On behalf of wildlife
Springfield is home to the Illinois Audubon Society. For 125 years, Illinois Audubon has been fighting for species and habitat protection as the state’s oldest conservation group. With new leaders at the helm, the fight continues for the good of wildlife. All too often birdwatchers are portrayed as obsessive eccentrics, binoculars glued to their faces,…
Candidates file for municipal elections
Five of Springfield’s 10 wards will have contested races for spots on the City Council in the April 4 municipal election, and Mayor Jim Langfelder will face City Treasurer Misty Buscher in his quest for a third four-year term. The Nov. 28 conclusion of filing for municipal offices also saw three candidates file for Buscher’s…
Letters to the editor 12/1/22
We welcome letters. Please include your full name, address and telephone number. We edit all letters. Send them to editor@illinoistimes.com. —- COMMON PROBLEM Sadly, understaffing is happening everywhere (“Understaffing problematic at McFarland Mental Health,” Nov. 23). Why do you think places like Brother James Court and St. Joseph’s Home had to close? They cared for…
Will Illinois pass an abortion amendment?
The Illinois Senate Republicans’ new leader, John Curran, told Capitol News Illinois the other day that there was nothing left to do on the abortion topic in Illinois. “The reality is, what else can we do here in Illinois?” Sen. Curran said. “The laws of Illinois are more weighted towards guarantees of the rights to…
Election integrity up close
I’ve always considered voting to be a process somewhat like an oil change – an occasional and mildly inconvenient task necessary to keep the engine of democracy humming. I’d never thought twice about the mechanics involved until a couple of years ago, when people stormed our nation’s Capitol screaming bloody murder about it. That horrific…
Editors note 12/1/22
We’re fortunate to have few vocal election deniers in these parts. But after “Stop the steal” became attempted armed robbery at the Capitol on Jan. 6, 2021, writer Dusty Rhodes of Springfield decided to take a closer look at how voting gets done. She volunteered to be an election judge. In her column, “Election integrity…
Two lawsuits against city proceeding
Federal Appellate Court judges recently reinstated lawsuits filed by white former city employees who said they were victims of reverse discrimination by Springfield Mayor Jim Langfelder. The judges sent the cases of Diane Runkel, the city’s former assistant purchasing agent, and Andrew Dunlevy, a former meter reader, back to U.S. District Court Judge Sue Myerscough…
Is this the best use of prime farmland?
What should be grown on central Illinois’ prime farmland, seeds or solar panels? That’s the quandary facing central Illinois and other areas of the nation that grow the majority of the country’s crops. A new solar energy installation, labeled the Double Black Diamond Solar project, is now being built and takes up more than 4,000…
A crisis of care
The number of foster children in Sangamon County is near an all-time high and there are not enough homes for them to live in, the executive director of The James Project shared with Illinois Times recently. The shortage has become so acute that children are bunking on cots in Department of Children and Family Services…
Pretrial detention changes to SAFE-T Act will head to governor
Lawmakers on Thursday passed a long-awaited amendment to the SAFE-T Act criminal justice reform’s provisions that will eliminate cash bail when the calendar hits 2023. The measure expands the list of crimes for which a judge can order pretrial detention, adds to what a judge can consider when determining if a defendant is a risk…
Why braising is my favorite
My fourth year of working in restaurants and living in a school bus is coming to a close. For the last few Decembers, I’ve relocated my bus to Florida because I swore I’d never suffer through another Midwest winter. This year, however, my position in the R & D and Fermentation Lab at Audrey Restaurant…
December-time music
Don’t look now, but 2022 is nearly in the rearview mirror as the old calendar on the wall (remember those?) says it is now the twelfth month of the year. Sometimes time crawls, sometimes it marches on and sometimes seems to be sprinting toward the goal line. I’m going to leave that feeling up to…
I knew in a moment it must be St. Nick
Santa Claus is going to be one busy ol’ elf on Saturday, Dec. 3. If you head out to Clayville Historic Site near Pleasant Plains, you can join him in a cup of hot chocolate from 10 a.m.-3 p.m. Stop by the Edwards Place from 1-4 p.m. and you may find him decked out in…
Skip Violent Night, Bones and All is haunting, Lady Chatterley well-done
Violent Night only for the naughty While suffering through the vile, humorless exercise that is Violent Night, I kept wondering, “Who is this movie intended for?” I guess there are folks who like seeing someone impaled on a large icicle or having an electric Christmas decoration shoved into someone’s eye and turned on so that…
Multiple Nutcracker performances this holiday season
The Nutcracker ballet is a holiday classic. For some The Nutcracker is a longstanding family tradition. Others may not have experienced the magical adventures of Clara and her Nutcracker Prince as they journey to the Land of the Sweets. There are multiple performances in Springfield this December at various times and locations with different cast…
Thieves target catalytic converters
When Linda Nelson turned the ignition on her old Honda Accord, the vehicle roared louder than a hot rod. At first the Springfield resident thought her car’s muffler had fallen off, but she soon learned someone had crawled under her 23-year-old car and cut away its catalytic converter while it sat in her driveway. She…
Holidays
my teacher friend replied when I asked if her kids were excited about 5 days off for thanksgiving that she ignored all holidays “Some few squeal that they are going to Cancun but too many know they probably won’t eat for five days – the school lunch is their only meal.” – not every town…
