What you missed:Private eye Nick Acropolis is sent to McKinley by attorney Shelly Michalowski to investigate the case of a trucker charged with smuggling cocaine. The trucker, Jesse Lopez, proclaims his innocence, but the judge seems to believe otherwise, warning Lopez that a guilty verdict would result in a sentence of 30 to 120 years. […]
News
Posted inNews
The other ball game
The bat meets the ball with a hollow thwack. On the home team’s bench, a cheer goes up as the grounder skips past the visiting players’ outstretched hands and across the field’s outer boundary line. If you close your eyes, you could almost imagine yourself at a baseball game. But then comes a sound you […]
Posted inNews
Little press on the prairie
Etched into endless fields of corn and beans, Illinois 41 runs south from Galesburg to U.S. 136, where it ends just east of Macomb. Two-thirds of the way down its 45-mile length, 41 veers west for a mile or so, forming the main street of Prairie City, one of the hamlets that characterize western Illinois. […]
Posted inNews
Aldermania
Forty minutes is an eternity in Springfield City Council time. That’s how long aldermen spent Tuesday night quarreling over the first item on the evening’s debate agenda, which involved awarding a contract for residential sidewalk construction. Some aldermen wanted the contract to go to the lowest bidder (John Chernis Concrete Contractors at $126,255.25) while others […]
Posted inNews
Dream team
Don Jones had dreams of playing in the major leagues. He was a young pitcher with a good arm, and he was beginning to attract the attention of big-time scouts. But the Army had other plans, and Jones ended up in Korea. Now Jones’s 19-year-old grandson, Kyle, has similar dreams. The 19 year-old pitcher for […]
Posted inNews
The Highway Side
What you missed: Private eye Nick Acropolis is sent to McKinley by attorney Shelly Michalowski to investigate the case of a trucker charged with smuggling cocaine. A truck stop waitress hires Nick to look for her missing son. Nick then stumbles upon the trucker’s semi trailer. The police have emptied a secret compartment, but Nick […]
Posted inNews
Right time for the wrong man
Eric Zorn, the Chicago Tribune columnist who made his reputation writing about wrongly convicted prisoners, also made a hobby of coming up with different phrases to describe Debra Rienbolt. When he first wrote about her in 1998, Zorn called Rienbolt “about as useless as a witness can get, no matter what you want to prove.” […]
Posted inNews
Chemical detectives
Water Well Road is a gravelly, bumpy lane 20 miles east of Springfield. It descends from the main road connecting I-72 to Mt. Auburn, then curves behind heavy woods. Small huts mark the numerous wells that line the lane and provide the area with drinking water. Residents keep a close eye on the road because […]
Posted inNews
Prison Uprising
Last Sunday a few dozen people from the Pleasant Grove Baptist Church gathered at the Sangamon County Jail on Ninth Street. They were waiting for Enos Brents to lead them to the prison gym, where they were going to baptize 20 male inmates. Normally, visitors must remove their earrings, said Brents, the assistant superintendent for […]
Posted inNews
The Governor-in-Law
On the last week of the old year, Governor-elect Rod Blagojevich swung through the state greeting friends at rallies and meetings to celebrate his coming inauguration. But one friend curiously absent from the celebrations was the man most responsible for getting Blagojevich elected–Richard Mell, alderman of Chicago’s 33rd ward. Mell is, of course, the father […]
Posted inNews
All The King’s Men
The strains of “C.C. Rider” cut through the room, as the crowd screams and turns en masse to view the Elvis impersonator bounding into the room. On his way to the stage, Pratt waves at his fans, stops to kiss an excited middle-aged woman, and points to someone in the crowd and laughs, all under […]
Posted inNews
Trading Spaces
Perhaps it was just too good to be true. For months, the little house at 830 South College Street known as “the Space” has been home to a casual collection of worthy causes such as the Heartland Peace Center, the Springfield Green Party, and the Springfield Independent Media Center. The Space was established by the […]
