State’s top Lincoln expert on shelf
Astute observers may have wondered why Samuel Wheeler, Illinois state historian, was the one who showed off Lincoln relics to a reporter in a recent CBS News spot that ran coast-to-coast, putting the fundraising travails of the presidential museum’s private foundation in the national spotlight. Isn’t that a job reserved for James Cornelius, curator of…
Phishing for cash?
A New Jersey pharmacy has sued a Springfield payment processing firm and its owner, claiming that she either stole more than $5 million or bought into a phishing scheme that resulted in a seven-figure loss. While her attorney disputes both the theft accusation and the size of the loss alleged by Empire Specialty Pharmacy, Debbie…
From the club to a convent
Catch the final weekend of The Muni’s stage adaptation of Sister Act, the hilarious 1990s comedy starring Whoopi Goldberg as Deloris Van Cartier, a Las Vegas lounge singer, who, after discovering the criminal activity of her boyfriend, enters the witness protection program disguised as a nun at St. Katherine’s Parish in San Francisco. Sister Act,…
Don’t fence me in
Forget, for a moment, the deeper mysteries of life, the sound of one hand clapping and why it’s still legal to traffick in bump stocks. For the moment, at least, I’m more interested in intersections. The intersection of North Grand Avenue and Sixth Street, to be precise. When I moved to the North End nearly…
Keep resisting
From the revolutionaries of the 1770s to today’s grassroots rebels engaged in multiple struggles for democratic rights, every inch of progress has been vehemently opposed by entrenched enemies of change. Invariably, the upstart activists of democracy movements find themselves trivialized as unworthy and uppity by elite protectors of the status quo. “What is it those…
Top of the ballot races
According to a recent Capitol Fax/We Ask America poll, Democrat J.B. Pritzker leads Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner by nine points, 36-27, with 26 percent choosing an unnamed third-party candidate and 11 percent undecided. In other words, slightly more people said they preferred third party and/or were undecided than supported the frontrunner, Pritzker. The partisan breakdown…
Letters to the Editor 6/21/18
THANK YOU, TEACHERS For the past three weeks or so, I have felt a tug on my heart to rise up and recognize our teachers and the critical role that they play in charting the course of young lives. It may be because I spent 15 years as a teacher before leaving to start my…
Editor’s note 6/21/18
“Don’t call my business small,” was the common sentiment given voice at the Chamber of Commerce Small Business Awards program this week. As 37 businesses were recognized and five of those were chosen as “owner of the year” in different categories, those in the Crowne Plaza dining room identified with how all these businesses loom…
Korea: Not so fast!
It’s easy to agree that beauty is desirable, though what each person considers to be beautiful can be very different. Kim Jong Un and President Trump have signed an agreement in Singapore declaring that they will bring peace and security between their nations, more particularly that they are committed to denuclearization of the Korean Peninsula.…
Tour on-road bicycle facilities
Celebrate Springfield’s achievement of bronze status as a “Bicycle Friendly Community.” This casual-paced, one-hour tour of some of Springfield’s on-road bicycle facilities starts and ends at Cafe Moxo during the downtown farmers market. This designation by the League of American Bicyclists recognizes the many ways in which city and local organizations have worked during the…
Urban agriculture and garden tour
On Sunday, June 24, tour four community gardens and the rooftop garden at Maldaner’s Restaurant during the Roots to Rooftop Tour, sponsored by Slow Food Springfield, University of Illinois Extension, Maldaner’s, the Springfield Civic Garden Club, Grow Springfield and the Illinois Stewardship Alliance. The tour runs from 9 a.m. to 2:30 p.m., with each garden…
Fresh flowers and family farms
Tour a family farm near Rochester and enjoy a hands-on lesson on flower arranging during this installment of the “Women Who Farm Field Day” series, brought to you by The Land Connection. This event will be led by Violet Veenstra, a former high-school teacher turned full-time farmer. Violet manages the flower side of her family’s…
The death of department stores
With the corporate parent of Bergner’s declaring bankruptcy and Sears struggling, two of the city’s oldest and largest department stores, both in White Oaks Mall, are shutting down. But the death of the department store – or the mall itself – can be much exaggerated. “From a 30,000-foot perspective, I know, for people in Springfield,…
Making Springfield a stop on the monarch migration
One of the first reported sightings of a monarch butterfly in the Springfield area was on May 9, according to the website Journey North. The first monarchs usually arrive in April and May. Beginning in February, monarchs – which weigh no more than a paper clip – begin an amazing 3,000-mile journey northward from their…
A courtship of historical proportions
The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum (ALPLM) is currently offering walking tours this summer letting guests learn about the improbable courtship and marriage between Abraham Lincoln and Mary Todd. The tour, “Abe and Mary: Quite Contrary,” takes visitors through downtown Springfield, where Lincoln, a budding lawyer and politician, and Todd, a young debutante, fell…
‘Poor People’ rally for minimum wage
“Show me what democracy looks like! This is what democracy looks like!” More than 50 people of various ages and races – many wearing red T-shirts with large white letters reading “Fight for $15” – made their way along Fifth Street at 2 p.m. Monday, June 11. The mood was upbeat, with time being kept…
Kingdom is fine but familiar
It’s odd, but whenever a Jurassic Park-type movie is about to be released, more than a few people ask if I like these sorts of films. I guess the assumption is that as a critic I wouldn’t enjoy such fare. My reply is, “Dinosaurs chasing and eating people? What’s not to like?” It really is…
June jazzed up
Welcome to the Springfield music scene, all you friendly Illinois Times readers and supporters! This week is another adventure in the diverse and plentiful supply of live music performances in our local arena of bars, plazas, barns, gardens, fields, fairs, parks and other assorted venues. Start off your week with a Thursday visit to the…
Kayla Brown
Champaign-Urbana native Kayla Brown can count many achievements in her career in music performance and composition. Kayla started on her musical adventure professionally in 1997 and since then has performed locally, regionally and nationally, from coffee shops to festivals, including a proud moment singing “God Bless America” and the national anthem at Wrigley Field in…
When life gives you lemons, preserve them
From every restaurant in which I’ve apprenticed, I’ve walked away with at least one “pearl” of kitchen wisdom that has helped me up my cooking game. Sometimes I learn a clever little trick to improve my speed and efficiency. Sometimes I learn a new knife technique that increases my precision. Sometimes I learn to cook…
archival poem #9
archival poem #9 annette who is helping mearchive (for the universityof wisconsin due this veryday to arrive with a truckto collect 52 boxes of primarymaterial from my farm sagaplus a 60 lb cow-drinking-cupa stanchion & ceramic salt dish)said last week: “I wish we’d getinto something more boring.”she was serious, meaning wecould then sort faster, but…
