements over many things, but not the need for better communication. The city, social service organizations and individual advocates are all making efforts to […]

A bipartisan House task force plans to meet soon with Secret Service officials to discuss ways to increase security for presidential candidates. While Congress is deliberating, we have some short-term safety suggestions for the candidates: Stay off golf courses for the next couple months. Don’t brag about being an assassination target because you’re “consequential.” Don’t […]

Because I have high hopes for the Massey Commission, the group charged with charting a way toward reform after the July 6 police killing of Sonya Massey, I was initially pleased to hear that the commission would have its first session Sept. 16. I hadn’t known that the 12 commissioners had been chosen. But wait. […]

A highlight of the Democratic National Convention was its showcase for Republicans, or former Republicans, who are dismayed about the direction their party has taken. One who spoke was former Illinois congressman Adam Kinzinger, the six-term Republican from the Joliet area who was a member of the House committee to investigate Jan. 6. “As a […]

Sangamon County Board Chair Andy Van Meter, working with state Sen. Doris Turner, has taken a good step by forming a Sonya Massey Commission to examine the underlying causes that led to Sonya Massey’s death. The county and its Republican-dominated board are often left out of serious discussions of systemic racism in law enforcement that […]

As of Aug. 6, the city of Boston, Massachusetts, has had eight homicides this year. Springfield, Illinois, has had seven, as of Aug. 9. In all last year there were five homicides in Springfield. Four of this year’s victims died of multiple gunshot wounds in daylight hours, and three of these were young men – […]

It is excruciating to watch Jack Campbell twist slowly in the wind, trying to survive in his job without admitting he, or the good-old-boy system he supports, did anything wrong. “We failed the community,” he said, but didn’t say how. He asked for forgiveness but didn’t say for what. There are paths to reform already […]

It’s not a bad idea to have an experienced hand in the White House managing the store while his party’s candidate runs around the country campaigning. And a campaign of 100 days, rather than 500 or more, seems about right. Political parties may want to consider the advantages of switching their presidential candidate after one […]

Sometimes Springfield is in the national spotlight for all the right reasons, such as when Sen. Barack Obama announced his campaign for the presidency on the lawn of the Old State Capitol. Lately we’ve been making national headlines for terrible reasons – first the death of Earl Moore in December 2022 at the hands of […]

There was good news as Camp Compass ended this week. The free five-week summer learning program, a joint effort of District 186 public schools and the nonprofit Compass for Kids, served a record 940 low-income elementary school children to prevent summer learning loss. Assessment data show that with morning instruction the children are improving in […]

The quiet wait-and-see response by Springfield officials to the June 19 downtown fire risks loss of the Adams Street vibe. The situation is reminiscent of early 2023 when a leaderless downtown stood by and let a wealthy corporation “beautify” Washington Street by demolishing a historic building to put up a parking lot. Leah Wilson, a […]

Abraham Lincoln is famous for saying you don’t swap horses in the middle of a stream. Lincoln knew horses, but history shows he would have been smart to switch out some of his generals sooner than he did. It’s clear the Republicans aren’t going to change their lame entry in this year’s race. Polls will […]