Cover Story
Big brother is watching, even in Springfield
You’re being watched. Someone is behind your screen watching every move you make: taking notes on your interests, spending habits, browsing history, where you go in the real world and anything else they can gather to fully understand who you are. Their file on you is long, detailed, and it’s for sale to the highest…
Mayor picks economic development director
Springfield Mayor Jim Langfelder has picked a career banker to become director of the city’s Office of Planning and Economic Development, a position that’s been vacant for more than a year. Lynne Wooden will start work Aug. 1. She will be paid $105,000 a year, Langfelder said, about what her predecessor Val Yazell earned before…
Inflatable rat stabbed at Staab Funeral Homes
A 15-foot-tall rat met its demise in front of a Springfield funeral home Monday. It all started when a group of union roofers were protesting outside Staab Funeral Homes, 1109 S. Fifth St. They objected to the longtime Springfield business using nonunion labor. As part of the protest, they inflated a giant rat, which is…
Editors note 7/28/22
At the Association of Alternative Newsmedia conference in Chicago last week, some sessions were almost like the old days, 40 or so years ago, when a group of us who wanted to do worldsaving journalism got together to learn from each other smart business models that might support our noble cause. It was here I…
More sheriffs join DHS lawsuit
Five sheriffs in downstate Illinois have joined Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell in a lawsuit to clear a chronic logjam of mentally ill inmates sitting in county jails for months while awaiting psychiatric treatment from the state. “It’s just not fair to the inmates,” Jeff Connor, Madison County chief deputy, told Illinois Times. “Our goal…
Good news in cap city
Bad news seems to dominate, but fortunately, there is good news worth celebrating here in the capital city. The Springfield Business Journal, sister publication to Illinois Times, recently named the 2022 Forty under 40 – outstanding men and women with highly diverse careers who are giving back to the community and helping Springfield reach its…
6th grade poem
it was common knowledge like the medes and persians were we ever even taught it? “when you read write do sums etc you should have your light coming over your left shoulder” somehow this edict came up in 6th grade and someone asked for the first time ever “why?” wow! what a fascinating discussion ensued…
Letters to the editor 7/28/22
We welcome letters. Please include your full name, address and telephone number. We edit all letters. Send them to editor@illinoistimes.com. —- UNCALLED FOR I found the article “Future doctors tour Springfield” interesting but felt the “mostly slim” description to be a little snarky and uncalled for (July 21). Dean Olsen could have said “smartly dressed,…
America has lost its way
America has lost its way, or so I worry. Can we get back on track? What do we mean by The American Way? Each of us might define it differently, though I think there are some common threads. In 1937, social commentator William Herberg gave it a shot in a lengthy paragraph, from which I…
Choosing your battles
Two of the biggest contributors to hard-core, Trump-supported candidates are not who you might guess: Gov. JB Pritzker and U.S. House Speaker Nancy Pelosi. Pritzker and his allies spent $30 million trying to help Sen. Darren Bailey, a Trump devotee, to be the Republican gubernatorial nominee. Pelosi worked hard to see that two Colorado “Make…
Miss Daisy doesn’t get old
The 1988 Pulitzer Prize for drama was awarded to a small, three-character off-Broadway play, Driving Miss Daisy, a play that still has lessons for us today. The Pulitzer Prize is awarded to distinguished work by an American author, preferably original in its source, and dealing with American life. Driving Miss Daisy premiered 35 years ago,…
Peach bounty
Years ago I was given a white peach tree as a memorial for my mother by some thoughtful colleagues. Before her death my mom, Julianne Glatz, was the original author of the Illinois Times food column, and one of my coworkers recalled that she’d once written that white peaches were one of her most favorite things.…
Downhome, Rumble Down and more
Now that was a mostly fun and seemingly speedy ride through the muggy month of July for 2022. Here we are hitting old “Jewel-Eyes” last weekend with lots of doings, so let’s take a look at the upcoming days ahead and see what’s out there to hear. We have a couple of festivals going on…
Photography contest
It’s on! Lincoln Memorial Garden’s annual photography contest has officially begun. The garden is a woodland and prairie landscape with which Abraham Lincoln would have been familiar while growing up in the Midwest. It contains plants that are native to the three states where he lived – Kentucky, Indiana and Illinois. Designed by internationally known…
Okay is a winner, Vengeance impressive, but say no to Nope
Surprising Okay one of year’s best One of the best films of the year, Quinn Shephard’s Not Okay is a vital, timely work that gives voice to a segment of the population that’s often brushed aside, their concerns so much collateral damage in the pursuit of profit. Danni Sanders (a perfect Zoey Deutch) is a…
