City snatches up properties before public auction
Just days before they were scheduled for public auction, 41 properties with delinquent taxes were bought up by the City of Springfield. Sangamon County assistant treasurer Mark Crawford says the city exercised its right as a taxing district to purchase a long list of properties in Springfield for which property taxes have not been paid…
Prairie master
Not only is Dan Guillory a former university English professor with eight books to his credit, including The Lincoln Poems, but he’s truly one of central Illinois’ best contemporary poets, and…a nice guy. Meet the author after he reads from his new book Housepoems, the poetry of life in our neck of the prairie. Seating…
Colossal street party
The Decatur Celebration Rocks the Big One commemorating its 25th anniversary. There’s music for any taste, games and rides for all ages, arts and crafts galore and food for all palates. This party is like a mini state fair. New this year are crispy cones filled with barbecue chicken, pirogue – a combination of shrimp…
BEER WITH YOUR DINNER?
A good beer is always a welcome treat, and the right beer can really set off a meal. This Sunday at Sebastian’s Hideout restaurant in Springfield, beer is the main ingredient on the menu. The restaurant is hosting a special five-course dinner, with a tasty brew chosen specially to accompany each dish. The dinner starts…
Letters to the Editor 8/05/10
PUPPY LOVEThanks for the wonderful article on the wonderful work that Wade Kammin is accomplishing [see “Sit, stay, go,” July 29]. Being a puppy raiser is a task much like raising a child. You’re “on call” 24/7 for the entire time the puppy is with you. Wade is to be commended for taking this task…
Zydeco a-go-go
Few types of American folk music are as full of zest and zing as the Louisiana-based sounds of Zydeco. Built around the accordion with often just a rub board or washboard accompaniment, the simple chordal arrangements are overlaid with complex rhythms and melodic stylings to form a type of music indigent to southern Louisiana and…
Shakeup in juvenile justice
Three weeks after the director of the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice announced his resignation, two different studies are calling for major changes in the troubled agency’s operations. Kurt Friedenauer announced his resignation as IDJJ director on July 14, having served in that position since the department’s creation in 2006. Friedenauer oversaw IDJJ’s slow separation…
This is the village it takes
On a quiet street in Rantoul sits a small neighborhood of 15 nondescript duplex houses, part of a larger subdivision built decades ago to house the families of pilots and workers at the now-closed Chanute Air Force Base. Although it’s impossible to tell just by looking, something remarkable is happening here: adopted kids from troubled…
Reggie Britton and the Sofa Kings
What do you get when you take a fired-up blues band of veteran rockers, add a tastefully sweet horn section of exceptionally talented players, then top it off with a vibrant, soulful front man entertainer? A really good band called Reggie Britton and the Sofa Kings, that’s what. In the beginning, Britton, drummer and vocalist…
20th century customs
Costumed actors reenact the funeral service for Lawrence Joergen-Dahl, Susan Lawrence Dana’s second of three husbands, in the Dana-Thomas House gallery at three different times both Saturday and Sunday. Observe the funeral customs from the early 1900s, including several from Mr. Joergen-Dahl’s home country of Denmark. Also included in the ceremony will be several funeral…
Medicine meets literature
A humorous quote by author and physician Anton Chekhov is on the introduction page to SCOPE, SIU School of Medicine’s 17th annual literary magazine: “Medicine is my lawful wife and literature my mistress; when I get tired of one, I spend the night with the other.” With the caliber of work found in this year’s…
The joy of helping others
Hope Meadows has received numerous awards for its innovative approach to adoption and volunteerism, including the AARP Inspire Award, the Illinois Governor’s Home Town Award and the Adoption Excellence Award from the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. The program has also received nationwide attention in the media, being featured in the New York…
Longwall mining damages land near Hillsboro
Peggy Klaus stands next to what was once a road that formed the path between farms outside of Litchfield. The retired Carlinville schoolteacher remembers the day in 1990 that the road was closed, the damage done to it making it unusable. She remembers drivers having to turn around to deal with the sudden loss of…
BIG BONANZA A BIG DEAL
Springfield resident Blair Dial has made a monster pizza that just might win her a monster prize. Dial is a one of three finalists in the Papa John’s Pizza Challenge, a contest to create the best pizza, and his “Big Bonanza” pizza is on sale right now at Papa John’s shops nationwide. The Big Bonanza…
