News

Pamela Franks, owner of Playful Steps Child Care, has been taking care of low-income children and their families in her Springfield home for more than 30 years. Franks has a bachelor’s degree in social work and a master’s degree in early childhood education, and she’s made child care her career. Now, she takes care of […]

Plans for a $500 million data center to be built by Dallas-based CyrusOne in rural southwest Sangamon County could receive final zoning votes from county officials later this month and in March. A public hearing on CyrusOne’s plan to build a 636-megawatt data center complex covering 1.4 million square feet on 230 acres of farm […]

For the first time in five years, certain forms of student loan forgiveness will be taxable following a change in federal tax policy this year. This comes after a provision of the American Rescue Plan Act expired Dec. 31. That measure, signed into law in 2021 by former President Joe Biden, temporarily excluded student loan debt from […]

A woman who almost lost her life because of a crash caused by Michael Egan said the 90-day jail sentence he received Jan. 30 for drunken driving was too lenient, but because of the criminal justice system’s inherent bias toward police, not surprising. “Unfortunately, I was expecting him to skate out easy because he’s a […]

A Sangamon County judge on Jan. 29 gave former sheriff’s deputy Sean Grayson the maximum sentence – 20 years in prison – for the July 2024 murder of Sonya Massey, culminating a nationally publicized case that led to ongoing discussions and action locally to bridge racial divides. A cheer went up in the courtroom and […]

The woman appointed as the new Sangamon County sheriff in the wake of the July 2024 murder of Sonya Massey says her experience, education and determination make her worthy of being elected to a four-year term. “I just feel like we started moving in the right direction for improvements,” Paula Crouch told Illinois Times when […]

The Springfield Public Schools District 186 Board of Education has recommended Terrance Jordan to serve as the next superintendent, succeeding Jennifer Gill. He joined District administration in 2021 and currently serves as the assistant superintendent of family, community and school leadership. Gill announced at the Aug. 18 school board meeting that she would retire June […]

New work requirements for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program go into effect Feb. 1, threatening benefits for hundreds of thousands of Illinoisians. Adults aged 18 to 64 without dependents under age 14 will be required to work, participate in SNAP Employment and Training programs or volunteer for at least 80 hours per month to receive […]

Illinois will receive $193 million for each of the next five years to expand health care access for the approximately 1.9 million people in rural areas — or about $101 annually for every rural Illinoisan. The money comes from the $50 billion federal Rural Healthcare Transformation Program fund, which Congress created to offset federal Medicaid […]

Some progress has been made to address ongoing safety and hygiene complaints from residents at Sangamon Towers, 424 N. Fourth St., U.S. Rep. Nikki Budzinski said at a Jan. 26 press conference in the capital city. Budzinski, who flipped Illinois’ 13th congressional district for Democrats just over two years ago, said Pacific Management, the company […]

Kroger and SSI Services, an Indianapolis-based contractor, agreed to pay the state of Illinois $108,000 over unsafe renovations to the Kroger grocery store in Taylorville, 201 E. Bidwell St., in order to settle a suit filed by Illinois Attorney General Kwame Raoul in 2022. The suit, which was filed in Christian County court, alleged five […]