Police files opened by judge
The city of Springfield has lost what could prove a key lawsuit in a longstanding fight to keep police internal affairs files under wraps. In a ruling issued Friday, Sangamon County Circuit Court Judge John Schmidt ordered the city to turn over internal affairs files to Calvin Christian III, who sued after the city refused…
Top cop wore tasteless tee
Updated with reaction from Mayor Mike Houston, city council, 12:43 p.m. 7/12/13 Springfield deputy police chief Clifford Buscher was wearing a t-shirt with a racially charged message when he was arrested in Missouri in 2008 after drunkenly firing a gun while on a fishing trip with three other officers. A mug shot of Buscher taken…
Pharmacy Visiting Artist: Joshua Cox
This is the first in a series of posts leading up to Saturday’s (July 13) group exhibit of work by members and guests of Springfield art collective The Pharmacy. Joshua Cox grew up in central Illinois, in small towns near Peoria. He eventually headed east, y earning his MFA from the Art Institute of Boston…
Pharmacy Visiting Artist II: Sarah Nesbit
This is the second in a series of posts leading up to Saturday’s (July 13) group exhibit of work by members and guests of Springfield art collective The Pharmacy. “I have a general idea of where I want to start, and kind of where I’m headed,” says Peoria-based artist Sarah Nesbit of her experience painting,…
Smackdown
Outlawed since 1924, heroin bumped along from the Jazz Age through the Vietnam War, mostly as someone else’s problem, at least so far as most folks outside large metropolitan areas were concerned. Penalties are tough. Heroin possession in Illinois can fetch four to 60 years in prison, depending on the amount. The threat of prison…
Tasting, tasting, one, two, three
Many other glorious events fill our entertainment calendar this weekend, but none can compare to the shindig of the season, Taste of Downtown Springfield. Years in the making, the Taste combines three of humankind’s favorite activities, proven through centuries of on-hand research – eating, drinking and making music. So come on up to downtown and…
Letters to the Editor 7/11/13
QESTIONS FOR KROHE The cheap shots at local business men and women were in poor taste, but that aside, James Krohe’s column in Illinois Times July 4 edition (“Qestions about Jefferson Crossing”)completely misses the point and demonstrates an astonishing lack of understanding of the project. However, what is lost on him was vividly depicted in…
Likable characters, inventive visuals buoy Despicable 2
Perhaps the most surprising thing about Pierre Coffin and Chris Renaud’s Despicable Me 2 is that it seems far less ambitious than its predecessor. Sporting little in the way of character development as well as a fairly standard plot, the film flirts with being a throwaway exercise throughout. With a running time of 98 minutes,…
Something old, something new
There’s a new quilt coming to town and you’re invited to have your name embroidered on it. The Vachel Lindsay Home State Historic site and Vachel Lindsay Association are re-creating a century-old signature quilt that has 520 names of Springfield folk from 1912 on it. The original quilt was a gift to poet Vachel Lindsay’s…
Wonderful watermelon
It’s the very essence of summer. As a kid, I’d hang on to the green rind as I plowed my way through a half-moon slice or wedge, or sometimes even a canoe-shaped lateral hunk, hunched over so that the juice wouldn’t drip on my clothes – which it inevitably did, regardless. That was pretty much…
Rockin’ Johnny Burgin Band
The blues speaks to all and Rockin’ Johnny knows the language better than most. The Chicago-based singing guitarist plays the blues with an edge, not over the top or in your face, but in the groove and to your soul. Johnny came on strong in the 90s playing all over with everybody, then took a…
Heat can’t warm these leftovers
If I were to substitute salt for sugar while making a cake I would have a dessert that would look about the same but would be a bit of a disaster. In making The Heat, director Paul Feig and writer Katie Dippold take the same approach to the buddy/cop movie by focusing on female law…
News Quirks 7/11/13
Curses, foiled againRobert Johnson, 69, pleaded guilty to shooting his wife in the back of the head at their home in O’Toole, W.Va. Prosecutors said Johnson then shot himself under the chin, but his dentures deflected the bullet, saving his life for the trial. (Bluefield’s WVVA-TV) Dylan Aufdengarten, 27, an inmate at Nebraska’s Lincoln County…
Cleanup in aisle home
