The 411 on 911
Untitled Document Ward 6 Ald. Mark Mahoney has repeatedly reported his constituents’ complaints about the Sangamon County 911 Dispatch Center, and this week his persistence finally paid off. He raised the issue with Ralph Caldwell, chief of the Springfield Police Department, at last week’s City Council meeting and again with Robert Williams, new…
Saving a block
Untitled Document When Tim Cunningham tended the yard of the Vachel Lindsay Home, he spotted all sorts of people. Some days the governor would jog by, security detail in tow; other times panhandlers would accost Cunningham as he mowed the lawn. Working at the Lindsay Home taught Cunningham, a student at Southern Illinois University-Edwardsville, a…
Ripple effect
Untitled Document A steak dinner, a cold beer, a tank of gas, a bowl of cornflakes. Prices on these items and others are rising, all in the quest to produce more ethanol, the corn-based product touted as a way to reduce dependence on foreign oil and lessen the impact of global warming. America has embraced…
Lie down, stand up
Untitled Document Local concerned mothers and other residents say that it’s too easy to obtain handguns in the United States — and they don’t like it. The Illinois Council Against Handgun Violence will stage a civil protest at noon on Tuesday, Aug. 28, at the Municipal Center walkway and fountain to raise awareness of lax…
Crisis of credibility
As one of five employees who filed discrimination lawsuits against the Illinois Department of Natural Resources between 2002 and 2005, Kelvin Coburn once turned to the Illinois Association of Minorities in Government for assistance. But as a result of recent turmoil, including what he calls a media war between former IAMG executive director Roy Williams…
Democrats cave again
Untitled Document Once upon a time, America had a strong president who reassured the American people that they had nothing to fear but fear itself. Now we have a weak president who tells us that we must be fearful of all things all the time. He uses fear as a political pump to inflate his…
Relieved of duty
Untitled Document An Illinois State Police agent who narrowly avoided indictment in 2005 has been relieved of duty and is currently under investigation in a tangentially related criminal matter, Illinois Times has learned. According to an e-mail sent throughout the agency by ISP Director Larry Trent, Special Agent Cynthia Robbins was placed on…
Peru’s tragedy
Untitled Document Last week’s 8.0-magnitude earthquake in Peru flattened buildings and killed hundreds of citizens, but La Oroya was mostly spared from disaster, says Sister Mila Díaz Solano. Díaz Solano, who was featured in a recent article about a deadly lead smelter in La Oroya [see Amanda Robert, “Sisters to the rescue,” Aug.…
Priceless
Untitled Document W hen it comes to domestic issues that pit the interests of large corporations against those of ordinary Americans, few equal the exploding crisis in consumer debt — yet with the exception of former U.S. Sen. John Edwards none of the leading presidential contenders in either party has made this a serious campaign…
Democrats cave again
Untitled Document Once upon a time, America had a strong president who reassured the American people that they had nothing to fear but fear itself. Now we have a weak president who tells us that we must be fearful of all things all the time. He uses fear as a political pump to inflate his…
Off the table
Untitled Document Piatt County will not become home to a 45,000-square-foot white corn processing plant after all. Last week, Clarkson Grain, one of the firms involved — Molinero Inc., headquartered in Chicago, would be the primary occupant — withdrew its application for a permit to build the factory where masa, an ingredient in…
The courageous thing to do in Iraq
Untitled Document The U.S. strategy in Iraq is failing, and it is time for something new. Withdrawing American troops would not leave the vacuum that many suppose or the consequent bloodbath they fear. Getting the United States out would open the door for two other powerful groups to enter and lead the peacemaking effort. One…
Energy hogs
Untitled Document Yuanhui Zhang knew that some people would pooh-pooh his research proposal to take the stink out of hog manure 11 years ago. He’s heard every joke and pun in the book, but Zhang is able to keep his sense of humor, partly because he realizes that the potential value of his research goes…
Twice burned
Anyone who met Aidah Mahmood would instantly realize that she had sustained a horrible injury. Her arms and legs exhibited the peculiar topography of skin grafts; her hands were oddly gnarled, her ears unnaturally small. If anyone dared ask what caused these deformities, she would explain that her father had tried to kill her by…
A matter of timing
Aidah Mahmood’s e-mails were easy to ignore. The first one, on May 28, was a single rambling paragraph into which she had condensed an incredible horror story about being set on fire by her relatives. Full of desperate pleas (“Please Help Me”), random details (“thorny sticker bushes”), and quirky spellings (“herendis crime”), it came with…
