City subpoenaed in Shredgate
The Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission has demanded records on the shredding of police disciplinary files from the city of Springfield. The city on July 24 received a subpoena from the ARDC, which has the power to investigate alleged wrongdoing by lawyers and recommend sanctions to the state Supreme Court, which has the power…
Tonight at Torch Tuesday: DJ Yatti Dny
Tonight at Torch Tuesday, all eyes will be on resident DJ Yatti Dny, who will be spinning all night, providing a master class in the art of DJ-ing. Yatti says he first started to DJ due to the simple process of elimination. “There was me and three other guys walking down the street. Two dudes…
Sounds of Jim Morrison
Brian Jackson reads from his new book today and Brian sounds like Jim Morrison! For those who have heard tapes of The Doors legend reading his poetry … his voice is mesmerizing and beautiful. So, Poets in the Parlor today is a 2 o’clock treat. Only an hour of your day. (Plus, Brian used to…
Sandler and company aim low once more in Grown Ups 2
I’m sure that Adam Sandler is a very nice man. You never read anything bad about him in the news and he’s obviously very loyal to his friends. You’ll find many of the same names on the cast list of his films. He’s provided employment for a good many of his former Saturday Night Live…
you can’t make this up poem #1
you can’t make this up poem #1 in texas at the statehouse the security guards took away from the women entering all feminine materials what concealed carry is in a tampon? 2013 Jacqueline Jackson
Going somewhere?
Jeffrey Parsons, the allegedly bankrupt entrepreneur who made and purportedly lost a fortune buying and selling gold and precious metals, is moving. Moving vans appeared today outside Parsons’ Panther Creek luxury home, which Parsons acquired in 2011 in a lease-to-own deal with local car magnate Todd Green. Green paid $865,000 for the home, then turned…
Don’t blame ISU. Here’s what’s wrong with teaching.
I would like to comment on the article by James Krohe Jr. called “Manufacturing mediocrity” (July 18). First, regarding Illinois State University (ISU). I am a graduate of there with a bachelor’s and almost a graduate of their Ph.D. program in mathematics education. I am not sure about all programs in the university, but I…
If you knew sushi
It seems as if sushi is everywhere these days – in eclectic restaurants and Chinese mega-buffets that offer a bewildering (and too often badly executed) mix of cuisines as well as prefab offerings in grocery stores. I’ve even seen sushi on display in gas stations, though not in Springfield or central Illinois. Even so, some…
Reverend Raven and the Chain Smokin’ Altar Boys
With enough playing under their respective belts to make an old bluesman weep and moan, you would be hard pressed to find a more a traditional sounding, Chicago electric blues band at work today than this group of blues veterans. Praised as being “very, very good” by none other than the incredible and venerable Buddy…
News Quirks 7/25/13
Curses, foiled againBoston police accused Zachary Tentoni, 26, of snatching a woman’s purse because when he grabbed the purse, he dropped two bags he was holding and fled without them. One bag contained his birth certificate; the other, a letter from his mother. Officers stopped a man fitting the robber’s description and learned that he…
Mystery meet
A man my friend was crazy for just broke up with her. I kind of saw the breakup coming, as I thought they were too different, but she thinks he just falsely advertised who he really is. They met online, and he made himself out to be this guy who loves art and culture, which…
The ‘helping hands’ helping themselves
The word “help” is so uplifting, conveying our best humanitarian values. How odd, then, to see it used in this New York Times headline: “Banks’ Lobbyists Help in Drafting Financial Bills.” I’ll bet they did! We all know how altruistic, beneficent and kindhearted Wall Street lobbyists are – when it comes to helping themselves, that…
Letters to the Editor 7/25/13
EAD ON ARRIVAL The purpose of this message is to offer a prediction concerning your feature, “Building bigger, better hospitals” (Patrick Yeagle, July 18). Hospitals are obsolete and will soon go the way of the Bell telephone. All medical treatment and medicine in general is 500 percent overpriced because of waste, mal-investment (building unnecessary hospital…
Jeffrey Parsons accused of lying
Embattled entrepreneur Jeffrey Parsons concealed assets and fibbed under oath in the course of bankruptcy proceedings, according to the trustee in charge of Parsons’ pending Chapter 7 case filed last fall. Jeffrey Richardson, the trustee, says that Parsons underreported income in sworn statements and concealed more than $1 million from hundreds of creditors that include…
