One by one, boys walked to the front of the courtroom May 5 to receive certificates marking the completion of Sangamon County’s new youth mentoring and diversion program. Mentors stood beside them for photographs while judges, prosecutors and community leaders applauded from the audience. But before the ceremony began, Associate Judge Karen Tharp told the […]
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Rewriting history?
An exciting tale is told in a new $73,000 state-funded video presentation at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum. The animated production brings to life the story of Robert Smalls, an enslaved man who purloined a Confederate boat, picked up other enslaved people, and piloted the boat to freedom as they reached the Union naval blockade […]
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Sangamon County appoints Mental Health Board
The Sangamon County Board appointed seven members to the county’s newly formed Mental Health Board during a May 12 board meeting. Members will decide which programs the county’s upcoming limited 0.5% sales tax levy will fund. The levy goes into effect July 1 but funding is not expected to be disbursed until October, giving the […]
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A losing proposition
When customers came to Capitol Teletrack on May 2 for the Kentucky Derby, a yearly event that still packed them in at 1776 Wabash Ave., a real estate broker’s phone number on a sign was the only proof that anyone has been inside of late. Sandwiched between a Salvation Army store and a plasma donation […]
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“A lot of things are getting confused”
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect debate and action at the May 12 Springfield City Council meeting. The only revenue Springfield city government might forfeit to help pay for the proposed BOS Center expansion and new hotel next door would be the city’s share of hotel taxes on room rates at the […]
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How do data centers benefit the places where they’re built? Local mayors give mixed reviews
The Illinois General Assembly continues to debate what to do about data centers as the artificial intelligence business keeps booming, and communities complain about their energy bills, noise and environmental impacts. Data centers are warehouse-like buildings that house computer servers and other infrastructure that power the internet, cloud storage and more, but massive data centers […]
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Family, friends, supporters honor fallen Illinois police officers
In a ceremony at the state Capitol, family, friends and supporters honored the lives of two law enforcement officers who died in the line of duty in 2025. The ceremony honored Officer Krystal Rivera of the Chicago Police Department and Detective Tim Jones of the Park Forest Police Department. Held annually on the first Thursday […]
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Prison or treatment?
This story is a collaboration between Illinois Answers and the Chicago bureau of MindSite News. Bloomington native Shayla Woodworth had struggled with mental illness and addiction since she was a teen and spent time in jail in three states. She’d heard of mental health courts before but didn’t know much about them, and assumed they were something of […]
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“It didn’t have to end like that”
A federal jury in the Central District of Illinois has awarded $3 million to the family of a man who died while incarcerated at Jacksonville Correctional Center, concluding that a prison doctor and a private medical contractor were negligent in failing to treat a life-threatening condition. The verdict followed a weeklong trial in U.S. District […]
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Landowner leans on school districts
Dowson Family Farms, which has four parcels of land under contract to CyrusOne for construction of a $500 million data center project in Talkington Township, contacted area school officials to tout “a once-in-a-lifetime tax revenue opportunity.” Darrel Thoma, chief financial officer of Dowson Family Farms, sent a follow-up email April 3 to Becca Lamon, superintendent […]
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DOJ seeking Illinois voter data to purge suspected noncitizens, documents suggest
The Trump administration’s lawsuits seeking access to sensitive voter registration data in Illinois and dozens of other states is one part of a broader effort to purge state voter rolls of suspected noncitizens, according to documents filed recently in federal court in Springfield. Those documents were filed April 30 by attorneys representing the Illinois AFL-CIO […]
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Developer pledges $65 million annually to Logan County
Regardless of whether estimated new property taxes are accurate, Hut 8 Corp. would guarantee Logan County schools and local governments $65 million a year in annual payments if the company’s proposed data center becomes a reality. Gregory Irwin, senior vice president of energy origination and asset management for the Florida-based company, made that pledge April […]
