City hires finance director for CWLP
Ken Crutcher, who worked as city finance director under former Mayor Tim Davlin, has been hired as finance director for City Water, Light and Power. “Ken specializes in finance, legal and administration,” Mayor Jim Langfelder wrote in Friday email to aldermen announcing that Crutcher had been hired. “We are bringing Mr. Crutcher on to integrate…
Finally, a use for the Armory
In next week’s installment of Dyspepsiana, I argue that a nice way to mark the State of Illinois’ 200th anniversary in 2018 would be to restore the memorial it built to celebrate the commonwealth’s first one hundred years — the Centennial Building, a.k.a. the Howlett Building, on Second Street. Objections will be raised because of the cost.…
Coup in battle over ballot access
A candidate for the U.S. House seat covering Springfield scored a coup today as he attempts to get the state’s signature requirements for ballot access struck down. U.S. District Judge Sue Myerscough today granted David Gill of Bloomington a preliminary injunction against the Illinois State Board of Elections, preventing the board from enforcing the signature…
2016 fall calendar
Disney on Ice: Dare to Dream Sep 15-18, 7pm Thu-Fri; 11am, 3pm, 7pm Sat; 1pm, 5pm Sun. Hosts Mickey Mouse and Minnie Mouse share the heroic stories of Rapunzel, Snow White, Princess Tiana and Cinderella. $17-45. springfieldpc3.com. Prairie Capital Convent August Washington Park Historic Photography DisplayAug 25-Sep 4, 12-4pm Mon-Fri, 12-5pm Sat-Sun. Annual photo display…
Religious freedom in Montgomery County
In “Get right or get out” I recalled episodes from Illinois’ recent past in which fearful Illinoisans confronted the Other. I mentioned an incident in Litchfield involving Jehovah’s Witnesses. Here are the details. After World War II, paranoid fantasies of subversion and revolution focused on new sets of exotic newcomers. Because they put loyalty to…
Muddled Execution Hobbles “Hur”
It’s a testament to the novel by Lew Wallace that the power of Ben-Hur cannot be completely obscured by shoddy filmmaking. That was my take away after sitting through the sixth screen version of the biblical epic, an adaptation that shifts the focus of the story and delivers its message with the subtlety of a…
Alvarez and Lang Respond to the Challenges of “Don’t Breathe”
Having helmed a remake of Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead which was greeted with either great derision or unbridled admiration, director Fede Alvarez decided he would take his time before embarking on his next movie. Not consciously seeking inspiration, it came to him when he and his friend screenwriter Rodo Sayagues were spit-balling ideas while…
Getting it right this time
Note: The text departs slightly from the original published version, having been slightly improved for readability. Yes, I know – who feels like celebrating the state of Illinois? The commonwealth will be 200 years old in 2018, and no one in state government seems prepared to party. As our Erika Holst recently reminded us [see…
Donnie’s little lies are huuuuuge
Jim Hightower PHOTO BY LARRY D. MOORE An old saying asserts that falsehoods come in three escalating levels: “Lies, damn lies and statistics.” Now, however, we’ve been given an even higher level of intentional deception: Policy speeches by Donald Trump. Take his recent highly publicized address outlining specific economic policies he would push to benefit…
Bradley’s TV ad reminiscent of ‘Willie Horton’ ad
PHOTO BY ALAN SOLOMON/TNS Gov. Bruce Rauner announced early last year that he wants the state to reduce its prison population by 25 percent over 10 years. He has since signed numerous pieces of legislation during the past year or so to help achieve that goal, including recently, when he signed the marijuana decriminalization bill…
Letters to the Editor 8/25/16
PREPARE FOR CIVIC DUTYWe’re about eleven weeks out from the Presidential elections. Are you on top of the issues and concerns you’ll address with the pull of a lever or the punch of a stylus on November 8? If not, here are 10 ways to prepare for your civic duty in national, state and…
Editor’s note 8/25/16
It looks like Tammy Duckworth is going to be our next U.S. senator, so we’d better start getting to know her. Sen. Mark Kirk’s ads against Duckworth are so shrill as to be unconvincing. Nobody believes Duckworth, the military veteran, is blind to national security concerns, but we don’t really know what she’s like or…
Can It Can’t Happen Here happen here?
