Distant echoes from the north
Our sister paper, Chicago’s Reader, has just published its annual Best of Chicago issue. In it are excellent pieces that echo topics recently taken up in this space. “The Thompson Center is Chicago’s endangered, postmodern Pantheon” by Deanna Isaacs outdoes my lament of April 9 for the old State of Illinois Building, which our current…
No free fair
A ride at the Illinois State Fair spins in the darkness. Photo by Patrick Yeagle TEXT
Deputy put on leave
Sangamon County sheriff’s deputy John Bartello has been placed on administrative leave and is under criminal investigation. The reason, or reasons, why aren’t clear. WMAY radio on Sunday first reported that a deputy had been put on paid leave. According to the radio report, Sheriff Wes Barr refused to say why Bartello had been placed…
Planning a mess
Residents were angry and surprised by a proposal that would put a homeless shelter in their neighborhood. PHOTO BY BRUCE RUSHTON It sounded like a Seinfeld episode. The Salvation Army buys a building on Ninth Street for a new homeless shelter and spends half a mill fixing it up, only for Mayor Jim Langfelder to…
Is there an iota of courage in the GOP?
Jim Hightower PHOTO BY LARRY D. MOORE This year’s freakish presidential election has now devolved into an ethnic brouhaha between two foreigners: A Mexican and a German. The “Mexican” is Gonzalo Curiel. He’s a federal judge who was actually born in Indiana, raised and educated as a Hoosier, and is presently presiding over a U.S.…
Many more “heroics” may be required
PHOTO BY ALAN SOLOMON/TNS Nobody, and I mean nobody, ever thought that Gov. Bruce Rauner’s administration could ever keep state operations running for a year without an actual state budget. State and federal courts have ordered about 90 percent of state spending since the General Assembly’s Democrats and the Republican governor deadlocked on a budget…
Letters to the Editor 6/23/16
The Clinton Power Station, operated by Exelon Nuclear. PHOTO BY PATRICK YEAGLE SUPPORT CLEAN ENERGY Illinois is at grave risk of losing its status as one of America’s clean energy leaders. If it shuts down two of its high-performing nuclear plants, they will be replaced by out-of-state methane gas from fracking. (“After the atom,” by…
Editor’s note 6/23/16
Though not much new came out of Monday’s panel discussion at the Sangamo Club, sponsored by the Better Government Association, on the “Impact of the Impasse,” it was interesting to hear areas on which the panelists agree. A hospital executive, a nonprofit social services director, a university administrator, an educator and an NAACP officer, all…
The fight over the Illinois State Museum
One of the many casualties of the state budget disaster has been the closure of the Illinois State Museum, which is scheduled to reopen next month, with an admission charge. It is not the only time in its history that the state museum has been subjected to such treatment. In 1887, the museum was thrown…
Free family fun close to home
Assumption Festival The annual street party and carnival known as Assumption Fest will take place June 23-25. Admission and parking are free all three days. The festival begins Thursday on the main stage with an opening ceremony followed by the Little Miss Assumption, Junior Miss Assumption and Miss Assumption pageants, then a pet show at…
A celebration of amateur radio
Sangamon Valley Radio Club Family Field Day Join the Sangamon Valley Radio Club, Springfield Community MakerSpace, former WAND-TV chief meteorologist Lee Davis and other technological experts for a Field Day and Family Day celebration to cap off 2016’s Amateur Radio Week on Saturday, June 24, from 11 a.m. through 3 p.m. at Riverton Middle School.…
An old-fashioned traveling road show
Branson on the Road The live music capital of the world meets Springfield this weekend during two special performances of Branson on the Road, Saturday at 7 p.m. and Sunday at 2 p.m., at the Hoogland Center for the Arts. Branson on the Road has been a mainstay on Branson’s famous 76 County Music Boulevard,…
Unzipping your genes
PHOTO COURTESY AMY ALKON Amy Alkon I’m increasingly frustrated by your views that women are attracted to men with status or wealth and don’t care much about men’s looks. Personally, I’m not attracted by men’s status or wealth, and I’m very aroused by gorgeous naked men – as are many women. Granted, women thousands of…
Illinois’ historic problem
Though picturesque, the moss on this barn at Lincoln’s New Salem hides a roof in dire need of repair. PHOTO BY PATRICK YEAGLE Illinois’ history is crumbling away. Mansions, museums and monuments that showcase Illinois’ past, and honor famous luminaries, ranging from President Abraham Lincoln to famed architect Frank Lloyd Wright, have been battered by…
Return of the residency requirement
Paul Moore, assistant business manager for IBEW Local 193, speaks against the residency requirement proposal to the Springfield City Council. Future city employees will have to live inside Springfield under an ordinance passed Tuesday by the city council. The controversial issue created a split among some unions, with police, fire and lineman unions opposing the…
Let’s make a deal
Laimutis “Limey” Nargelenas The Springfield Park District is eying a deal with the Sangamon County sheriff’s office to provide police protection in parks. The sheriff’s office has given the district a proposal to provide police coverage in parks at an annual cost of nearly $633,000. In addition to a half-dozen deputies, the sheriff’s office would…
To tell the truth
A federal judge in Springfield is threatening to hold a Normal doctor in contempt of court for misleading testimony about his credentials during a May trial. The trial ended with a $300,000 jury verdict in favor of Vincent Trimble, an inmate who claimed that he had received poor medical care at Taylorville Correctional Center (“Pay…
WHERE’S JULIO?
Julio Barrenzuela, Springfield’s “Salsa Ambassador,” stands in front of the school in Springfield where he learned English as a child. Julio Barrenzuela says he left Springfield so he could come back. Springfield’s official “Salsa Ambassador” moved to California in 2012, but he’s still working to better his hometown, a city that welcomed him as a…
Johnson, Hart generate vital chemistry in Intelligence
Kevin Hart as Calvin Joyner and The Rock as Bob Stone in Central Intelligence. One of the most surprising developments in American popular film over the last decade is the emergence of Dwayne Johnson as a major star. Using his popularity in the WWE as a foundation – and successfully putting it behind him, as…
June bugs me
The Blue Eyed Bettys play the Paris-Belle House on Friday, June 24. PHOTO BY SILVERMORE PHOTOGRAPHY Well, June doesn’t really bug me, except it’s one of my favorite months and goes by so quickly. Plus, I wanted to get a June bug reference in since I haven’t seen many in 2016. Now, let’s get on…
Joel DaSilva & the Midnight Howl
Joel DaSilva & the Midnight Howl Using Chicago and Florida as home bases, this traveling, genre-hopping roots rocker is calling the road home these last few months. Fresh from an Alamo Blue Monday show, Joel and the boys made a run to Canada last Sunday and now are working back south. With Joel manning the…
on writing your stories #5
on writing your stories #5 seem to be on a roll so why not go onwhat about my first publication I wasten writing a long oz-like tale have Itold you this before the heroine hada snazzy name orania turquoise sheand her buddy what did I call himhopped from one cloudland to another had adventures a…
Predator pass
CARTOON BY JEN SORENSON
In the kitchen at Chicago’s Elizabeth
Stagiaire Peter Glatz with Chef Iliana Regan Every year Food & Wine magazine devotes its July issue to the “Best New Chefs in America.” This prestigious list is the result of a months-long selection process based on nominations from food writers, restaurant critics and incognito visits by Food & Wine editors. Nominees must have been…
