Human drama grounds Solo
Alex Honnold is not like you or me. Sure, the fact that he climbs mountains is one of the obvious things that separate him from the pack, but even within the climbing community, he’s regarded as unique. He climbs free solo (without ropes, harnesses or any other safety devices), a method less than one…
Nursing home ordered to pay $6.75 million
A Sangamon County jury has awarded $6.75 million to the family of Robert Folder, who died in 2014 after a mishap at Lewis Memorial Christian Village in Springfield. Folder, 78, was being loaded into a van outside the nursing home when the van’s wheelchair lift became stuck, according to a lawsuit filed by his widow…
Anti-Muslim post appears on clerk’s Facebook page
A Facebook post quoting conservative former presidential candidate Michele Bachmann saying that Muslims are out to destroy Christianity briefly appeared on the Facebook page of Sangamon County circuit clerk Pal Palazzolo on Tuesday night. “The movement of Muslims into Europe and the U.S. is a planned invasion for the specific purpose of destroying Western Christendom,”…
A Texas tale
Valued at $20 million, the ALPLM’s copy of the Gettysburg Address is one of five in existence handwritten by Abraham Lincoln. Glenn Beck’s been down on his luck. The talk show personality with bluster – he’s called Barack Obama a racist and said that relatives of 9/11 victims complain too much –has been laying off…
Big job ahead for deputy governors
Gov. JB Pritzker announced last week that he had picked Sol Flores to be his fourth deputy governor. He’d previously announced deputy governors Dan Hynes, Christian Mitchell and Jesse Ruiz. Pritzker’s deputy governors are each overseeing a block of related state agencies and departments and track their progress on goals that the governor wants those entities to…
A past worth remembering
U.S. Rep. Rodney Davis, R-Taylorville, has put his name on a bill that would designate the area where remains of the 1908 Springfield race riots were uncovered as a national monument. Racial tensions hit a low point in Springfield’s history in mid-August of 1908. Provoked by a claim of rape that was eventually recanted two…
Law takes aim at firearm sales
Gun dealers around the state have been hit with a new law that will impact more than who buys firearms. Gov. J.B. Pritzker signed Senate Bill 337 on Jan. 17, a holdover piece of legislation from the 100th General Assembly. Sen. John Cullerton placed the piece on hold March 31, shortly after the bill was…
All in the family
At least four relatives of Springfield Mayor Jim Langfelder have gotten city jobs since the mayor took office in 2015. A nephew who worked a $10-per-hour temporary job at the public works department in the summer of 2017 is no longer on the city payroll, nor is Travis Hamlin, a former budget analyst with the…
We Won
After more than three years, Illinois Times is on the verge of prying loose information on settlements to resolve medical malpractice claims involving state inmates. We first requested settlements back in 2015. The state Department of Corrections, however, didn’t have them. Rather, the settlements were made and held by Wexford Health Sources, the company that…
Secretary Suspended
The recent arrest of Kassie M. Benton, 24, of Mount Zion, a secretary at Eisenhower High School in Decatur, has been an emotional roller coaster for parents with children. Benton told police she made sexual contact with a 17-year-old student who attended the school in February or March of 2018. The now 18-year-old victim confirmed…
Think Tank Solutions
The conservative Illinois Policy Institute has released its own “State of the State” analysis of Illinois’ economic ills, with some proposed solutions. “Since the decade began, Illinois has experienced the greatest population loss of any state in the nation,” writes the organization’s chief economist, Orphe Divounguy. “This period of decline has had detrimental effects on…
Letters to the Editor
ELECTRONIC MONITORING IS A BARRIERIn honoring the legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I am grateful that the civil rights movement led to the dismantling of segregation and discrimination against people of color. Nevertheless, I am troubled about a resurgence of racism in our society by which people of color still experience hate…
Editor’s Note 01/24/19
January is the month some central Illinois farmers are planting new ideas about what seeds to sow when, and how to care for the soil they depend on. On Jan. 23 they gathered at the Crowne Plaza in Springfield for a “Conservation Cropping” seminar to share ideas about a better way to farm, one that…
