Cub Scout Pack 202 visits Illinois Times office on field trip
On Feb. 13, Cub Scout Pack 202 visited the Illinois Times office on a field trip. The Scouts toured the office and participated in activities designed to sharpen their reporting skills. PHOTO BY PATRICK YEAGLE On Friday, Feb. 13, at 4 p.m., Cub Scout Pack 202 visited the Illinois Times office, located at 1240. S.…
WHAT’S IT WORTH?
How much is a hotel in downtown Springfield worth? It’s a good question but difficult to answer. Take the President Abraham Lincoln Hotel, for example, which one of the world’s richest men quite literally did in December with a cash offer that took Steve Horve of Forsyth, who had bought the building in 2009, by…
A Broadway show for children
The newest show for children at the Hoogland Center for the Arts, Dr. Dolittle, Jr., is a musical adaptation of the popular book authored by Hugh Lofting and the film of the same name from Twentieth Century Fox. The musical, about a wacky veterinarian with the ability to communicate with animals in more than 500…
Why historians vaccinate their kids
The vaccine debate recently hit home to my Facebook circle (so, you know, it must be serious now…). As the arguments flew fast and furious (“The CDC is a giant conspiracy to sell vaccines!” “Science proves that vaccines are extremely effective and not dangerous!” “Basic sanitation eradicated measles, not vaccines!” “No, it didn’t!” “Vaccines cause…
Madigan to museum foundation: Drop dead
Gov. Bruce Rauner and House Speaker Michael Madigan agree on at least one thing. Changes are needed at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. And those changes may result in a different role for the institution’s private fundraising foundation. During last week’s state of the state address, Rauner said that he was working with…
A liberated Rauner lets loose
I don’t believe I’ve ever seen a governor openly and loudly laughed at on the House floor. At least not while he was present. Gov. Bruce Rauner was doing pretty well with his legislative audience during his first State of the State address last week, delivering strong applause lines with his refreshing calls for bipartisanship.…
An appetite for love
Almost flourless chocolate cake with fresh raspberries and raspberry coulis. PHOTO BY DOUG YOUNG/TNS From Like Water for Chocolate, by Laura Esquivel: Tita’s blood (which got into the sauce when she pricked herself on the roses) and Pedro’s roses proved quite an explosive combination. …when Pedro tasted his first mouthful (of the quail in rose…
Businesses meet in Springfield on environmental issues
Maldaner’s owner and chef Michael Higgins showed off his rooftop garden and solar panels last summer. PHOTO BY DAVID HINE Climate change is bad for business, according to concerned business owners who met in Springfield last week. Washington, D.C.-based Business Forward hosted a meeting of Springfield business leaders and state lawmakers on Feb. 5 to…
Letter’s to the Editor 2/12/15
Swimming at Lake Springfield beach has been shut down since 2009. BEACH CLOSURE UNFAIRI am concerned about the future of the Springfield beach, especially following the huge damage award against the city. I fear this will be the final death knell of this important local recreation site. It was the only lake swimming available to…
Of the people and for the people – but never like them
“What thrilled the people who stood before Abraham Lincoln,” wrote novelist Francis Grierson in The Valley of Shadows, “was the sight of a being who, in all his actions and habits, resembled themselves, gentle as he was strong, fearless as he was honest, who towered above them all in that psychic radiance that penetrates in…
A program about progress
PHOTO BY KERRI WESTENBERG/TNS On Wednesday, Feb. 17, at 7 p.m., join the Sangamon County Historical Society and Oak Ridge Cemetery executive director Michael Lelys for a program focusing one of the nation’s leading historical sites. Oak Ridge Cemetery, established in 1865, now encompasses 365 acres and is the largest municipal cemetery in Illinois. The…
Explore historic Hyde Park
Frank Lloyd Wright’s Prairie style achieved perfection with the Frederick C. Robie House. PHOTO BY TIM LONG, COURTESY OF FRANK LLOYD WRIGHT TRUST Most visitors to Chicago’s Hyde Park begin and end their visit at the Museum of Science and Industry, the popular museum on South Lake Shore Drive that enchants children and adults.…
Stay-at-home martyr