Watchdogs flee Springfield
George Ryan, Rod Blagojevich, Pat Quinn and potentially Bill Brady. The Statehouse press corps has watched them all, but with each new governor fewer and fewer eyes make up the group of journalists in the Capitol who observe, investigate and report on Illinois government and the General Assembly. That trend might have continued, as the…
Soulful rockin’
Southern crooner Taylor Hicks entertains with a large X-factor of soul and humility wrapped up in hints of sweet blues and classic rock sounds. This brought all ages aboard to propel him to a first place finish on American Idol in 2006 when most thought the gray-haired twenty-something, who looked older than the part, would…
Slower than a speeding bullet
Illinoisans often feel like a space traveler who, having intercepted the TV signals that escaped from Earth a generation ago, sees the past when it was still the present. On July 20, authorities announced a further step in the development of Illinois’ slightly faster passenger rail corridor. Some 90 miles of tracks from roughly Alton…
Selling sustainability
These days, going “green” sells, and Springfield companies should be taking advantage of that. That’s what area business representatives heard last week as they attended an unveiling of the Springfield Green Business Network. The SGBN, which is working to obtain nonprofit status, is seeking members to help support its goal of bringing businesses and the…
A long but satisfying Dinner
The news came out last week that Steve Carell is leaving his hit television show The Office after seven years. While the program won’t be the same without him, this is a good move on the actor’s part to leave while it’s still going strong and will free him up to do more film work.…
Our Illinois road trip to Springfield
Affordable family fun. Like many American families in this economy, that’s what we were looking for this summer. Little did I expect that our journey would begin in our 9-year-old son’s classroom. This spring, third graders at West School in Glencoe took an “Illinois Road Trip” as part of their social studies curriculum. Without leaving…
Mole verde (Green mole)
1 lb. fresh tomatillos, husked and washed 1 poblano chile 4 garlic cloves, peeled 1 medium white onion, coarsely chopped 1 handful EACH flat-leafed parsley and cilantro, or use all cilantro 1/2 c. water 1 T. masa harina 2 T. unhydrogentated lard, bacon fat, or butter (*See note below.) salt and sugar to taste Heat…
Charlie too much of a weeper
Sometimes you end up wanting to like a movie more than you should and such is the case with Charlie St. Cloud. This tearjerker from director Burr Steers is as subtle as a sledgehammer as it attempts to move us with each of its shameless plot points. It isn’t shy in the way in which…
Truth and irony in agriculture fiascos
The Shirley Sherrod Story started innocently. It was a beautiful anecdote of redemption and personal growth, which she related last year at a meeting of the Georgia NAACP. The story told by this black Agriculture Department official would have ended there, unnoticed by the rest of us. But it was caught up by a malicious…
Memories of a Tamale Queen
It began with a call from a longtime friend, Sangamo Club general manager David Radwine. The Sangamo Club was hosting the 1995 Hope School Celebrity Chef Benefit. Rick Bayless, chef/owner of Chicago’s Frontera Grill and Topolobampo was the celebrity chef, but the SC was responsible for the first course: did I have any ideas? I…
Fresh corn tamales
I used traditional dried corn husks for the Hope School Benefit, but since then have discovered that fresh corn leaves and husks are even better – and easier. 24 fresh corn leaves OR the fresh outer husks of sweet corn, washed and dried. 1 fresh poblano chile 8 T. 1 T. unhydrogenated lard OR unsalted…
Painting by the numbers
For about two weeks last month, a group of painters protested outside the President Abraham Lincoln Hotel and Conference Center in downtown Springfield as a small crew worked to update the look of 316 guest rooms. The picket line, made up of a handful of members of the International Union of Painters and Allied Trades,…
Polls don’t look good for Pat
Gov. Pat Quinn was in rare form last week as he attacked state Sen. Bill Brady before his Republican opponent had a chance to get his own licks in. Quinn was put in an extremely awkward position by his budget director, who indicated to an out-of-state reporter that the state’s income taxes would be increased…
Bird spectacle
Want to hang out with a huge spectacle of a tiny bird that fascinates so many? Join in the Hummingbird Festival where Illinois Audubon Society members will teach you how to welcome these creatures into your backyard. You can also gaze upon the Sangamon River Audubon Society members’ hummingbird feeders and observe the inspection and…