I’ve been seeing my boyfriend for 10 months and living with him and his 12-year-old daughter for half that time. He broke up with his daughter’s mother after she became addicted to coke and then meth. She has been in and out of jail and has a massive number of possessions, loads of which are…
Texas GOP unleashes political quackery
A few years ago, during consideration of a bill being pushed by a Republican elder in the Texas Senate, first-term Sen. Wendy Davis asked him a question about it. Rather than respond to this Democrat, this woman, the old bull replied dismissively, “I have trouble hearing women’s voices.” No more. Even a stone-deaf old bull…
Taxing work
In 2011, the General Assembly, kicking and screaming, did what was good for it and ate its spinach. Members raised the rate at which the State of Illinois taxes the income of its citizens, thus forestalling a revenue crisis. That tasted so bad that they could not swallow it; the rate will have to be…
Group specs
The Pharmacy art collective opens its latest one-night show on Saturday, July 13 featuring member works and the work of two Peoria artists, Josh Cox and Sarah Nesbit. Cox will show his multimedia installation fashioned out of cardboard and light, The Immediate is No Longer Than Impression. Nesbit’s Simultaneous Space incorporates memory and photographs. Pharmacy…
Girl power
Springfield Municipal Opera (The Muni) and Illini Bank will present the musical masterpiece Dreamgirls, July 12-14, 17-21 at its outdoor amphitheater. The storyline follows a 1960s girl singing group that comes into fame and fortune. The musical was inspired by the Motown girl group, The Supremes. Nominated for 13 Tony awards and winning six, folks…
Local chow
Here’s a festival that’s all about local chow with 12 downtown restaurants participating. A hint of the scrumptious menu to entice you – fried oyster po’boys, cucumber basil watermelon sangria, crab cake sandwiches, deep-fried brownies, lemon berry ice cream, hummus sandwich, hoisin crusted pork belly and Chinese noodles. Purchase wristbands at admission gates near Fourth and…
DEMOCRACY IN ACTION
How many big-screen televisions does it take to keep up with the Springfield City Council? Four. That’s how many are in place in council chambers (maximum occupancy 140) to keep track of who voted which way on ordinances and resolution. And they have hardly been up to snuff since being installed last year to replace…
Sprinkler proposal raises builders’ ire
Illinois is considering a building code change that would mandate sprinklers in all new residences, but homebuilders worry it could hamstring the already struggling construction industry. Illinois State Fire Marshal Larry Matkaitis has asked a panel of state legislators to adopt a national fire standard that mandates residential sprinkler systems. Meanwhile, the Home Builders Association…
Parolee accused of murder has long criminal record
A prison parolee accused of beating a homeless woman to death on June 1 faces decades in prison if convicted. Meanwhile, the transitional home in Springfield to which he was paroled faces zoning violations that could shut it down. On June 1, 47-year-old homeless woman Rebecca Cleaton was found beaten and strangled to death in…
TORNADO TREES
Tornadoes are a powerful force of nature, and occasionally, columnists can be, too. After Illinois Times columnist James Krohe Jr. lamented in a May 30 column that the “Tornado Trees” exhibit at the Illinois State Museum, 502 S. Spring St., was no longer on display, the popular exhibit is back for a limited time. The…
The citizen survey beneath the surface
The recently released Sangamon County Citizen Survey offers an interesting glimpse into the attitudes, perceptions and conditions that help shape our local community. Since surveys like this are not intended to determine fact, using the findings to draw definitive conclusions about complex issues is dangerous. But in public affairs a fine line often separates perception…
Ranger undone by schizophrenic tone
Without question, sitting through director Gore Verbinski’s The Lone Ranger was the most frustrating film-going experience I’ve had all year. Epic in scope, gorgeous to look at, mythic in its approach to its seminal title character, at its best the film successfully hearkens back to some of the great Westerns and at times pays homage…
To boldly go … (geek alert)
“Yeah, shut up Spock!” But seriously folks — I own this movie, How Star Trek Changed the World, that Shatner hosted and I have read about the science experts who worked on the series (some of them here in the film). Visit StarTrek.com for more Star Trek or go here: How Star Trek has changed…
