Discrimination?
Samuel Rosario, the Springfield police officer charged with official misconduct and battery after fighting a man while on duty in February, has filed a complaint with the Illinois Department of Human Rights, claiming that he is the victim of discrimination by the city. The city placed Rosario on unpaid leave in February, immediately after challenging…
Seeing your name in print
A pleasant surprise today — a box full of copies of my new book, fresh from the printer. After some 40 years, the thrill of seeing one’s name in print has faded, but I confess that opening a box — I thought it was from Amazon — felt a bit like Christmas Eve when I…
Wild courthouse struggle in Logan County
James Grimaldi, a Lincoln lawyer, got a continuance the hard way on Wednesday when he helped subdue a defendant in the Logan County courthouse who ended up in an ambulance A courthouse security officer was also injured and taken away by ambulance after a struggle with the man, who tried bolting from courthouse as a…
More floppies in a shoebox
Having found itself unable to solve the state’s big problems, legislators the other day took up a small one – the agreement to spend $2.4 million over five years for space in a converted furniture store in which to store records of the Department of Human Services. I know nothing about that lease as a…
Will you enlist in Trump’s war?
Donald Trump missed the opportunity to become a General Patton-style military commander and glorious war hero back in the Vietnam era. He surely would’ve been the greatest ever in history! But, he says – alas – some unspecified foot problem (or something or the other) kept him from the privilege of actually getting to go…
An irresistible force vs. an immovable object
As we’ve all seen over the past several months, Gov. Bruce Rauner is adamantly refusing to provide any help whatsoever to Chicago, which is struggling mightily under the weight of years of fiscal misfeasance, until his Turnaround Agenda demands are met. A long-sought education funding reform bill, a 911 emergency call center fee, even a…
Letters to the Editor
LETTERS We welcome letters. Please include your full name, address and telephone number. We edit all letters. Send them to editor@illinoistimes.com. — MISSING PUZZLES, ADVICE I enjoy your publication. Having said that, I’m extremely disappointed your three puzzles (Crossword, JoshJosh, Sudoku) and the “Advice Goddess” column were missing from the June 8 edition. These are…
Editor’s note
With school out and summer heating up, bored kids get into trouble, sometimes with guns. After a signal from Mayor Jim Langfelder that the way to address teen violence is with activities and summer jobs, activists in several meetings I’ve been in recently discuss ways to help. As the discussion turns to the difficulty finding…
Municipal bands, a summer favorite
Times may change, but some things stay the same. Fortunately for music lovers across Illinois, the municipal band is a constant, a cherished part of the summer landscape in communities statewide for decades. Across Illinois and the nation, musicians in communities large and small keep the tunes playing for a devoted following, spending their precious…
Step into the 1860s
Step back in time on Saturday, June 17, and take in an afternoon of America’s pastime in accordance with 1860s rules and uniforms. The Vintage Baseball Festival will begin at noon and features three old-school baseball games played by three local teams. Game one begins at noon and features the Springfield Long Nine versus the…
Fair pricing for all
The Sangamon County Fair has made some exciting pricing changes for the 2017 season. General fair admission has been lowered, and will cost $10 on Thursday, Friday and Saturday, and $5 on Sunday. Admission is free to patrons ages 3 and under every day. Sunday is military day, which grants free admission to active duty…
Speaking ill of the dud
I have a close friend whose relationships always end badly. The new guy she’s dating has a reputation as a user. My friend’s very successful, and I believe he’s dating her for her business contacts. I need to be honest with her about this. How should I do that – considering she falls in love…
Smart talk on the radio
“I believe that Illinois is a lot more connected than people portray it to be,” said Niala Boodhoo, host of the daily Illinois Public Media-produced talk show “The 21st” which airs live Monday through Friday at 11 a.m. on Springfield’s NPR Illinois as well as in DeKalb, Peoria, Bloomington and Urbana. The show’s motto, “21st-century…
A courtroom thriller to make you think
Deep into his new novel, Testimony, author Scott Turow makes a prescient observation about trial lawyers through the thoughts of his protagonist, Willian ten Boom. “The truth is that every effective trial attorney develops a style of their own, just like good painters and singers and pitchers, one that involves capitalization on idiosyncrasies.” Turow may…
Trump slashes budget for museums and libraries
Medicaid, education, the environment and social services are some of the high-profile issues affected by the Trump FY 2018 budget proposal. There are many additional impacts on small federal agencies, including the Institute of Museum and Library Services (IMLS). If you have visited the children’s Play Museum at the Illinois State Museum or checked out…
Calvin Christian back in court on federal charges
Calvin Christian III of Springfield, the plaintiff who helped topple a mayor, is back in court, this time as a defendant facing as many as 15 years behind bars. Christian is charged in U.S. District Court in Springfield for a dozen alleged felonies in Sangamon and Morgan counties, but federal prosecutors say that Christian also…
Telling Trump the importance of truth
Without hesitation, David Barnett, a Trump supporter and developer from New Berlin, explained his view of the social and political dissension within the country. “It’s difficult to find the truth these days,” he said. “Everybody’s got an axe to grind.” This evaluation has propelled Barnett to write an oversized book for President Donald Trump. Titled…
Lincoln papers melodrama plays on
Somewhere inside the National Archives in Washington, D.C., resides a Zeutschel OS 14000 A2 TT planetary capture system that has been, perhaps, Abraham Lincoln’s best friend in the 21st century. A Zeutschel planetary capture system is a fancy term for a scanner, the kind that’s used to convert paper to pixels. No offense to Xerox…
Weisz captivating in My Cousin Rachel
“Did she or didn’t she?” That’s the question that hangs over Roger Michell’s My Cousin Rachel, an adaptation of the Daphne du Maurier novel that’s long on atmosphere as well as tension, as the director doles out one key bit of information after another about the mysterious lead character, none of which seems to be…
Fair music and more
Here we go with the annual Sangamon County Fair entertainment plus many more doings around our fair city. Need I remind you that your job is, yet again, a difficult task when it comes down to deciding how to spend your precious time by choosing what live music event to drag your lovely self to…
Greg Finger Band
Growing up in the suburbs of Cincinnati, a young Greg Finger became fascinated by the sounds he created on an old, out-of-tune upright piano his parents purchased for him while he was still in grade school. The possibilities contained in the mysteries of music-making drove him to learn different instruments and dream of what could…
Easy as pie
Despite the old-fashioned expression, making a pie from scratch intimidates many. It is another culinary skill that has atrophied in our culture over the years, a casualty of convenience and frozen food technology. The saddest part about this is that most folks today clearly have no idea what good pie tastes like. We’ve become so…
Haiku, in Memorium: Patricia Dougan Dalvit
Haiku, in Memorium: Patricia Dougan Dalvit I’ve lost a sister . . . she’s gone to a distant climebringing it music . . . ©2017 Jacqueline Jackson
Democratic lawmakers push for higher education legislation
During the100th General Assembly, House Democrats have introduced a series of bills to increase financial assistance and opportunities for higher education students. Meanwhile, Senate Democrats have supported these measures and passed a student debt relief bill of their own. House Democrats successfully passed through both chambers, HB 3211, a bill that aims to inform low-income…