A night at the symphony
The Illinois Symphony Orchestra’s “Nordic Nights” will feature clarinetist John Bruce Yeh. Yeh was the first Asian musician appointed to the Chicago Symphony Orchestra (CSO) and its longest-serving clarinetist. He joined the CSO in 1977 and was named assistant principal and solo E-flat clarinet and served as acting principal clarinet from 2008-2011. Yeh has also…
Inhabited at the SAA Collective
Inhabited, an exhibit at the Springfield Art Association’s Collective gallery, features the works of Skyler McGee, Rick Larimore and Kate Worman-Becker. Using diverse techniques and drawing inspiration from the world around them, these artists use the natural world to bind together the spaces we inhabit. McGee’s work provides a visual space to explore the experienced…
Care Bare
I’m dating this new woman. I like her a lot, but she keeps complaining that I still have pictures of my ex-girlfriend on my wall, saying that it makes her uncomfortable, especially when we’re having sex. I was with my ex for a while, and we lived together. They’re just pictures. What’s the big deal?…
Healthy habits start early
It’s never too late to adopt better eating habits and experiment with natural, fresh and whole foods. Avoiding processed foods and added sugar are keys to eating a more nutritious diet. People of all ages can benefit by eating more vegetables and unprocessed foods. Many who change their diet, instead of “going on a diet,”…
Staying active in winter
I set out to write about getting outdoors and staying active in the winter because, frankly, I was in desperate need of motivation. My second child was born late last summer, and when an early autumn snow fell we proceeded to burrow down in our little house like a family of cozy squirrels. The holidays…
Preventing youth sports injuries
Athletic activity in youth offers many benefits, including the development of fitness, motor skills and social skills, as well as learning structure and teamwork, and fostering a lifelong appreciation for physical activity. With all sports, there is some inherent risk involved, but by understanding factors which are known to increase injury and by following certain…
Making exercise fun
Many of us make a list of New Year’s resolutions that may or may not be attainable, and all too often people vow to go to the gym or lose weight, both of which are rather vague. According to the Fitness Industry Association, most of the gym members who sign up in January have quit…
How I got my groove back
Shawn Balint is a local radio personality who works as the news director for Neuhoff Media. Some people figure out how to be Superman, but they don’t know how to be Clark Kent. That could be said about the singer that excels on the stage but has no clue how to have a personal life…
Glass: A frustrating, intriguing failure
Comic book enthusiasts are very defensive of their favorite medium. They contend there’s much more to the superhero stories they love so much, and they’ll go to great lengths to explain this to you in detail if you have the patience to listen to them. The massive success of the superhero movie has only justified…
Giving and jiving in January
Could the worst of the winter weather be done, allowing us to resume proper attendance of live music shows? Let’s hope so, because we’re all counting on it. The frigid temps last Sunday (yes, it was “f-ing” cold out, and, ahem, that stands for “freezing”) did not cool down the warm reception given to the…
Brushville
When they came out of the pack of new area bands like a supercharged rocket on fire some five years ago, this group of talented musicians became one of the hottest acts around. From winning the esteemed Battle for the Saddle national talent search, culminating at the Wildhorse Saloon in Nashville, back in 2012 to…
anniversary poem 2019
anniversary poem 2019 my daughter’s birthday is come around again sometimes I think it’s probably better she succumbed to her own demons (though she claimed they weren’t her own) for if she’d lived how could she endure our present demonic days? nato/nafta threats threat to her british birthland – climatecatastrophe plus human greed and need…
Reaching too far?
The English poet and playwright Robert Browning wrote: “Ah, but a man’s reach should exceed his grasp. Or what’s a heaven for?” This phrase has been cycling around in my head these past few days. An interesting chain of events has landed me in the kitchen of Michelin-starred Elizabeth, one of Chicago’s top restaurants, where…
