City officials said Friday afternoon a faulty pipe may have been the cause of the main water line break that shut down water and electricity for numerous businesses in downtown Springfield on Thursday evening. The city’s water division manager, Todd LaFountain, said he was alerted by the water purification plant around 5:30 p.m. of “some […]
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Women’s Equality Day marked with Springfield locals joining national relay
On Women’s Equality Day, Springfield residents joined one woman’s relay to Washington, D.C. to draw attention to the progress still needed for justice for women to be achieved. Emily Waugh walked with a steady pace and carried one end of the banner that read “Women’s Walk Across America.” The 40-year-old and mother of two began […]
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Water puts damper on downtown businesses
A downtown Springfield business has been forced to postpone its grand opening plans after a water main break flooded the intersection of Fifth and Monroe streets on Thursday evening. This spring, Zac Lowman (who goes by Vinal Luciano) and Troy Minton announced plans to open The Bus Stop, a bar and live music venue, in […]
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The Super Bowl of motorcycle racing
As it is to the fifth-generation farmer on the homestead, the dirt at the oval track of the Springfield Mile is sacred ground to 40-year-old Jared Mees. He’s won the annual motorcycle race in the capital city 10 times, and with it a lot of prize money. He also was married on the soil of […]
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Fighting for the innocent
The Illinois Innocence Project at University of Illinois Springfield has freed 34 innocent people who were convicted and imprisoned in Illinois for crimes they did not commit. Collectively, they lost 797 years of freedom. There are innocence organizations in 10 other countries and more than 60 in the U.S., but IIP is the only one […]
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Founding of the Illinois Innocence Project
Dr. Larry Golden, the founding director of IIP, was the youngest faculty member when he came to Sangamon State University when it opened in 1970. He became involved in social justice issues in the 1960s while in graduate school at the University of Minnesota and said he was attracted to SSU because of its focus […]
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Recent graduates, new arrivals seek opportunities at semi-annual career fair
Job seekers navigated through rows of prospective employers stationed at tables with pamphlets, listings of job openings and candy at the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce’s Fall Job Fair. Kenneth Nwume took a pause near the entrance of the fair held Aug. 25 at the Crowne Plaza Hotel. “I’m just surveying and looking around,” he […]
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Doris Turner joins Mid-Illinois Medical District
The Mid-Illinois Medical District has a new, but familiar, member in state Sen. Doris Turner, D-Springfield. She was nominated to serve on the commission by Mayor Misty Buscher and approved unanimously at the Aug. 5 Springfield City Council meeting. Turner tried and failed, through a total of five separate bills in the current General Assembly, […]
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Springfield Park District going solar at two facilities
The Springfield Park District Board has approved issuing bonds to help pay for a major solar energy upgrade that’s already begun at two of its facilities. Bonds totaling $1.8 million, along with state and federal funding, will cover the costs of replacing the roofs on the Nelson Center and the Fun Shop building and the […]
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$60 million BOS Center expansion backed
Unwilling to wait on the Illinois General Assembly, the Sangamon County Board plans to vote as soon as Sept. 1 to impose a new 3% hotel tax to fund a $60 million expansion of the BOS Center. County officials say they want to act now because state legislation that would create an oversight board – […]
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Community Foundation commits more than $500,000 to local journalism and civic engagement
Local Journalism and Civic Engagement The Community Foundation for the Land of Lincoln has committed more than $500,000 to strengthen local journalism and civic engagement through grants to Local Journalism Matters, the nonprofit operator of Illinois Times, and the Citizens Club of Springfield. The commitments include $500,000 over three years to Local Journalism Matters – […]
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Sean Grayson dies in custody
Sean Grayson, the white former sheriff’s deputy whose shots at Sonya Massey inside the Black single mother’s Woodside Township home two years ago set in motion his second-degree murder conviction and an ongoing racial reckoning in Sangamon County, died about noon Aug. 23. Daniel Fultz, one of the Riverton resident’s attorneys, confirmed Grayson’s death to […]
