About-face?
Untitled Document Aldermen are still demanding answers from the city of Springfield more than a month after they approved an ordinance tacking on an apprenticeship requirement to development projects that receive $500,000 or more in city, state, or federal funds. At Tuesday’s meeting of the finance committee, Ward 2 Ald. Gail Simpson succeeded in passing…
CAP CITY
Untitled Document GREAT BALLS OF FIRE! Up until now, one of our favorite summertime pastimes involved throwing back vodka tonics and taking in July 4 downtown fireworks shows from the palatial confines of Cap City Manor, on a secluded hill miles from the city. No more. The Springfield Jaycees, who organize the annual fireworks show,…
Playing in a Pool of Frogs
Untitled Document No, I’m not morphing into a nature columnist. I just want to tell you about a band known as Pool of Frogs. The name, the band says, is an allusion to The Frogs, a fourth-century Greek play written by Aristophanes in which the original party god, Dionysus, takes a little trip to Hades…
Flirtation
Untitled Document Sen. Martin Sandoval was one of just a tiny handful of Illinois Democratic state legislators who backed Hillary Clinton’s presidential bid over local favorite Barack Obama. Sandoval’s Chicago district and most of Chicagoland’s Latino precincts went for Clinton in the February primary, so it was probably a smart move, plus Sandoval has been…
Perfect storm
Untitled Document Heartland Ethanol LLC has jettisoned plans to construct seven ethanol plants around Illinois, including one in Waverly, in nearby Morgan County. Walker Filbert, Heartland’s president, says rising commodity prices, especially of corn, combined with the high price of petroleum and very little easing in credit markets, prompted the company’s private-equity investors to “put…
Taking shape
Untitled Document At last week’s kickoff ceremony for the construction of Habitat for Humanity’s largest-ever project in Sangamon County, the presiding cleric couldn’t get anything right. Every time the Rev. Chuck Edwards mentioned that the house would be home to Patty Redpath and her seven kids, 2-year-old Olivia Redpath corrected him — loudly. “No!” she…
Letters to the Editor
Untitled Document We welcome letters. Please include your full name, address, and telephone number. We edit all letters. Send them to Letters, Illinois Times, P.O. Box 5256, Springfield, IL 62705; fax 217-753-3958; e-mail editor@illinoistimes.com. BEAM ME UP, SCOTTY In his letter to the editor [June 12], Steve McGrew made an extremely convincing argument about the…
Dilatory government doesn’t get it done
Untitled Document Illinois Auditor General William Holland was so angry over the Department of Healthcare and Family Services’ delays in submitting information over the past year, he told them he was suspending all activity on his audit and wouldn’t resume until the “delinquent information” was provided. “For the first time in 15 years, I walked…
Medicine woman
Untitled Document Some of our earliest settlers’ stories are so fantastic, they’re hard to believe. Take Mary Neely Spears, also known as Granny Spears. At 19 she was kidnapped and enslaved by American Indians until she escaped and was discovered by her brother several states away more than two years later. She ended up near…
The Rico Act
Untitled Document Just past midnight on a chilly February night, Club Chrome is heating up. The nightclub on Springfield’s south side is packed to the gills with teenagers clad in myriad shades of red, yellow, and green; the spacious dance floor has been transformed into an ersatz exercise studio as young women and girls —…
The food of love
Untitled Document You could say we fell in love over dinner. Of course, there was that roll of toilet paper. My husband, Peter, and I were freshmen at the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign. Going away to college is a dramatic change for every college student, but it was more extreme for me than for most.…
Knocked out by Knock Out Roses
Untitled Document One of my favorite flowers is the rose. Roses are beautiful, but they require a great deal of time and maintenance. Growers must spray for diseases and insects, prune, water, fertilize, and provide protection during the winter. For this reason, the only rose I have in my landscaping is the Knock Out rose,…
IT Picks
Untitled Document Sound of music Music fans flood downtown’s streets this Saturday for an evening of swinging jazz and soulful blues by local and national practitioners of these genres. This year’s lineup, hosted by Springfield Area Arts Council, starts with performances by the Beatniks (6 p.m.) and the Pauline York Band (7 p.m.). Bob Katt…
People’s poetry
Untitled Document backthenpoem #3 my grandpa wrote my dadand uncle when they wereaway from the farm atphantom lake y camp he saidmy dear boys I am missing yougreatly not alone because ofyour help with the work butit is lonesome without youdo you know that story ofthe lad who had been awayfrom home a few days…
The price of coal
Untitled Document Several state environmental experts testified at the Illinois Department of Natural Resources building Monday and Tuesday during the first round of an administrative hearing to determine whether the IDNR erred in approving a permit for the Capital Resources Development Co. to strip-mine a 430.6-acre tract near Banner, a village 25 miles southwest of…
A nice warm garlic bath
Untitled Document Recipes that call for lots of garlic are always best when they’re made with new-crop garlic, which has started showing up at farm stands and local farmers’ markets. New-crop garlic’s flavor is intense but sweeter and less harsh (especially when raw) than that of garlic available in late winter. I don’t have scientific…
Death by privatization
Untitled Document On Jan. 2, yet another American soldier died in Iraq. But Staff Sgt. Ryan Maseth, a highly decorated Green Beret, didn’t die in a roadside bomb blast or after being shot by an Al Qaeda sniper. He was killed by his shower. More accurately, Maseth’s killer was privatization. That’s the out-of-control policy of…
More coherence Wanted
Untitled Document As action movies become more prevalent — and when are they more common than in the summer? — film directors find themselves with the unenviable task of topping the latest screen mayhem that made audiences gasp. Truth be told, they haven’t been successful in quite some time; most onscreen action has been either…
Alternative to AC
Untitled Document What’s the best way to keep cool indoors without running energy-hogging air conditioners all the time? According to Harvey Sachs of the nonprofit American Council for an Energy-Efficient Economy, the movement of air over the skin is what’s key to keeping the body cool. So instead of turning on the air conditioner, see…
