Not truly educative
A reformer talks education: “With the advent of democracy and modern industrial conditions, it is impossible to foretell definitely just what civilization will be twenty years from now. Hence it is impossible to prepare the child for any precise set of conditions. To prepare him for the future life means to give him command of…
This evening: Reception for Kevin Veara exhibition at UIS Visual Gallery
Kevin Veara owns land on the banks of the Sangamon River and his studio is surrounded by forest, so it makes sense that he creates vibrant, colorful paintings of birds and plants indigenous to the Springfield area. “I have always had a great liking for birds. They are a barometer of the quality of the environment,” Veara stated…
Stately vino
Illinois Grape Growers and Vintners Association’s annual Winter Wine Festival takes place Friday night, Jan. 31, during IGGVA’s three-day conference at Crowne Plaza. A Friday pass includes access to the trade show, lunch, educational sessions and the Winter Wine Festival. Participating wineries will offer tastings of their wines, as well as having wine available for…
Topinka captures AFL-CIO endorsement
I don’t think I’ve seen a Republican – or just about any candidate of any stripe – work as hard for an AFL-CIO endorsement than Comptroller Judy Baar Topinka did. She assiduously courted the unions who represent workers in her office, worked to help the Teamsters pass a bill important to the union that jabbed…
Going once, going twice…
If you need an armored car, tools or a whole lot of lingerie, you’re in luck. One year after what was billed as the largest personal property auction in state history, more detritus from THR and Associates, the failed brainchild of Jeffrey Parsons, will be auctioned online starting next month. Goods on offer include a…
Davis roundtable criticizes ‘Obamacare’
Congressman Rodney Davis, R-Ill. (at right), opposes the federal health reforms known as “Obamacare.” Photo BY PATRICK YEAGLE Although the 2010 federal health insurance reforms have survived nearly 50 repeal attempts and a trip to the U.S. Supreme Court, the law remains controversial. The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act contains a variety of provisions…
Making it from scratch
Dee and Vito Randazzo have owned Gallina’s in Capitol City Shopping Center for almost 30 years. PHOTO BY PATRICK YEAGLE “The Art of Hand-Tossed Pizza! The All New Hand-Tossed Pizza! Pizza Will Never Be the Same!” –Slogans from a national pizza chain’s newest ad campaign I thought of those slogans as I was sitting in…
Acoustic guitar maestro
Springfield Classical Guitar Society continues its 2013-14 season with a benefit concert by Russel Brazzel on Saturday, Feb. 1, at Faith Lutheran Church. Brazzel will include a fun variety of pieces from Renaissance lute music to “Sakura.” Brazzel has been performing concerts and promoting classical guitar in central Illinois for years. This concert is a…
Dinner and a second mortgage?
I know you’ve discussed how the guy should pay on the first few dates. I’ve been dating a pretty fabulous woman for a month, and I’m dipping into my savings to take her out to the sort of restaurants she’s used to. I earn a decent living in a creative field, but she is in…
Fun facts
PHOTO BY LAURA KAY COFFEY PechaKucha Night continues with Volume 14 on Thursday, Feb. 6, at the Hoogland Center for the Arts. Doors open at 6 p.m. with presentations taking place in Theater Three on the third floor of the center. The evening promises to be fun and informative with George Heroux, “Writing My Way…
Trial by jury
The United States ended military conscription in 1973, but draft-dodgers still roam the land – ordinary citizens drafted involuntarily into service as trial jurors by the courts. Many objections can be made to the policy of hauling untrained laypeople off the street under threat of fines or prison to decide complex matters of fact and…
Funny business
Stand-up comic Austin Acree, master of ceremonies Mike Pittman and production assistant Liz Zalar. PHOTO BY GINNY LEE “When I get an idea I figure out a way to bring it into fruition,” says Mike Pittman. “I’ve always had that ability.” First arriving in Springfield in the early 1980s as a pitcher for the Springfield…
Springfield teacher publishes children’s book on Africa
Springfield teacher Allison Gnuse wrote a children’s book about her experiences in Kenya. Photo BY PATRICK YEAGLE Although it’s only a dozen pages long, Allison Gnuse’s book is helping change lives more than 8,000 miles away. Gnuse, a Springfield teacher, recently published a children’s book about her time in Kenya, and most of the book’s…
Gobble, gobble
Whether processed chicken is so unpalatable as to be illegal will be decided by a federal jury under a recent decision by U.S. district court judge Sue Myerscough. In the meantime, denizens of the Rushville Treatment and Detention Center have seen their culinary situation evolve since suing the state of Illinois and the state’s food…
