Cover Story
A Ukrainian refugee at UIS
Chase Wilhelm thinks of Ignat Striletskyi’s journey, which brought the 18-year-old from Ukraine to Springfield shortly after the Russian invasion in February, as a piece of fabric that a higher power must have helped create. “It’s a mystery of God,” said Wilhelm, 38, a Montgomery County resident, state worker and ordained Disciples of Christ minister.…
Two awarded Stand Together Scholarships
Olivia Hickman is a first-year student at Lincoln Land Community College (LLCC). She aspires to be a radiologist. Jasmine Tyler is a second-year LLCC student, studying to be a nurse. Both are working towards their dreams at LLCC, thanks to a full-ride Stand Together Scholarship, established by Tara McClellan McAndrew, Julie Krehbiel and Amy Tarr.…
Pickle your green tomatoes
As I write this column, the first day of fall is just a couple days away, yet it’s still feeling like summer. The afternoon temperature has climbed into the 90s and the tomato vines are still bearing fruit, but I know that somewhere around the corner, a killing frost is coming. According to the National…
Music down the tracks
So here we go, busting off the rails through the final days of September 2022 into the beginning of October with a fun-filled, split weekend with plenty of live music to bring it all home. We can hop aboard the gig train (it’s on time) for the weekend and catch a couple of cool acts…
Bros is too preachy, Blonde too exploitive, Good House is solid
Bros preaching almost undoes comedy I wanted to like Bros more than I did. Don’t get me wrong – it is funny, it is timely and it effectively hits all the expected rom-com beats. Yet, there’s a preachy tone to it that’s a bit off putting, a finger-wagging approach that kept me from fully enjoying…
Illinois labor amendment on the ballot in November
Illinois voters will decide in November whether to amend the state constitution to make it easier for labor unions to maintain membership and to protect benefits of workers who are mostly employed by local and state governments. “The big, big issue is what it does for the public-sector unions; it basically enshrines all their powers…
Editor’s note 09-29-22
Great adventures in proofreading was the subject matter of Benjamin Dreyer’s essay, “My Life in Error,” in the Sept. 25 New York Times Book Review. He wrote of the satisfaction of changing “lead” when the writer meant “led,” and the horror of finding a typo in a finished book he had proofed. I can relate.…
Monarchs and the Mother Road
Springfield is proud of its connection to Route 66, which attracts tourists from all over the globe. The Illinois State Fairgrounds is the only state fairgrounds located along the 2,448-mile Route 66 highway. Springfield intends to take maximum advantage of this claim to fame, well in advance of the upcoming centennial of the Mother Road…
Good grief
We live in a society that denies death. That is the observation of Dee Stern, a chaplain at HSHS St. John’s Hospital, who recently wrote a book on grief. The book, Comforting the Bereaved Through Listening and Positive Responding; What are the Bereaved Trying to Tell Us?, was recently published by Archway Books. Folks often…
Letters to the editor 09-29-22
GOOD EXPLANATION I have read various articles surrounding the end of cash bail. The article in this week’s Illinois Times may be the clearest explanation of where the law stands, its goals and what has been and is being done to make it more workable (“What happens when cash bail ends?” Sept. 22). In a…
Dan Proft’s propaganda papers linked to Daily Herald
Far-right activist Dan Proft has proved time and time again that he is very effective at calling attention to himself and getting under Gov. JB Pritzker’s skin in the worst way. Proft’s newspapers have, for instance, published several articles with photos of Pritzker’s daughter. Sometimes the stories were wrong, like when a false claim was…
Exonerating the innocent
Every once in a while, you meet someone who changes the trajectory of your life. For me, that person was Darrel Parker, a gentle, kind man who worked in the Moline Parks Department. Back in the early 1990s, I just had begun covering Moline City Hall and a friend told me that Parker was a…
