Mautino gets lawyer
Illinois Auditor General Frank Mautino Illinois auditor general Frank Mautino has retained J. William Roberts, former Sangamon County state’s attorney and former U.S. attorney for central Illinois, to assist him in responding to questions about his campaign spending while a member of the state House of Representatives. Questions include a probe by the Illinois State…
Panhandling case won’t go to U.S. Supreme Court
Don Norton, one of the panhandlers behind the lawsuit Patrick Yeagle The U.S. Supreme Court announced today that it would not hear an appeal by the City of Springfield on a case over panhandlers’ rights. The denial follows a lower court’s ruling that part of the city’s panhandling ordinance is unconstitutional. The case began in…
Convoluted Plot Sinks “Triple 9”
If you’ve ever found yourself caught up in a game of Three Card Monte, you’ll have some idea of what sitting through John Hillcoat’s Triple 9 is like. Simultaneously over-plotted yet full of holes, the director has assembled a first-rate cast that does their best to bring a degree of emotional integrity to the film…
Belew
A faithful reader was kind enough to share her own recollections of Adrian Belew in Springfield. She writes: Back in 1982 or so, I was at my parent’s house visiting. I grew up on South State. My mom was a precinct committee woman (wrong party, but I kept my mouth shut MOST of the time). She said that…
Tell me, Adrian . . .
This week in the print edition of IT we reran an old Prejudices column of mine about the brief sojourn of rock guitarist Adrian Belew in mid-Illinois. That version of the column had to be edited for length; here’s the original, uncut, as it appeared on June 17, 1982. OCTOBER 15, 1979: I encounter the…
Tell me, Adrian
Belew and his band, the Adrian Belew Power Trio, are currently on a 12-nation, 22-city tour of Europe. PHOTO COURTESY HTTP://ADRIANBELEW.NET On January 25, 2016, the State Journal-Register published an article in which rock guitarist and former Springfield resident Adrian Belew reminisced about his career. Ordinarily, one would expect to see the words “Springfield” and…
How Big Pharma is trying to improve its image
Jim Hightower PHOTO BY LARRY D. MOORE Big news, people! Especially for those of you upset by the skyrocketing prices of the essential prescription medicines you take – including thousands of patients who were hit last year with a 5,000 percent price increase for one lifesaving drug. Determined to do something about those despised price…
Back to square one
PHOTO BY ALAN SOLOMON/TNS There are always two audiences for formal gubernatorial addresses: 1) Legislators who actually attend; and 2) Everyone else outside the Statehouse who watch it or read about it later. Gov. Bruce Rauner’s budget address last week seemed far more designed for people outside the building, most of whom don’t really care…
Letters to the Editor 02/25/16
The late Julianne Glatz with her husband, Peter, who contributes another food column this week. PHOTO COURTESY OF THE GLATZ FAMILY A PLEASANT SURPRISEEach week when I pick up the newest edition of Illinois Times, I turn back to read Julianne Glatz’s food column. A week ago, I turned back, expecting to find the feature…
Editor’s note 02/25/16
It was called a historic occasion Monday evening, because nobody could remember this happening before in Springfield, but the event seemed ordinary, like something that should happen all the time. Four churches – two black congregations and two white congregations – got together on Springfield’s east side to begin a program called “Sacred Conversations on…
World’s Fair put Illinois in spotlight
In 1893, Chicago hosted the World’s Columbian Exposition, a six-month extravaganza that thrust Illinois into the international spotlight. The event inspired an artistic and educational revival despite a string of nagging controversies. The right to host the exposition, organized to mark the 400th anniversary of Columbus’ arrival in the New World, became a battle among…
Recording of a reenactment
Lincoln’s Funeral Lincoln’s Funeral, a film that captures the sights, sounds and experiences of the 150th Anniversary of the Lincoln Funeral Procession, will make its world premiere on Friday, Feb. 26 in with two showings at the Lincoln Home Visitors Center in Springfield. The movie was filmed during 2015’s three-day reenactment of Lincoln’s Funeral from…
Central Illinois Amateur Playwrights
Central Illinois Amateur Playwrights Enjoy an evening of three original, never-before-seen one-act plays produced by two local playwrights from the Central Illinois Amateur Playwrights organization. One-act plays are short scenes that offer the audience a glimpse into what would normally be a longer performance. The three contemporary plays are Coffee and Conversation by Jenny Loftus,…
Traditional Irish music, reinvented
The Chieftains Formed in Dublin in November 1962, six-time Grammy Award-winners The Chieftains are widely recognized for their ability to transcend musical and generational boundaries as they blend traditional Irish music with more modern sounds. The Chieftains are nearly synonymous with Irish music, and are recognized internationally as of one Ireland’s most respected and revered…