BETTER LATE THAN NEVER
Six months after regulators warned they were going to get serious about groundwater contamination at a Carlinville area mine, the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency has referred a pollution case to the state attorney general’s office for enforcement. Options now range from a negotiated settlement to a lawsuit filed before the Illinois Pollution Control Board, which…
Citizen rockers
“I was born here but I can’t die here / And all my dreams, they all dried up a long time ago” – lyric from “Dignity” by The Seething Coast Playing in a rock and roll band is never a casual proposition. Investments of time and money for rehearsal and equipment can be sizable, while…
Hoping for a humdinger
In May, George Ryan’s son revealed that his father, late of the Executive Mansion and the federal pen, was writing his memoirs. Ryan fils promised it would be a “humdinger,” a “no holds barred book” that will “tell it like it is.” We can only hope. It can’t be easy for a politician to plainly…
Rail consolidation design under way
It’s not a sure thing yet, but Springfield’s rail consolidation plan is becoming more likely as design work and field research ramp up. The first piece of construction could start in mid-2014 with the installation of an underpass where Carpenter Street crosses the 10th Street tracks, and the entire project could be completed by 2020…
OLD OLDS
It had just five horsepower and could attain a top speed of only 20 mph, but back in the early 1900s, that was pretty impressive. The 1901 Oldsmobile Curved Dash was the first mass-produced automobile in the U.S., and the 1902 model is in Springfield for the Oldsmobile Club of America’s National Meet at Springfield’s…
Entertaining info
The venue has changed, but all the spectacular, inspiring and fun knowledge that spills from the minds of Springfield folk at this event remains the same. PechaKucha comes to the Hoogland Center for the Arts on Aug. 1. Corral your friends for an evening of drinks and entertainment. Ten individuals will share their powerpoint presentations…
Davis and Schock under pressure on immigration
Leaders from the religious, law enforcement and business realms met in Springfield last week to put public pressure on Illinois Republican congressmen regarding immigration reform. They said fixing the “horribly broken system” is a moral obligation and an economic necessity. The Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce last week hosted “Bibles, Badges and Business for Immigration,”…
Music to the rescue
Have you noticed whenever someone thinks about doing a benefit for something, live music is the main draw? Auctions, raffles and donations may make the cash, but the music magnet gets ’em there. If you don’t believe me, just ask a musician and you’ll find out more requests come in for playing for free for…
The good, the bad and the potential ugly
Gov. Pat Quinn is leading his sole Democratic primary rival, and challenger Bill Daley will have some serious problems with his blue chip résumé, according to a new Capitol Fax/We Ask America poll. The poll of 1,394 likely Democratic primary voters found Quinn leading Daley by five points, 38-33. That’s exactly where the two stood…
Interview with a sailor at sea
Somewhere in the Coral Sea, off the northeast coast of Australia, a U.S. aircraft carrier is conducting training exercises with the Royal Australian Navy. Aboard that 1,092-foot carrier, named USS George Washington, a young Springfield native serving in the U.S. Navy is working through the night, making sure the ship can communicate with other vessels.…
Most excellent adventure
Meet Ben Viele and Alexander Rodriguez. They are co-hosts of Los Angeles’s Universal Broadcasting Network Internet radio show “Happy Hour with Ben and Alexander.” So what are they doing in central Illinois and why are they putting on a show at the Hoogland Center for the Arts? Well, Viele’s hometown is in central Illinois and…
The plot thickens
Sunday, July 28, will be a great time to visit one or all of Springfield’s community vegetable gardens in the University of Illinois Extension’s Roots to Rooftop tour. There are eight sites on the tour: genHkids gardens at Douglas School, genHkids Seeds of Possibility community garden, Illinois Department of Agriculture community garden, Jefferson Park community…
Familiar frights haunt The Conjuring
In the fall of 1971, Roger and Carolyn Perron (Ron Livingston and Lili Taylor) got a fantastic deal on a sprawling home in rural Rhode Island. To be sure, it was a house that needed some work – the floors were in need of finishing, there were more than a few squeaky hinges that needed…
