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Grillin’ & Chillin’
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Pritzker’s new running mate is “The Chosen One”
Christian Mitchell has had strong detractors ever since Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle elevated the young Black man out of obscurity and backed him for the Illinois House in 2012. Preckwinkle chose her trusted aide Mitchell over appointed Rep. Kimberly du Buclet, D-Chicago. Preckwinkle’s move upset a lot of people in that part of…
Jurassic World; Rebirth and M3GAN 2.0 both solid sequels, Heads of State all action, no plot
Rebirth may be familiar, but it still has bite Do we need another Jurassic Park movie? I think you’d be hard-pressed to find anyone who’d reply in the affirmative to that question, other than the executives at Universal Pictures. While the studio has had their share of misses at the box office over the last year,…
Chelsey Farley tells her story
Chelsey Farley burst into tears while speaking with a reporter almost 10 months after a motorcycle she was riding on collided with a car driven by a recently retired Springfield police officer. Farley, 32, cried as she explained why she was wearing a medical boot to stabilize the lower section of her left leg. She…
Innovate Springfield moving to Horace Mann building
University of Illinois Springfield has pivoted from plans to open its new “Innovation Center” in a three-story building downtown and now will rent space for the center three blocks east, on half of the third floor inside Horace Mann Educators Corp.’s headquarters. A rental contract, finalized between UIS and Horace Mann in recent days, will…
Springfield City Council passes amended TIF ordinances
The Springfield City Council passed two ordinances amending existing Tax Increment Financing (TIF) districts last night, putting an end to a weeklong debate. The ordinances each passed 9-1, with Ward 7 Ald. Brad Carlson as the dissenting vote in both cases. The ordinances will make $800,000 available for use with no match requirements in the…
Revitalize Robin Roberts Stadium
On June 26, I sent the following letter to the Springfield Park District board of directors. I am writing to you with a profound sense of urgency and concern regarding the current state of Robin Roberts Stadium – a facility that should be a source of pride for the city of Springfield, especially as we…
Mental health is a community responsibility
“It is not ‘them,’ it is ‘us,'” Jill Steiner said, addressing an audience at Hoogland Center for the Arts last Friday. She asked attendees to approach the morning’s discussion with listening and empathy. “Put aside the belief that it’s just ‘pull yourself up by the bootstraps,’ ‘get over it,’ ‘move on,’ or ‘it’s just that…
Remembering Henry Stephens, Springfield civil rights activist
Henry Stephens, a Springfield resident and civil rights advocate in the late 1800s and early 1900s, was celebrated in two poems by Carl Sandburg. Now he is memorialized with a historical marker, which the Illinois State Historical Society officially unveiled June 17 at the Springfield Transportation Hub, on the southwest corner of 11th and Washington…
Chatham Strong Fest
A daylong family-friendly music festival featuring six performers will give people an opportunity to pay tribute to the April 28 accident victims in Chatham and raise money to support them. Billed as the Chatham Strong Fest, it will run from 1 to 9 p.m. Sunday, July 6, at the Chatham Community Park, 711 S. Park…
Visit Illinois Beach State Park
East from Illinois Beach State Park, Lake Michigan glistens and beckons anyone seeking summer fun in the sun. Plenty of beach lovers answer the call, if packed parking lots on the weekends are any indication. Tucked into the far northeastern part of the state, the park offers a variety of outdoor activities four hours from…
Bring on the brats
We’ve been on a bratwurst kick in my house lately. It’s high season around here with summer theater and sports and way too much garden to look after, so simple meals that yield easy leftovers have been on regular rotation. Brats, once eschewed by my kids, have suddenly become the new favorite. I’ve taken to…
Council tackles property blight, hears plea for youth mental health support
Vacant and neglected properties dominated the council’s attention this week: updates on the long-delayed demolition at South Grand and Wheeler, legal hurdles with apartments at Old Towne and West Washington, new concerns about the abandoned Hardee’s on Toronto Road and a stalled project at MacArthur and Laurel. Frustration is mounting as overgrown grass, safety issues…
Music for the 4th and more
With June done, we’re basically halfway through 2025, hitting our summertime stride with plenty of hot outdoor activities, but keeping it cool with indoor fun stuff as well. As our Independence Day falls on a Friday, it’s an extended weekend for many and that means more music made and more time to go experience said…
Student support efforts and Brighter Futures grant results
The board opened with a somber moment, reflecting on the recent loss of a student and a renewed commitment to student support — especially after a difficult year for local high schools. Key updates from the meeting: – Summer meal programs, back-to-school events, and reminders for families to get physicals and immunizations done early. -…
The Prom at the Hoogland is an inspiration
In 2010, a controversy erupted in the Itawamba County School District in Indiana. A lesbian student wanted to bring her girlfriend to the school prom and the school refused, choosing instead to cancel the prom for all students. A second prom was scheduled which was also canceled, a lawsuit was filed with the ACLU, a…
Capital City Celebration, Lucky Horseshoes and fireworks
This Friday, the Capital City Celebration returns thanks to a partnership between the Springfield Jaycees and Springfield Lucky Horseshoes. The event begins at 2 p.m. at Robin Roberts Stadium with a dog pageant, inflatable zone for children and music by local band Astrofix. All of the activities are within the stadium’s gates, which requires a…
A redneck ruckus
Below its muddy banks, the water is as quiet as the village of Bath itself, which is just how the easily spooked invasive Asian silver carp that pour down from the chutes of the Illinois River like it. Normally, the voracious carp that plague the ecosystem of the rivers and lakes of the Midwest would…
Letters to the editor 07-03-2025
THANKS FOR COVERAGE Just today we received a digital copy of ReGen. It looks like a most interesting publication! I live in Madison, Wisconsin. My father was the last brewmaster of the Reisch Brewery. I am the oldest of his 10 children (“Springfield’s Reisch Beer makes a comeback,” Summer ReGen). Thank you for the feature…
Editor’s Note
We who tend to get cynical about politics need to pay close attention to the fight in Washington, and the fight after that. There are heroic political efforts going on to defeat the Republican spending bill, with its Medicaid cuts, clean energy cuts and, for the wealthy, tax cuts. “We’ve got to keep fighting,” Sen.…
Found Poem
Mysteries on tape 2.0 I am reading mystery books written in the last decade. I listen to them on Audible. I think I will write a mystery book. Chapter 1 will be about the most grotesque, bloody hacked up corpse you have ever heard about. Chapter 2 will abruptly be bucolic with green fields,…
