Alderman attacks drive-up liquor windows
In the early ’90s as a lobbyist for Autosense International, Sam Cahnman had state legislation introduced requiring second-time DUI offenders to install breath-alcohol ignition interlock devices in their vehicles. In 1999, he lobbied to expand the mandate to first-time offenders and applauded the state for implementing the legislation earlier this year. Now Cahnman, the alderman…
The governor’s talk show charade
Untitled Document Gov. Rod Blagojevich was all over the TV shows Monday saying that if people just understood the “context” of his quotes on the FBI surveillance tapes, then they would know he was as pure as the driven snow. Almost everybody asked him about the “I’ve got this thing and it’s f___ing golden, and,…
IT Picks
LECTURE | HistoryMakers Celebrate Black History Month with the University of Illinois at Springfield at the HistoryMakers’ Agents of Change Lecture. The speaker series includes a talk by Carol Moseley Braun, the first African-American woman elected to the U.S. Senate, and the first to serve as assistant majority leader. After her term in the U.S.…
Out of town locals come back
The main focus of this column is to present music performances related to local artists and venues. That generally entails either writing about area musicians playing beyond the Springfield scene or bands from outside this area playing around here. It’s an unusual twist when the bands are from out of town, but the spotlight shines…
Grandson of Free Frank, an early inventor with Springfield roots
Many of us have heard about New Philadelphia, the racially integrated town in west central Illinois established by former slave “Free Frank” McWorter in 1836. Free Frank was an enterprising man who bought his own freedom and that of several family members, and developed this town where blacks and whites lived in equality. But few…
Funding may be roadblock to
It seems hardly fair to ask new businesses to locate and invest in Springfield if Springfield isn’t willing to invest in itself. That’s the advice Jim Roth, a member of the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce’s Quantum Growth Partnership, gave residents last week during a public hearing on infrastructure needs. “A community that’s willing to…
Muslims, the Americans are not your enemy
As he dispatched former Senate Majority Leader George Mitchell, his new special envoy for Middle East peace, to the region, President Obama gave his first television interview on Monday to the Dubai-based satellite network al-Arabiya. Obama chose the vehicle of a network that is widely viewed in the Arab and Muslim world to make a…
The Lebowski Experience
A decade before taking the stage at the Kodak Theater to accept Oscars for Best Writing, Best Directing, and Best Picture for No Country for Old Men, Joel and Ethan Coen were making a different kind of movie. A movie about Jeffrey Lebowski, a pot-smoking Los Angelino whose favorite rug is stolen by thugs that…
Some Bushisms for the record, lest we forget
“So long,” sang Woody Guthrie, “it’s been good to know you.” I’m humming that tune as George W. rides off into the sunset — just an old cowpoke headed back home to his Texas spread. No, he’s not headed to that hokey ranchette in Crawford that Karl Rove insisted he buy in 1999 to spiff…
The budget mess we’re in
Rod Blagojevich appears to be coming to terms with the reality that his political fate will soon be sealed. He has acknowledged in recent days that the Illinois Senate is likely to convict and strip him from office. And this week he started showing displaying symptoms of severe impeachitis, playing hooky from work to hit…
Time to renew
If people can spend $40,000 to add a garage to their home or $10,000 on a new swimming pool, Mark Bauer says, why not invest in solar or wind power? “We drop money into our homes for things that we put value on that have no return on investment,” he says. “If you put money…
On the food front lines
Here is a sampling of organizations in Illinois supporting the alternative foods movement, and one in neighboring Wisconsin. The Frontera Farm Foundation, [www.rickbayless.com/foundation]. Reputedly chef/owner Rick Bayless’ restaurants, Frontera Grill and Topolobampo, are Barack Obama’s favorite Chicago restaurants. Bayless says that for small farmers trying to make a go of growing and raising food sustainably,…
A better food agenda
Dear President Obama, Congratulations on your election and inauguration! Though condolences seem almost as much in order as kudos. Just thinking about the challenges you face makes me want to brew a cup of tea, curl up in a chair and watch cheerful ’60s sitcoms. (Like your wife, Michelle, I love the “Dick Van Dyke…
Frost/Nixon: A fierce battle for redemption
A landmark in television journalism, the series of interviews between Britain’s David Frost and disgraced U. S. president Richard Nixon proved to be an arduous process for both men. Ron Howard’s film, Frost/Nixon, an adaptation of the play by Peter Morgan, gives us a fascinating look at what both men went through before the cameras…
Letters to the Editor
Spread the green It might be interesting to note that the funds for the Illinois Municipal Electric Agency’s “green” building comes from all of their coal-powered utility plants [see “Springfield’s first certified green building,” IT, Jan. 22]. How about passing the “green” on to their customers and getting some alternative energy plants?Jan MierChatham Brilliant and…
Imagination needed to save public access TV
Imagine cable television channels keeping you aware of all the local activities, events, policies and important decisions that affect your quality of life. Springfield offers that service, sort of. But how much longer the opportunity will exist is questionable. The Dec. 11 Illinois Times feature, “Fringe Voices – the fading promise of public access TV”…
Contamination examination
Ameren Illinois Utilities has made no secret about what’s going on under those big white tents just blocks away from the Capitol. As has been widely reported, the utility company is excavating the remnants of a manufactured-gas plant that operated there from 1854 until the 1930s and removing coal tar, a byproduct of the process,…
