Cover Story
Fall Home & Garden 2021
While things have started to reopen, the extra time we spent at home last year made us more aware of improvements needed both inside and outside our homes. Extending our living space outdoors has become popular, especially with more entertaining and family gatherings now taking place outside. Urban rewilding is also a growing trend, as…
Letters to the editor 09-16-21
STILL A READER Thanks for Scott Reeder’s piece on the State Journal-Register and how its functions have been scattered to the four winds as a sacrifice to the money gods (“State Journal-Register building up for auction,” Sept. 9). Although the SJ-R staff is stretched thin, it is still strong enough to produce some decent local…
Hometown sweet home
I couldn’t wait to leave Springfield. Cloaked in palpable angst and ready to throw my graduation money toward an apartment anywhere else, I loaded up a haphazard Jeep and moved in 2008 before I solidified a plan. At 18 years old, Springfield was the obvious villain, the cause of a problem I couldn’t pinpoint. And…
For those trying to understand homelessness
The headline, “How did these women get this way?,” (IT Sept. 2) evoked my cu riosity (as an author of multiple books on homelessness) about both this book, The Least Among Us, by James Traveler, and what Len Naumovich, the reviewer, thought. As an Illinois woman with a long history in advocacy and providing services…
Urban rewilding
Butterflies drift lazily over the gardens, bees hum while pollinating flowers and birds feed on petals and at a feeder while the sweet smells of milkweed blossoms drift through an open window – these are the joys of front yard rewilding. Rewilding is an environmental effort involving the repair of damaged and degraded ecosystems and…
Armyworms invade Sangamon County
Patches of brown grass are visible in yards all over Sangamon County, and they get larger every day. This area is experiencing an infestation of fall armyworms. Jack Robertson, owner of Robertson Lawn Care, 3441 Constitution Dr., says in his 45 years in business he hasn’t seen this problem here. Armyworms aren’t really worms; they…
Extend your living space outside
If you find yourself daydreaming about practically living outdoors next summer so that you don’t miss a moment of sunshine, then you also need to be dreaming about what your outdoor living space will look like. It can range from a fire pit to a full kitchen with a wine cooler, fireplace and furniture. Patty…
Don’t let Halloween haunt you later
When our family first moved to Springfield, we were greeted by amazing neighbors who, seconds after introducing themselves, informed us that we had bought a house on the most popular street in town for trick-or-treating. Each Halloween, our entire block of Glenwood Avenue is barricaded off to accommodate hundreds of trick-or-treaters, and we were advised…
Weeknight family dinners
Recently, there was a meme floating around on social media that said, “School is back in session, so we can eat dinner at 4 p.m. or 9 p.m.”. As a parent of three children, two of whom are involved in multiple extracurricular activities, this simple sentence resonated deeply with me. When it comes to meal planning,…
The devil comes to Illinois
Jake Brosky, the crack detective for the St. Louis World, is back in Taylor Pensoneau’s third novel, Devil on the Prairie. Set primarily in Illinois, this is the third novel in Pensoneau’s trilogy. The fictional story is infused with historical events and actual places from small towns in Illinois to the streets of Paris, hotels…
“No bans, no bounties”
Kodi Smith, a 22-year-old paramedic student from Taylorville, joined a protest outside the federal courthouse in Springfield on Sept. 10. The demonstrators were speaking out against a major win for anti-abortion advocates – the ban in Texas that makes it next to impossible for those seeking abortions to do so legally in the state. “I…
September bounty
September is prime season at farmers markets across the Midwest. School may be back in session and the leaves beginning to show a slight hint of ochre, but for farmers and gardeners this is the time when the bulk of summer produce is at its peak. While it’s true that sweet corn and peaches are…
Council approves hotel tax hike
All Springfield hotels will see a 1% tax increase under a number of ordinances passed by the Springfield city council last week and effective immediately. As a result, the sports complex planned for the land near Scheels along South MacArthur Boulevard will benefit from an estimated $30 million to $35 million in tax rebates. The…
Science is for the birds. And the planet.
I am not a scientist nor a lab technician, yet here I was on a Sunday afternoon filling test tubes in the laboratory at the Nipper Wildlife Sanctuary nature center. My interest in the natural environment is deep, but rather than delving into the technicalities of environmental science, I have typically sought the 19th century-type…
Jesse Sullivan enters governor’s race
Jesse who? He’s raised how much? Is there any chance he could win? Those were questions being asked across Illinois last week when Jesse Sullivan announced he was seeking the Republican nomination for governor. Sullivan, a venture capitalist who has invested in high-tech startups in Silicon Valley, has raised $11 million to launch his campaign.…
Music is a-buzzing
Hey there folks, saddle up for a big ride this weekend as there are more things happening than you could shake several sticks at, if you were ever so inclined to do such a thing. Let’s begin with the three-day celebration of 3Sixteen Wine Bar’s fourth anniversary featuring – what else – live music to…
Bells ring in Constitution Week, Sept. 17
Church bells in Springfield will ring for two minutes and 34 seconds at 3 p.m. on Sept. 17, celebrating the 234th anniversary of the signing of the U.S. Constitution. St. Paul’s Episcopal Church, Central Baptist Church and Westminster Presbyterian Church are some of the participating churches. The Rees Memorial Carillon bells will also ring. Springfield-area…
All sides come together to pass energy bill
“This is what decentralized, collective leadership looks like,” declared House Speaker Chris Welch’s spokesperson Jaclyn Driscoll not long after the chamber approved the climate/energy bill on an unexpectedly lopsided 83-33 roll call on Sept. 9. The vote was without a doubt a spectacular victory, especially considering the Senate was not able to put together its…
Innocence lost
I find myself grieving for someone I’ve never met every Sept. 17 – for the past 31 years. Back in 1990, I was working as the night police reporter for the Quad-City Times when I was dispatched to a fire at a school playground at 9 p.m. I was one of the first on the…
modern days poem #1
hey senior do you have a plan to know the junior of your clan if flummoxed I have news for you this is what you need to do – go buy an item quite demonic found on shelves called electronic take some time to learn to use it (or don’t bother; you’ll abuse it) place…