In 1935, It Can’t Happen Here, by Sinclair Lewis, was published. Lewis tells the story of how a populist demagogue with strong authoritarian leanings becomes president and eventually a dictator. Some parallels to this year’s presidential election campaign are striking. Written as fascism was taking hold of Germany and Italy, the novel served as a…
Unscripted, live comedy
The Portuguese Rodeo Clown Company is on a mission to “make America laugh again.” Help them achieve their goal by attending one or both of their two-hour performances Aug. 26-27, at 8 p.m., in the Club Room of the Hoogland Center for the Arts. The Portuguese Rodeo Clown Company is a five-person improvisational comedy troupe…
Play rugby this fall
The Springfield Celts Rugby Football Clubs are gearing up for their fall seasons, and you could be part of the action. The Springfield Celts Rugby Football Club was initially established as a men’s team in 1975. The organization expanded to include a high school boys’ rugby team in 2010 and a women’s team in 2015.…
Shaggedy Ann
PHOTO COURTESY AMY ALKON Amy Alkon When I was in my 20s watching “Sex and the City,” I saw the Samantha Jones character as a sexual role model – thinking I could have love-‘em-and-leave-‘em sex like her. However, even when I only wanted sex, I always had a sense of loss when one-nighters didn’t evolve…
For Rt. 66 nostalgia, visit Atlanta
For a quick fix to get your kicks on 66, pile the family or friends into the coupe and head north to Atlanta, Illinois. Fewer than 50 miles from Springfield, Atlanta is chock full of enough Mother Road memorabilia to make your own memories. You can snap a photo under a 19-foot, hot dog-holding Paul…
Farm history at Ryan’s Round Barn
One of the loveliest places I’ve been in some time is Ryan’s Round Barn. Located six miles from Kewanee on Route 78, the barn is about two hours north of Springfield, near the entrance to Johnson’s Sauk Trail State Recreation Area. It’s a surprise in the midst of an Illinois state park. The park offers…
The stages of fall
A Gentleman’s Guide to Love and Murder is at the Fox Theatre in St. Louis Sept. 13-25. PHOTO COURTESY FOX THEATER At the Hoogland Center for the Arts, classics abound. First though is A Letter to Heaven, an encore presentation of an original gospel play by local playwright Donna Jefferson about a cancer patient’s spiritual…
Tune in to fall
As the echoes of summer fade, autumn brings its own tune. There’s plenty of excellent live music in Springfield this time of year, from thrilling a cappella to the soulful oldies. Here’s the skinny on shows at some of Springfield’s biggest and most unique venues. The Classic Nashville Roadshow brings all the twang of Johnny…
Cocktails for fall
When it comes to cocktails, fall is a tweener season. Not too hot, not too cold, autumn demands beverages that can, at once, warm and refresh the palate. It’s a time to get reacquainted with liquors of color after a summer spent guzzling gin and sundry frozen concoctions. The deeper you go in the season,…
Sword play
Many are attracted to the sport of fencing by the love of sword play. Once you pick up a foil, your life will never be the same. Joanne Liu, who has been fencing for more than 20 years, took up the sport in high school and discovered she had a natural talent for it. “It’s…
Rauner signs criminal justice reforms
Gov. Bruce Rauner signed a suite of bills into law this week focused on criminal justice reforms, including one which limits how much prisoners pay for phone calls. The laws come as Rauner seeks a 25-percent reduction in Illinois’ prison population by 2025. The signing of the bills coincides with the release of a new…
ZZ Top returns to Springfield
For ZZ Top, Oct. 23, 2013, was, in part, the measuring stick for last Sunday’s grandstand show to close the state fair. It was barely three years ago that the three-same-guys-three-same-chords (just two beards) played at University of Illinois Springfield in the fall of 2013. Would they bring the same show? And how would they…
HALFWAY HOUSE WINS APPEAL
Illinois has a serious lack of transitional housing for people reintegrating into society after prison, but where to put such housing raises its own concerns. An adult transitional house in Springfield won an appeal this month over its zoning, but the case isn’t resolved yet. In April 2014, Calvin Jones of Springfield asked the city…
SENIOR SAFETY
Our limits change as we age, and when it comes to driving, minding those limits can mean the difference between life and death. The AARP Driver Safety Class is aimed at drivers over age 50, and it’s coming to Springfield on Aug. 30 and 31. Hosted by Staab Funeral Home and the office of Sangamon…
Don’t Breathe is a thrilling, fun house ride
Having employed a ferociously violent aesthetic in rebooting Sam Raimi’s The Evil Dead (2013), director Fede Alvarez takes a decidedly different approach with Don’t Breathe, an intriguing siege thriller that capitalizes on effective moments of suspense rather than the usual horror tropes to get audiences creeping towards the edge of their seats. Running a taut…
Fests and the rest
Here we go to that special place in time between the state fair whirlwind and Labor Day weekend, on the cusp where summer meets the fall. The Old Capitol Blues and BBQ festival, voted the best fest in town several times by readers of Illinois Times in the “Best of Springfield” contest (By the way,…
Pat Travers Band
Known for decades as one of the premier rock guitarists of a generation, Pat Travers has done it all and just keeps doing it. Best known to the masses as the hit maker of “Boom Boom (Out Go The Lights)” and “Snortin’ Whiskey,” Travers made it big time in the early-to-mid 80s. He toured many…
Pod people
CARTOON BY JEN SORENSON
Olive you
It seems the apple doesn’t fall far from the tree in our family. My daughter has loved olives since she was a baby. The only time I ever had to simply abandon my shopping cart and remove my wailing child from the grocery store was over olives at the olive bar. I have to monitor…
summer poem # 19
we visited the ben and jerry factorynear our vermont cottage a popularstop for tourists and locals alike a little kid tipped his cone the pink ball of ice cream flew out I caughtit in myunhygienic hand slapped it back intohis cone before he got outthe wailrising in his anguished throat he gazedat his treat hiccuppedas…
