Cover Story
Field of dreams
Ryan McCrady likened Springfield’s future economic benefits from the $67 million sports complex approved April 18 by the City Council to much more than a ripple created by a rock dropped into a water puddle. “We’re going to be throwing a boulder into it with this project, and that’s going to create a tremendous impact…
Winter Woes
Years ago, I wrote about a winter picnic with my kids – it fits more now when yesterday was 80 degrees, today is icy: Then in warm pants, boots we drank hot chocolate from thermoses, we’d go into the woods mush through snow find a sunny spot behind a clump of leafless bushes spread out…
Moments after No Title for Tracey
This past week marked the one-year anniversary of the premiere for No Title for Tracey, the documentary about my sister, Tracey Meares, and her being denied the title of valedictorian of her senior class at Springfield High School in 1984. Many have asked what has been the most impactful moment since the documentary was first…
Independent benefits
Hardware stores are my guilty pleasure. No, I’m not talking about the big box monstrosities that sell gallons of milk and bags of dog food right next to the rolls of duct tape. I like the small, family-owned enterprises where the owner knows your name and the fellow back in plumbing knows exactly what part…
From San Quentin to Springfield
Curtis Roberts of Springfield could be a bitter, angry man. He is not, even though he spent 29 years of a 50-year sentence in prison in California. It is hard to believe this slight-built man with sandy hair and a gentle voice was ever in jail. Shockingly, his crimes consisted of stealing a total of…
Serving by sewing
Stich ‘n Go is “a way to do what we love, have a purpose and bless so many other people,” says Marty Dahlquist who co-founded this Laurel United Methodist Church mission group with Barb Needham in 2017. What began as an informal gathering of eight women who love to sew has blossomed into a group…
Remembering an early Springfield leader
A large, red brick, Italianate home stands at Eighth and Cook streets, just a block from the Elijah Iles House at Seventh and Cook. Built in 1865, it was the home of Dr. Henry Wohlgemuth, who influenced Springfield in his work as a physician, city alderman and longtime president of Oak Ridge Cemetery. Without him,…
Sweet spears of spring
Growing asparagus is an exercise in delayed gratification. Hungry gardeners must wait two to three years after planting asparagus before harvesting their first crop. Once established, however, a well-maintained asparagus patch will give generously for 30 years or more. It also forms tall attractive foliage during the summer and can serve as a screen or…
Record Store Day and more
Here we go off for another music adventure on the downward slope of April 2023 with warmer weather ahead, but not this weekend. It won’t be long before the heat is here to stay, so be cool and get hot as the live music rolls on, no matter what. Before we get started on the…
Editors note 4/20/23
The violence that broke out in Sudan this week dashed the hopes of millions there who had hoped for peace since 2019, when a popular revolution ousted the African nation’s longtime dictator. News reports say British and American negotiators thought they were close, even last week, to a deal that would lead to democracy. Then…
Help break the cycle of poverty
Habitat for Humanity is a nonprofit, Christian housing ministry that believes all people, both adults and children, deserve a decent, safe and affordable place to live. With that in mind, the organization utilizes volunteer labor and donations to build and repair houses around the globe. The larger effect of the organization’s efforts, however, helps families…
Tuitions costs climb as Illinois disinvests in public colleges
As university faculties around Illinois strike for better pay and working conditions, budget analysts have found that state spending on higher education has fallen dramatically over the past 20 years. When adjusted for inflation, state spending on higher education fell 46 percent between 2000 and 2023, according to a new research report from the left-leaning…
How to Blow Up a Pipeline a real-word thriller, Renfield is misguided
Pipeline: A portrait of misguided activism Driven by a sense of genuine urgency and buoyed by practical – if flawed – logic, Daniel Goldhaber’s How to Blow Up a Pipeline is a real-world thriller that forcefully makes a case for domestic terrorism in the face of the environmental crisis. Utilizing a fragmented timeline, Goldhaber shows…
City receives $500K state grant for the Y block
The state of Illinois has agreed to give $500,000 to the city of Springfield to make improvements to the Y block. The empty lot just north of the Illinois Governor’s Mansion was once the site of the YWCA building, which was razed in 2017. Over the years, various ideas ranging from a law school campus…
Illinois may lift nuclear moratorium
In a measure that has already passed the Senate and which Gov. JB Pritzker says he supports, Illinois is about to lift its current moratorium on the construction of nuclear power plants, a law that has been in place since 1987. Under current law, the moratorium may not be lifted until the federal government has…
A polarizing presence
Sangamon County Republicans are paying Kellyanne Conway, an adviser to former President Donald Trump, $30,000 to speak at the Sangamon County Republican Party’s annual Lincoln Day dinner. Sangamon County GOP chair Dianne Barghouti Hartwick said so far more than 900 people have purchased the $125 tickets to eat at the dinner, scheduled for 6 p.m.…
Plan needed to address youth violence
The now-notorious violent youth riot in downtown Chicago during a recent weekend got me to thinking of a press conference way back in 2010. Chicago Mayor Richard M. Daley voiced frustration about what he said were large groups of suburban kids causing trouble on Chicago’s lakefront, even though plenty of Chicago kids were also participating,…
Letters to the editor 4/20/23
We welcome letters. Please include your full name, address and telephone number. We edit all letters. Send them to editor@illinoistimes.com. —- GIVING UP? This is absolutely indicative of our decline as a community (“A new normal: Cannabis dispensaries sprout in Springfield,” March 30). How can we look each other in the eye and justify the…
