Often, when driving on I-55 to and from Chicago, I while away the hours with word games. (How many words mean “dull”?) Until I reach McLean County, that is, when the towers of the Twin Groves Wind Farm come into view. Even though they’ve stood there for years – the farm was built way back […]
Opinion
Posted inLetters to the Editor
Letters to the editor
GONE DOWNHILL This was such a sad article to read (“Seniors struggle at Sangamon Towers,” Nov. 13). Sangamon Towers, at one time, was a very nice place for seniors to live. Two of my uncles and three of my aunts had all lived there and I visited them often. Then, the building was very secure […]
Posted inEditor's Note
Editor’s Note
We who are “upsessed” about Washington must resist being distracted from Springfield and local affairs. It was here our Vachel Lindsay in 1914 preached “the new localism”: “The things most worthwhile are one’s own hearth and neighborhood. We should make our own home and neighborhood the most democratic, the most beautiful and the holiest in […]
Posted inLetters to the Editor
Letters to the editor 11/27/25
We welcome letters. Please include your full name, address and telephone number. We edit all letters. Send them to editor@illinoistimes.com. DON’T GIVE UP It was disappointing to see the Springfield City Council vote down Ward 3 Ald. Roy Williams’ resolution to put an advisory referendum on the March 17 primary ballot on whether the city […]
Posted inEditor's Note
Editors note 11/27/25
“Accountability, without systemic transformation, is not justice,” the Massey Commission writes in its elegant “Response to the Grayson Verdict,” posted on the commission’s page on Sangamon County’s website (sangamonil.gov). The Oct. 29 verdict brings a “breath of hope” and a “whisper of justice,” the statement reads. “We are called now to listen to the pain […]
Posted inRich Miller
State targets SNAP program error rate
Congress’ “Big Beautiful Bill” that passed last summer could prove to be far more damaging to the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program in Illinois than most people know. A SNAP “death penalty” is built into the budget reconciliation law. Before we go further, there’s a caveat: The US Department of Agriculture’s Food and Nutrition Service has […]
Posted inLetters to the Editor
Letter to the editor
EMPTY PROMISES I attended the Oct. 29 meeting at Lincoln Library and I was grateful for the presentations made by everyone (“Data center plans delayed,” Nov. 5). There are too many promises made that we see other cities now suffering through, because once the data center is built, it’s the companies with big money and […]
Posted inOpinion
Springfield’s city plan at 100
Rampant and haphazard growth after the Civil War left Springfield dirty, dangerous, unhealthful and inconvenient. The race riots in 1908 left the city’s worthy citizens with what we might call a reputational problem, so progressive-minded locals undertook a municipal housecleaning. The 1911 commission reform promised to fix politics. The election that same year of Willis […]
Posted inOpinion
Misinformation about Pretrial Fairness Act in Illinois
Spurred on by Donald Trump’s fearmongering about “cashless bail” and a “lawless” Illinois, some law enforcement officials and Republican elected officials are recycling tired misconceptions about the Pretrial Fairness Act to distract the public from their real policy failures. This was most recently seen in the Illinois Valley, where hospitals are closing, shelters are overflowing […]
Posted inRich Miller
Chuy Garcia and the machine
You likely already know that U.S. Rep. Chuy García (D-Chicago) dropped out of his re-election race in a way that essentially handed his seat to his top aide. After his doctor advised him not to run again because of his heart condition, and his spouse who has multiple sclerosis which didn’t respond to her most […]
Posted inLetters to the Editor
Letters to the editor 11/13/25
JUST SAY NO We should reflect deeply on this question: Do we value the people and the livelihood of our community over a Texas-based AI company that has come for our land and resources (“First data center in Sangamon County,” Oct. 23)? If we do, then we should be saying no to CyrusOne’s proposal for […]
Posted inEditor's Note
Editor’s note 11/13/25
Just as everybody knows who started the war in Ukraine, everybody knows the party to blame for the big jump in health insurance premiums. And we know who tried to cut off SNAP benefits, fired thousands of government workers and caused airline chaos. It wasn’t Sen. Richard Durbin of Springfield. He and a few other […]