Cornucopia of concert conundrums
Calise Hawkins comes to Donnie B’s Comedy Club Mon., Feb. 3, 7:30pm. PHOTO BY ANYA GARRETT If anyone felt that the end of January, first of February time span would leave us Springfieldians desperate for music entertainment, just check that feeble feeling at the door. There’s plenty to do and more besides. Here are just…
A simply innovative career
Ron Earley PHOTO BY LAUREN P. DUNCAN When Ron Earley sees something, he thinks, “How can I make that better?” The Springfield resident has been designing, building and selling inventions that began as his own ideas since the 1960s. Some of them have made it to buyers’ homes; others never made it past his garage doors.…
Reluctant spy refreshing in Recruit
Chris Pine as Jack Ryan in Jack Ryan: Shadow Recruit. Right, Keira Knightley and Kenneth Branagh. PHOTOS COURTESY PARAMOUNT PICTURES Paramount Pictures is eager to relaunch its Jack Ryan franchise – which has been dormant since 2002’s The Sum of All Fears – and they’ve gone about it in a curious way. Instead of portraying…
Property rites
Curses, foiled again• Responding to a complaint that an armed neighbor tried to kick in the door and burglarize a home in Spokane, Wash., police found that suspect Brent Nouwels, 32, had returned to his home and turned off the lights. Officers repeatedly urged Nouwels to surrender peacefully, but he responded by climbing onto the…
Letters to the Editor 1/30/14
Native American descendants from Illinois participated in the “Gomo, Chief of the Potawatomi” historical marker dedication in Chillicothe last October. The marker was sponsored by the French Heritage Corridor and the Illinois State Historical Society. PHOTO BY WILLIAM FURRY CHIEF GOMO MARKER In James Krohe Jr.’s column last week (“A new Dawn at the Statehouse?”…
arachnid poem #13
arachnid poem #13 I’m sure you want to hear about spider sex males do not have copulatory organs they spin a small silk mat deposit their semen on it dip in their feelers then plunge these into the wife’s abdomen a male is usually much smaller than the ferocious female who will eat him during…
Will there be enough wings?
Recall the national attention, and concern, generated just before Thanksgiving when the country’s largest turkey producer indicated the possibility of a shortage of large, fresh turkeys? There is a major national celebration that will soon be upon us and the question may again arise – might another poultry shortage befall the American public? The day…
Former neighbors
PHOTO COURTESY LINCOLN LAND COMMUNITY COLLEGE Six Degrees of Kevin Bacon Abraham Lincoln is a special theater production that will take place on Sunday, Feb. 2, at the Hoogland Center for the Arts. It is jointly sponsored by the Sangamon County Historical Society and Lincoln Land Community College’s Community Learning Program. The title is taken…
The Strumbellas
Rolling in from the Great White North, to tour through the U.S. Midwest, The Strumbellas hail from Lindsay, Ontario (that’s in Canada, folks), bringing a brand new album, We Still Move on Dance Floors, along with them. The Juno-nominated (a Canadian music award for their debut CD, My Father And The Hunter), six-piece band meshes many sounds…
The millionaires’ Congress vs. the people
The rich truly are different from you and me – they tend to hold seats in Congress. Our nation purports to be a representative democracy, yet you don’t find many plumbers, mineworkers, dirt farmers, Wal-Mart associates, roofers, beauty parlor operators, taxi drivers, or other “get-the-job-done” Americans among the 535 members of the U.S. House and…
Editor’s Note 1/30/14
“Why so many small babies in Sangamon County?” is the question from this issue that haunts. See page 11 for the article by Lauren P. Duncan, our editorial intern. Sangamon County’s rate for low birth weight babies (under 5.5 pounds) is 9.3 percent, well above the national average of 6 percent. Why? One SIU doctor…
Why so many small babies in Sangamon County?
The abundance of doctors in Springfield doesn’t translate into a healthy population as a whole. Sangamon County ranked 80 out of Illinois’ 102 counties in overall health in the County Health Rankings Report published by the University of Wisconsin Population Health Institute and the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation. The county ranked second place in clinical…
Efficiency deficiences
The final report issued this month by Sangamon County’s first-ever citizens efficiency commission is remarkable for its nomenclature. The word “resources” appears 39 times in the 71-page document authored by the 23-member commission charged with figuring out how to streamline the workings of local government. “Efficient” shows up 31 times, “government” appears a whopping 377…