I just moved in with the love of my life. Her former boyfriend from years ago lives in her downstairs “granny unit.” My girlfriend recently revealed that along with financially subsidizing him, she’s still doing his laundry because “it’s just easier.” He is 50 and previously earned a lot of money repairing computers and being…
AG OPTIONS
Farmers, take heed: big changes are coming under the federal Farm Bill. The changes will affect how farmers insure their crops, adding some new choices to the already complex system. At a seminar held in Springfield on Feb. 4 by the Illinois Farm Bureau and Bloomington-based Country Financial Insurance, dozens of local farmers gathered for…
DJ Hish
This may be the first (and possibly the last) time an official record-spinning, mix-making, beat-inducing DJ makes our band spotlight. But DJ Hish does something different than most mixers out there: he mashes to country music. Born into a music-loving household in Pennsylvania, Hish grew up listening to classic country and rock, plus everything in…
Architecture accentuates music
PHOTO BY KARI BEDFORD Local talent Ben Bedford, a singer, songwriter and storyteller lauded nationally for writing beautiful songs about historical events, will perform a special Valentine’s Day concert on Saturday, Feb. 14, at 7 p.m., as part of the Made for Music Concert Series at the Dana-Thomas House State Historic Site. The venue, designed…
Promises, promises
Springfield has never elected a black mayor. It’s been 16 years since an African-American candidate even ran for mayor. Allan Woodson was one of Springfield’s first black aldermen and the last black person to run for mayor. Following a historic voting rights lawsuit and resulting transition from the commission form of city government in 1987,…
Tax dollars at work
Curses, foiled again• Police looking for a bank robber in New Kensington, Pa., found suspect Shane Lindsey, 32, two blocks away at a restaurant where he stopped for chicken and biscuits. Officers entered the restaurant hoping its surveillance video might show the suspect passing by, only to spot Lindsey eating at a booth. (Tarentum’s Valley…
A corporate coup d’etat
When I was a tyke, Momma warned me not to eat anything unless I knew where it came from. That advice is so sensible that even Congress acted on it in 2002, passing a straightforward law called Country of Origin Labeling. COOL requires meat marketers to tell us whether the meat they sell is a…
Editor’s note 2/12/15
On Sunday, Feb. 12, 1865, his 56th birthday that would be his last, Abraham Lincoln was apparently working at his desk in Washington, D. C. Records show that he was in a merciful mood. After a long conversation with a Judge Fisher about the case of a Dr. E. Worrell, who had been sentenced to…
Sweetheart shows
MamaDear play Boondocks on Fri., Feb. 13 with DJ Hish and Chase Bryant. Looks like we’re blessed with a veritable cornucopia of holidays this week, starting with Abe’s birthday today. Next comes Friday the 13th, Valentine’s Day and Presidents Day, heading straight into Fat Tuesday and Mardi Gras. I’m happy to report live music shows…
Son fails to cast a spell
Ben Barnes as Tom Ward and Jeff Bridges as Master Gregory in Seventh Son. PHOTO COURTESY Universal Pictures Sometimes bad movies happen to good actors. Such is the case with Sergey Bodrov’s Seventh Son, an adaptation of the first book in Joseph Delaney’s The Last Apprentice series – and likely the last. That’s too…
Aaron Schock’s new office makeover
CARTOON BY CHRIS BRITT
What part of $1 million don’t you understand?
While city officials second-guess the verdict, two jurors say that the jury intended to award more than $1 million to the family of a boy who drowned in Lake Springfield. The jurors both spoke on condition of anonymity. One simply confirmed that the jury intended to award more than $1 million and did not address…
valentine poem #6
thought it was our own idea my sibsand I cut open our stuffed teddys dogsrag dolls put in candy hearts that saidI love you sewed them up sometimes therecipient got a little sticky if it fell in thetub got a pink splotch on its fur or frock but yesterday I leafed through a gorgeousreference volume…
Lawmakers target golden parachutes
Illinois House Republicans are fuming at a lucrative severance deal between the College of DuPage and its outgoing president. In response, they’re filing legislation to make sure it doesn’t happen again elsewhere in the state. In January, the board of trustees for the College of DuPage in the Chicago suburb of Glen Ellyn voted to…
