Cover Story
Doing battle with ‘long COVID’
The sniffles, cough and fever that accompanied Tia Wessel’s COVID-19 diagnosis were gone after a few weeks, but the rapid heartbeat, fatigue and dizziness that frightened and frustrated the 33-year-old Jacksonville resident continued for more than a year. “It was a horrible feeling,” she said. “You want to know if you’re ever going to be…
UIS faculty to vote on new contract
Unionized faculty members at University of Illinois Springfield are expected to vote in the next few days on a new four-year contract that includes pay increases each year, the union’s president says. The proposed contract settlement, which would be retroactive to August 2021 and expire in August 2025, also contains language important to faculty members…
Women for Women gives $58,000 in grants
Five local organizations are receiving a total of $58,000, thanks to the Women for Women giving circle at the Community Foundation for the Land of Lincoln. Since 2008, Women for Women members have pooled their resources to build an endowment topping $1 million and award more than $488,000 in grants to organizations that improve the…
“Winners do the work”
I’ve mentioned before that House Speaker Chris Welch has said since the day he was elected to his chamber’s top job last year that he is fully committed to protecting all of his incumbents, whether in the primary or in the general election. That wasn’t always the case with his predecessor, House Speaker Michael Madigan.…
Be curious, not judgmental
Passover, Ramadan and Lent all came to an end during the past few weeks and I’ve found myself thinking of the oddest thing: a cow. When I was about 5, a life-size statue of a cow appeared in our neighbor’s front yard. The Hereford stood a silent sentinel on Academy Street in Galesburg and left…
An “old-school” candidate in a new district
Pragmatic, bipartisan, driven. Those words are used by both Republicans and Democrats to describe Nikki Budzinski, who is seeking the Democratic nomination for the 13th Congressional District. But her friend U.S. Rep. Cheri Bustos, D-Moline, uses a different term: “old-school.” The Springfield native said Budzinski has the best-run congressional campaign in the nation. Bustos added…
Publisher’s Note 05/05/22
It’s always good for a community to recognize and encourage its artists, but it’s especially important now as the visual and performing arts struggle to recover from the pandemic. The Mayor’s Awards for the Arts was held this week for the first time since 2020, and those recognized ranged from a 15-year-old Rochester High School…
Kin of deceased inmate sue
Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell and his underlings at the county jail, as well as the company that provides medical care to inmates under contract with the sheriff’s office, are targets in a federal lawsuit filed April 28 on behalf of the estate of Jaimeson Cody, who died last year after an altercation with guards. …
Russian orphan finds a home and success on Illinois farm
Anya Irons has been digging in the dirt since she was a girl. First, in a small garden plot at the Russian orphanage where she lived until she was 15. During a 10-day sponsored stay in 2003 with the Ioerger family at their farm near Minonk, north of Bloomington, the 15-year-old’s eyes lit up upon…
Strawberry-rhubarb trifle for Mother’s Day
My family has a decades-old tradition of baking a three-dimensional lamb-shaped cake for Easter. It started when I was a kid and has become a tradition that I’ve enjoyed with my own children. We’d hold our breath each time we unmolded the three-dimensional cake, praying that he’d come out of the pan in one piece,…
WW2 Poem # 9
WW2 Poem # 9 maybe I’ve written this before but my dad was doing 2 jobs during ww2 with such a shortage of help he ran a milk route from 3 am then returned to manage the details of a fifty person farm one day his ultra zealous herdsman came to…
Play the May music
As we begin our romp through all the live, local music in the first full weekend of May, be prepared to make some tough decisions. Isn’t it just too bad there is so much to do and so many music events, that you, my friend, aren’t going to be able to experience them all? But…
Letters to the editor 05-05-22
WRONG TENANTS I don’t support having the Myers Brothers Building turned into below-market rental units (“Downtown redevelopment project gets dicey,” April 28). This would not bring in the type of tenants we need to revitalize downtown. Kudos to the city for objecting to this kind of development. Dennis Canaday Via Facebook.com/illinoistimes NO ONE WANTS OFFICES…
Cinco de Mayo sipping
Tequila and I have had a somewhat complicated history. In fact, there was a time when even the very thought of having any made me ill. Since then, however, I’ve discovered that there’s a lot more to tequila than margaritas, lemons and salt. And that there are many, many kinds of tequila out there beyond…
Dr. Strange falls short, The Duke is charming, Banner of Heaven is ambitious
Strange lacks magic There’s something amiss in the Marvel Films Universe. After setting box office records with 2019’s Avengers: Endgame, the culmination of their three-phase, 22-movie plan to conquer the international cinematic landscape, they’ve stumbled badly with their Phase 4 entries, delivering one worthy entry (Shang-Chi) and two lackluster features (Black Widow, The Eternals). Their…
