Cover Story
Housing first
Adrian Palmer takes pride in his modest, immaculate apartment. “I live a clean, peaceful life,” the 59-year-old Chicago native said. After years of living on the streets of Chicago and Freeport, depending on girlfriends’ homes in northern Illinois for shelter and completing several stints in prison, Palmer credits a Springfield social service agency for helping…
A ruff experience
Sam is a handsome lad caught in a love triangle between a local politician and the woman with whom he has resided for five years. His two love interests say he has captured their hearts and they don’t want the other to have him. Sam, aka Buddy, is a dog. Edinah Lincoln, a retired Springfield…
No clear motive for Mapes to lie
I don’t think I’ll ever fully understand why Tim Mapes allowed himself to be put into this situation. Not one of the lies former Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan’s former chief of staff is accused of telling a grand jury while under a grant of immunity was about illegal activity. During his two hours on…
Firearms industry could be sued for deceptive marketing
A new Illinois law restricts the way gun dealers and manufacturers can market and sell their products and subjects them to civil penalties for violations. Gov. JB Pritzker signed House Bill 218 into law Saturday, Aug. 12. Labeled the Firearm Industry Responsibility Act, it took effect immediately. “We hold opioid manufacturers accountable. Vaping companies accountable.…
Letters to the editor 08-17-23
BETTER OPTIONS Yes, we absolutely need to do better by our homeless population in Springfield. But why would city officials support deconstructing a historic, recently renovated, successful, affordable and downright amazing family-friendly bar and grill that generates tax revenue for the town to build homeless housing (“More housing for the homeless,” Aug. 3)? Ten percent…
Getting old poem
Getting old poem For a long time, I’ve considered myself young-old I’m now getting old-old and maybe I’ve said this stuff before but old-old repeats, right? so here is about my mom: If I knew then what I know now I would have been much more help to my old-old mother, more understanding…
State didn’t fund act to pay for funerals of murdered children
Serabi Medina’s family is currently raising money online to pay for her funeral. You’ve probably read or heard about how the 9-year-old girl was allegedly deliberately shot in the head and murdered by a neighbor in Chicago’s Portage Park neighborhood earlier this month. But the fundraising shouldn’t be necessary. Last year, House Bill 2985 created…
State museum was dumped in the Capitol basement
The Illinois State Museum is a source of pride in the Land of Lincoln, but, like everything else in the state, there are always critics. Some take their resentment to extremes. In 1887, the museum was thrown out of its quarters in the Illinois State Capitol during a dispute over space. Some of the museum…
Voyage of the Demeter is all wet, Theater Camp a heartfelt celebration of dreams
Demeter quickly sinks Much like the titular vessel, Andre Ovredal’s The Last Voyage of the Demeter is doomed from the start. Overlong, tedious, and bearing the cross of a well-known conclusion – which the director errs in changing – the film is a vain attempt to approach the Dracula story from a different angle. Having…
Cold soups
I have fond memories of dining at the old Baur’s Restaurant just south of the Statehouse back in the early 80s. Surrounded by legislators, lobbyists and journalists, Baur’s was our special occasion restaurant in our early years in Springfield. I even took our young daughter there for a birthday date and ordered the chateaubriand for…
Lincoln’s faith in context
Ever since Abraham Lincoln ran for Congress in 1846 and his opponent, the fiery Methodist minister Peter Cartwright, accused him of being an “infidel,” at least a certain segment of the population has been interested in the facts about Lincoln’s religious faith. As it turns out, those facts are not necessarily easy to determine. Biographers…
A fair share of music
Welcome back, my friends, to another edition of Now Playing during the 2023 Illinois State Fair. We’re in the throes of fair time as we roll through the final weekend of Grandstand shows, beer tent bands and wine experience experiences, along with many music-makers on permanent and portable stages, plus acts aplenty of cultural significance.…
CO2 pipeline stalled in Sangamon County
A recent vote by the Sangamon County Board has given more hope to opponents of the Navigator Heartland Greenway carbon-dioxide pipeline that the proposed project can be defeated in Illinois. The Republican-controlled board voted unanimously on Aug. 8 to enact a moratorium through Dec. 31 on issuing any permits for future underground storage of CO2…
Pritzker vetoes bill that would have allowed new nuclear construction
Gov. JB Pritzker on Aug. 11 vetoed a bill that would have lifted a 1980s moratorium on the construction of new nuclear reactors. The bill passed in May with three-fifths majorities in both legislative chambers, meaning that if all the members who voted for it also support an override of the governor’s veto, it still…
Editor’s note 08-17-23
U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Springfield, acknowledges, like everyone else does, “In America, every person indicted or accused of a crime is entitled to a presumption of innocence and the full spectrum of rights under due process. Former President Donald J. Trump deserves no less.” Then he continues, wisely: “But this is not routine political fare…
