Eating for Exercise
Hey, long time – no see! Where have you been? I was worried sick about you! You really ought to come visit me more often. (Yeah, I haven’t posted on this blog in awhile. I’ll change, I promise!) Now that you’re back safe and sound, let’s talk about diet. When you’re exercising a lot, it’s…
Plan calls for 100 new affordable homes
The City of Springfield plans to build and rehabilitate hundreds of homes as part of a strategy to end homelessness within two years. The city’s 2010-2014 Consolidated Plan, created by the city’s Department of Opportunity, Planning and Economic Development (OPED), lays out plans to improve affordable housing, economic development, infrastructure and public services using millions…
Attack of the flying fish
Jumping several feet into the air, a single silver carp can knock a boat driver unconscious before a passenger even has time to say “Duck!” For that reason, the Illinois Natural History Survey station in Havana installed netting around the steering wheel and dashboard of its electro-fishing boats. “It’s simply one of the most dangerous…
The blacksmith as artist
L. Brent Kington, professor emeritus at Southern Illinois University in Carbondale, is widely regarded as the father of blacksmithing as an art form. The Illinois State Museum is hosting a retrospective of the 76-year-old artist, and it is well worth a visit. When Kington and his wife, Diana, moved to Carbondale in 1961 to head…
Lake Springfield stays clean despite recent runoff
Though advisories have been issued warning of high E. coli levels in Lake Springfield, the professionals who supervise water quality at the lake don’t consider this to be much of a problem. “It happens after every rainstorm in every body of water from runoff from soils and from bacteria,” said Tom Skelly, water division director…
Record good food, from start to finish
Remember the tale of The Little Red Hen? The plucky chicken finds some grains of wheat. She asks her barnyard buddies if they’ll help plant them, but none are willing. The same thing happens when she requests their help harvesting it, threshing it, taking it to the mill to be ground into flour, and baking…
Reinventing the past
Building new businesses based on new ideas is the central axiom of the near-science of economic development. Sangamon County’s would-be Edisons in the medical field recently were invited to submit ideas for the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce’s Project Innovation, intended to encourage local entrepreneurs in health care. The finalist ideas, announced in May, included…
Story of a used toy store
Critics and fans have been falling all over themselves praising Toy Story 3 as if it were the animated Citizen Kane. Don’t get me wrong, I think it’s a fine film and it hits all of the points we expect it to. I simply don’t think it’s as good as the other two entries in…
Smoking guns on the Blago tapes
Back in 2003, Rod Blagojevich’s former congressional chief of staff, Dave Stricklin, was asked by Chicago Magazine to recall an example of his former boss’ “goal-oriented approach to his congressional work.” “Having X amount of dollars raised by X date,” was Stricklin’s response. The U.S. Attorney’s office has now posted several audio recordings online related…
Venice comes to town
The path to success in the music business is covered in an array of obstinate obstacles and littered with the remains of those who tried and failed. Even being born with a music family pedigree is no guarantee of success and sometimes it’s a hindrance. Venice, a band from the Venice, Calif., area formed in…
New Goat Ensemble
This Sunday, the New Goat Ensemble celebrates 20 years of making the most marvelous and mischievous music this side of Pan himself. Always perpetrators of off-the-wall cover songs, the Jacksonville-based band became one of central Illinois’ most endearing original bands of the 90s through the songwriting of Jeff Davidsmeyer. With Davidsmeyer on rhythm guitar, piano,…
HARPER SAGA ON TV
Julie Rea Harper’s nine-year journey, including two court trials and years of prison time, will be the topic of an Investigation Discovery cable television show “Unusual Suspects” set to air Monday, June 28, at 9 p.m. Titled “A Mother’s Conviction,” the episode details Harper’s struggle for acquittal after being charged with killing her 10-year-old son…
Toy land
Learn the art of toy making during this free museum experience for families. Crafts, games and artist demonstrations highlight the day, including a view of the collection of silver toys that artist Brent Kington made for his children and assisting a sculptor to make a mural. Art@PlaySaturday, June 26, 11am-3pmIllinois State Museum502 S. Spring St.782-5993Free
What to do with all that commercial real estate?
Click here for an interactive map of commercial spaces available in Springfield. The commercial real estate market in Springfield is currently slow, but that’s just an opportunity for creativity, says Amy Raftis, chairman of Springfield’s Commercial Real Estate Network. Raftis, also a commercial Realtor with Hurwitz Enterprises in Springfield, says there is a higher-than-normal number…
Mu Shu pork
Record’s tortillas are customer favorites. Tortillas are made in virtually the same way as bao bing – a.k.a Beijing pancakes, northern Chinese flatbreads traditionally served with Mu Shu pork. In fact, the PBS cooking show, “Simply Ming,” featured a flour tortilla/Beijing pancake factory, just because they are so similar. Though fun to make – especially…
Alternative rockers
Songwriters and brothers Bo and Bear Rinehart, along with childhood friends Joe Stillwell and Seth Bolt, will capture you as fans once you hear and see these Southern alternative rockers from South Carolina. With a new album just released, “The Outsiders,” this band’s national following is sure to grow. Their website, needtobreathe.net, notes their influences…
HOMETOWN CHAMPS
About 2,800 young athletes left Springfield last Saturday after a week of competition in the United States Tumbling and Trampoline Association (USTA) National Championships held here. A few, however, didn’t have far to go to take their medals and trophies back home. Competing against more than 130 teams last week, the Springfield-based L & M…
Cruise, Diaz and a bad script
I wanted to like Knight and Day, I really did. I was willing to give it a bit more leeway than I normally would films of this sort and I was eager to see Tom Cruise and Cameron Diaz in the sort of high-concept Hollywood fare that made them stars. However, after an intriguing first…
Passing the buck
For the second consecutive year, the Illinois General Assembly has confronted the state fiscal crisis by “passing the buck.” Last month, the legislature passed a General Funds budget for fiscal year (FY) 2011 that would give most state agencies lump-sum funding rather than line-item appropriations. The largest gaps between FY 2011 appropriations and current funding…
BP is a corporate criminal
Gosh, how quickly things turn. One day, you’re a strutting peacock — the next day, you’re just another gasping, oil-covered bird. In early April, BP was strutting about in full corporate splendor, showing off the $9 billion in profits that it had soaked up in just the first three months of this year. It was…
Outside gallery
Throughout the day, families can create their own art and view artists at work along the garden paths. Artists’ creations and more than 40 juried pieces reflecting the essence of Lincoln Memorial Garden, including Chris Spangler’s “Enjoyment of the Day” (best of show and pictured), will then be available at a reception and public auction…
Letters to the Editor 6/24/10
NOT A FANI am not an avid fan of Illinois Times. But, once or twice a month I will pick up a copy to thumb through with a faint hope that I’ll be shocked by one of the articles. Finally it happened with the June 10 issue: “The Mysterious Lazer Dudes,” by Tom Irwin. Tom…
