Ward 5 candidate cleared
The Illinois State’s Attorney Appellate Prosecutor’s office has cleared Lakeisha Purchase, a Springfield aldermanic candidate who was the subject of a complaint alleging that she had omitted information from a statement of economic interest. “The agency thoroughly reviewed it,” Pat Delfino, director of the state prosecutors office said. “From this review, there was a clear…
Transparency?
Dear Kwame, I was there when you were sworn in. I saw you applaud when Comptroller Susana Mendoza called Secretary of State Jesse White the greatest politician in Illinois history. White told me to go away in the spring of 2017 when I asked for the personnel file of Candace Wanzo, a bureaucrat in the…
Caught on tape
We’ve known for weeks now that the FBI recorded Chicago Ald. Ed Burke’s mobile phone conversations over a period of eight months, listening in on 9,475 calls. And then we discovered that the feds had wired up Chicago Ald. Danny Solis during his own conversations with Burke. Ald. Burke has a rather, um, “earthy” way…
Letters to the Editor 02/07/19
HELP HARVARD PARK Regarding the recent IT article (“Inside a struggling school,” Jan. 10), at Compass for Kids, we know firsthand that Harvard Park Elementary has a great principal and dedicated teachers and staff. We cannot blame the kids for growing up in poverty. Research tells us what works – support parents and their children…
Editor’s Note 02/07/19
Tuesday night’s State of the Union address was a reminder of how normal Donald Trump can appear when he tries. His performance left no doubt that he is a skillful politician. His pitch to free the U.S. from “endless wars” has appeal; the economy and jobs growth are favorable. But his offensive against “investigations” is…
What great legislators have in common
Each of the great politicians and legislators I’ve known over the course of my career in Congress was very different. They were masters of the rules, or unassailably knowledgeable about a given issue, or supremely watchable orators, or consummate students of people. But they also shared key traits that I wish more elected officials possessed.…
Japanese drumming
Ho Etsu Taiko Drummers is a collective of musicians with a fresh take on the art of Japanese drumming. With their music they attempt to blend the deep-rooted culture of Japanese-American taiko with influences that inspire and celebrate the diversity of their performing members. Their mission is to spread joy through every drumbeat by creating…
UIS Black History Month event examines NAACP history
As part of Black History Month, the University of Illinois Springfield’s Engaged Citizenship Common Experience (ECCE) Speaker Series, the UIS Diversity Center and the Springfield NAACP will co-host a film screening and panel discussion on “The History of Springfield – From 1908 to Now.” This event will begin with a screening of the 30-minute film…
Eat, Gray, Love
I am almost 50 but look much younger, and I’m noticing that a number of the guys who are pursuing me are in their early 30s. I’m flattered but not really interested, as I want to get married again and I’m thinking that these guys are too young to consider that and probably want to…
Segregated in the Heartland
It didn’t take Silas Johnson long after he moved to Springfield to identify the border that separates the black section of the city from the white one. Growing up in Mississippi as the civil rights movement swept through the South, Johnson knew about dividing lines. In the town of Macon, blacks knew to stay on…
Future cannabis laws are hazy
With Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s support of recreational marijuana, state lawmakers are moving swiftly to add Illinois to the list of states that legalize the consumption, sale and growth of recreational cannabis. What recreational marijuana in Illinois will look like is still unknown, but the talk of legalization has raised many questions from residents about local…
IT’S A BIG CAKE
Let’s see. What has happened on Feb. 12? The National Association for the Advancement of Colored People was formed. That was in 1909. President Bill Clinton was acquitted by the Senate after being impeached by the House. That was in 1999. Soul On Ice, Eldridge Cleaver’s seminal book on racism, politics and crime was published.…
TAKES ONE TO KNOW ONE
A Republican lawmaker has introduced a unique bill that he perceives to be a good way to reduce challenges to Illinoisans’ Second Amendment rights. Neil Anderson, R-Moline, introduced a piece of legislation that, if passed, would prohibit other lawmakers from introducing bills to further regulate firearms and ammunition unless the person has received firearms training…
Pursuit a bloody misfire
I’ve spoken of tone before in other reviews – how hard it is to sustain over the course of a film, how difficult it is to maintain a consistent mood on a set over the length of a prolonged shoot, how it can shift and be lost from one scene to the next. Director Hans…
February finds
We can finally stop complaining about the freezing cold and just complain about the regular winter weather as we descend into the second week of February 2019. What’s in store in the live music world? Why, an extraordinary selection of various concoctions of fabulous finds, just for you, that’s all. Friday delivers some of these…
Isaiah Christian and the Rebel Saints
Early performances in theater gave this young whippersnapper a taste of the stage at age six, and soon after, he discovered a real affinity for classic country music. By 15, Isaiah found himself in Urbana opening up for the famed Frankie Ballard. From there, he hit the road in central Illinois “playing wherever I could…
Cooking teaches problem-solving
“I know a guy who has a bus and likes to cook.” This comment from an out-of-town friend initiated a chain of events that landed me in a high school cafeteria kitchen in charge of preparing an Argentine street food-themed brunch for a couple hundred people. “We want to serve steak sandwiches, empanadas and…
Another SOS to IT readers!
back in 1981 a musical “The Endless Pavement” was performed on the new SSU auditorium stage (not yet finished) 40 local kids in little cars they’d built The Great Computermobile controlled all the humans the kids sang danced drove their cars defeated The Great Computermobile it was a grand success jim grimes at the vocational…
