State Representative Mary O’Brien, a Democrat from Watseka, chairs the Illinois House committee on criminal justice. Given the Democratic Party’s takeover of Springfield and her own landslide reelection in November (she received 70 percent of the vote), you might suspect O’Brien and seven committee members passed a bill to abolish the death penalty last Friday […]
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Sins of omission
The only racism in the Springfield Police Department is reverse racism–the kind where blacks get better treatment than whites. That’s one of the conclusions reached by the Peoria law firm Husch & Eppenberger, which was hired last November to investigate the Springfield Police Department’s handling of two cases involving black officers. The firm’s 99-page report […]
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Mayor Davlin’s right-hand woman
The revolution is manifest in the decor of the spacious corner office overlooking Monroe Street. The centerpiece is a rocking chair on a colorful rug. The credenza holds a handmade pottery tea service. A trio of colorful papier mache birds perches on the window sill. And the bookshelf brims with volumes by Maya Angelou, Alice […]
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Why Andy Won’t Die
The homemade flyers appear all around town like a tragic folk art series. Some feature a snapshot of three smiling boys–a young father holding his two little sons. Some feature a morbid photo of that same father, bruised and bleeding, sustained by a ventilator and IVs. The text below the picture is always something sensational […]
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Don’t walk this way
In 1998 Terry Moore purchased a home in Lake Forest Estates, a new subdivision in the southeastern part of town. One day on a walk around the block, he came to a corner and stopped. Instead of finding a sidewalk leading to the street, he was left standing before only a stretch of grass. After […]
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Bottoms up for Tony Libri
So it’s Wednesday night and you’re flipping around the TV channels looking for something–anything!–worth watching, and there on cable access channel four is Republican mayoral contender, Tony Libri. Ah, let’s see what Libri’s talking about tonight. Is it economic development? Neighborhood revitalization? How to solve all the problems at the police department? No. As it […]
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No Child Left Unrecruited
The Iraqi Peace Coalition, which is considering a name change so it can take on more issues, wants Springfield parents to know that the U.S. military is interested in their children. “The No Child Left Behind Act requires high schools to provide the name, address, and phone numbers of all juniors and seniors to the […]
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Death of a Killing Machine
Overshadowed here by legislative debate over possible death-penalty reforms, a milestone in the history of the American death penalty has been sneaking up on us. Nebraska’s legislators are expected to vote this spring to quit using the electric chair, sanctioning a switch to lethal injection as the state’s execution method of choice. Nebraska will be […]
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Homeless in winter
The homeless are often called “lazy” or “crazy.” Writer John Jermaine spent last weekend in the freezing cold, talking to homeless people as they tried to stay warm. He says there is no one type. “I have discovered men who defended this country, people who do volunteer work, and those driven to the streets by […]
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The Eastside speaks
The new mayor will have his hands full. The police department and the self-insurance fund will be immediate concerns. But what about the Eastside of Springfield? A recent city-funded study outlined many of the problems there, including sections of urban decay comparable to the worst parts of Chicago. Between 14th and Dirksen, Cook and South […]
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Found and lost
For archaeologist Robert Mazrim, director of the Sangamo Archaeological Center in Elkhart, last weekend’s dig in downtown Springfield was simply another revelation of Illinois’ all-but-forgotten prairie past. But for city historians Curtis Mann and Linda Garvert, every turn of the trowel was nothing less than a miracle. The site was Second and Jefferson streets, the […]
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Electric shock
Long plagued by malfunctions, fines, and shutdowns, the Clinton Nuclear Power Plant petitioned the U.S. Nuclear Regulatory Commission last year to increase its generating capacity by 20 percent. But more surprising, its owners have asked the NRC to approve plans to build a new advanced reactor at the site, which is located about 45 miles […]