Shrug Actually
PHOTO COURTESY AMY ALKON Amy Alkon I’m in my first serious relationship. It started off super hot and sexual. Now, a year in, it’s lovey-dovey and cuddly. Not that my boyfriend and I don’t have sex. We do, and it’s still good. But we no longer sext or send cute selfies, and the butterflies feeling…
Bill would allow gender change on birth certificate
A bill filed in the Illinois Statehouse this month would make it easier for transgender people to change the sex indicated on their birth certificate. The bill is meant to recognize that a person’s gender may not match their physical sex. Under the Illinois Vital Records Act, passed in 1962, a person must have undergone…
Sex in St. Louis, 1980s-style
Creatures on Display, by Wm. Stage. Floppinfish Publishing Co. Ltd. Creatures on Display, by Wm. Stage. Floppinfish Publishing Co. Ltd. I have always believed that the only thing more difficult than reading about sex is writing about it. Creatures on Display, by Wm. Stage of St. Louis, overcomes that difficulty in an interesting and thoughtful…
Say cheese
PHOTO BY METRO CREATIVE CONNECTION The Illinois Supreme Court this week ruled that cameras will be allowed in courtrooms throughout the state. The state’s highest court began allowing cameras and audio recording devices in courts four years ago as an experiment. Since then, the court has approved the use of cameras and audio recorders by…
Election board probes Mautino
Auditor general Frank Mautino The Illinois State Board of Elections is reviewing campaign finance reports filed by auditor general Frank Mautino while he was in the General Assembly. The board probe was sparked by a complaint filed by Dave Cooke, a retired nuclear plant worker who lives in Streator. Cooke says that he filed his…
Prescription pad meets legal pad
Doctors at SIU School of Medicine have a new tool for improving the health of low-income patients around Springfield: the ability to “prescribe” a lawyer. SIU School of Medicine and Land of Lincoln Legal Assistance announced last week a “medical-legal partnership” meant to offer patients help dealing with legal issues affecting their health. The program…
FREE BEDS
PHOTO BY METRO CREATIVE CONNECTION On March 4, Slumberland Furniture and the Parent Help Line at St. John’s Children Hospital will be teaming up to donate 40 free twin bed mattresses, box springs and bed frames to families in need. The Parent Help Line will also donate a set of sheets to each family that…
BENEVOLENT BIKERS
PHOTO BY METRO CREATIVE CONNECTION If the Roughnecks Motorcycle Club was a book, judging it by its cover would be a mistake. These tough-looking bikers in leather are actually all active or retired police officers and public safety personnel. For the past six years, the Springfield chapter of the Roughnecks has been raising money for…
Haunting Witch utilizes high-end horror
Anya Taylor-Joy as Thomasin in The Witch. PHOTO COURTESY A24 Likely to disappoint hardcore horror fans, Robert Eggers’ The Witch is a thinking-person’s fright flick, a work that has more to do with the stories of Nathaniel Hawthorne than anything that might have happened in the Blair Woods. There’s little in the way of gore…
Open those mics
Among the many open mics in town, John Brillhart and Geoff Ryan host one every Tuesday at George Rank’s. What a lovely time of year, as the winter winds down with flurries of fury but mostly hints of hello to the warm weather to come. This week let’s look at those famed and ridiculed open…
Ben Bedford
Ben Bedford A stalwart on the local scene while playing folk music on regional, national and international levels, Springfield-based singer-songwriter Ben Bedford writes songs and sings them for folks. The Chatham native has toured in Scotland, England, Western Europe plus New Berlin, Kansas, Idaho, Michigan and other points across the country, making friends and music…
Rauner budget
CARTOON BY CHRIS BRITT
Good food fast
PHOTO COURTESY BLUE APRON Cooking skills were once passed on from generation to generation through the oral tradition. The post-war years saw an increase in women working outside the home and an increasing reliance on convenience foods. My mother often served Swanson’s TV Dinners (I hated the Salisbury steak and carrots!), or a sack of…
Thinking outside the frame
On Monday, Feb. 8, Illinois Times invited a small group of leaders in the Springfield visual art community to a luncheon at the Inn at 835 for the purpose of discussing the current state of presenting, creating and promoting visual art in the area. Springfield has long boasted a varied and vibrant selection of creative…
cosmology poem #10
I am clothed by the deadmy daughter’s breathtakingjackets she stitched herself orpulled from the buck-a-bagat a minneapolis thrift storea kashmir from india viathe smithsonian she had aneye for the beautiful valuableditto my mother’s crazy hatsmy father’s heavy collaredfrayed sweater full of holes mygrandma’s quilt I sleep under(as a kid I watched her make it)my best…
