No new restrictions on redevelopers
Untitled Document Frustrated builders call it the last straw — a union-originated Springfield ordinance to require those who get city grants to contribute to an apprenticeship program. The original proposal, which came before the City Council on May 20, was amended to make it apply only to grants of $500,000 or more, but union officials…
Forget Indiana Jones — meet Illinois Shapiro
Untitled Document “You have to understand, I’ve been doing this for 25 years,” says Joshua “Illinois” Shapiro, “and for 25 years there were no Indiana Jones films with crystal skulls. Sometimes I actually have had to take on a job. . . . but my love, my passion is the crystal skulls, because I know…
Saving Jane Austen
Untitled Document Book lovers, if you haven’t already discovered Jasper Fforde, don’t. Danger: addiction. Where else will you find Thursday Next, a literary detective who can jump into books and save the world for Reading? In this latest Next novel there are actually three Thursdays, the “real” one (the quotes are for you), who lives…
Fungus takes the fun out of mulch
Untitled Document Gardeners are encouraged to mulch around their plants to conserve moisture, moderate soil temperature, reduce weed-seed germination, and beautify the landscape. With the recent heavy rainfall, however, many gardeners are finding unwanted guests in their mulch. Wood mulch, bark mulch, and other organic matter can be a source of interesting fungi and funguslike…
Finding a Niche in St. Louis
Untitled Document My husband and I always seek out new restaurants. Sure, we have favorites, but mostly we enjoy trying new places. That’s true in Springfield but even more so in larger cities, just because the selection — old, new, ethnic, upscale, downscale — is much greater. So why, on our last four trips to…
Sacred steel
Untitled Document This e-mail appeared this week in my inbox among the typical calendar items, right between a chicken fry and a book sale: “The Lee Boys will be playing Marly’s, June 18th for free. Check them out on MySpace.” Holy cow! The Lee Boys are an awesome nationally known sacred steel band, hitting many…
In good taste
Untitled Document Lindsay Record, local-food coordinator at the Illinois Stewardship Alliance, started working with Springfield area farmers nearly a year ago. She wanted fresh ideas on how to introduce more local foods into the community, and after some discussions, they came up with a new plan. They’re calling it Local Flavors: a dinner series that…
Who benefits from cloning?
Untitled Document Once again, science marches on — trampling right over us in the false name of progress and efficiency. The latest advance of science is the cloning of animals. “We can make every cow precisely like its progenitor,” exult the lab techs working for corporate cloners. “This eliminates uncertainty in meat production, for every…
Hard times
Untitled Document Linda Freer first noticed a slowdown in donations at St. John’s Breadline when general staples such as tea bags, pasta, and frozen turkeys stopped showing up. Freer, an assistant supervisor who’s worked with the nonprofit organization since October 2004, also says that other supplies “haven’t been up like in the past when I…
Cap City
Untitled Document DURBIN RECOGNIZES juneteenth For many people, the terms “African-Americans” and “Independence Day” conjure up images of Will Smith getting jiggy with space invaders in a 1996 blockbuster. But the holiday known as Juneteenth commemorates the day Union troops arrived in Galveston, Texas — June 19, 1865 — with the news that the Civil…
New chapter
Untitled Document Next week will mark the beginning of a new chapter in the life of Patty Redpath and her big brood of adopted children [see Dusty Rhodes, “Seventh heaven,” April 24], as Habitat for Humanity breaks ground on a home for the Redpath family June 18. Helping out during the first intensive days of…
The kingdom of the crystal skull
Untitled Document Do you feel the love?” asks Bill Homann. He is sitting in an easy chair in the living room of his modest suburban tract home in Valparaiso, Ind. On a nearby coffee table, the Mitchell-Hedges crystal skull is resting on a towel. The skull appears strangely luminous, reflecting a piercing blue-white light from…
China’s green Olympics
Untitled Document The 2008 Summer Olympics in China is drawing a lot of attention right now for political reasons. Less known is that China has made an effort to make the event as green as possible. What’s going on in that regard? It’s true that China is using the upcoming Beijing Olympics as a sustainability…
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. KEEPING SHS WHERE IT IS Kudos to Fletcher Farrar and his editorial “Building the new Springfield High School” [May 29]. The…
Let us celebrate lettuce
Untitled Document The lovely young lettuces of late spring and early summer are gorgeous enough to use as ornamentals, and some wouldn’t even be out of place in floral arrangements. Colors range from palest celadon and chartreuse to darker shades of green. Some are speckled with red — one variety is named Freckles — and…
People’s poetry
Untitled Document parishaikus set #1 eighty years agomy parents met here marriedparis palimpsest metro buskers athirteen piece string orchestravivaldi’s seasons louvre d’orsay clunybut the asterix theme parkis closed until march eiffel replicasbrass, nougat, sardine-tins, glass –even a dildo © Jacqueline Jackson 2008 Texas poet R.S. Gwynn is a master of the light touch. Here…
An incredible misfire
Untitled Document The problem facing both of the Incredible Hulk movies is one of economics and technology. The cost of rendering the iconic Marvel Comics creature on the silver screen is astronomical, and the end result has been far from convincing. Ang Lee’s Hulk, which was unjustly maligned, and Louis Leterrier’s reboot, The Incredible Hulk,…
Rezko’s guilty verdict
Untitled Document Some random thoughts about Tony Rezko’s guilty verdict in his federal corruption trial: • After Rezko was convicted on 16 of 24 counts, both Gov. Rod Blagojevich and U.S. Sen. Barack Obama expressed sadness at the verdict and gingerly danced away from their former friend and fundraiser. Some in the media criticized the…
Gas pains
Untitled Document Like everyone else, the high price of gas has forced Robert Smith to do more with less. Whereas most people have adjusted by parking the RV and canceling the family road trip or cutting back on dining out, Smith, manager of Springfield taxi service A Diamond Transportation, says he’s lost one-third of his…
Reinforcing the %uFFFDblue wall of silence%uFFFD
In 2002, this paper published a picture of Alva Busch using a blow dryer to remove decals from his work vehicle. At the time the snapshot was taken, in 2001, Busch was an Illinois State Police crime scene investigator working in the East St. Louis area. Why was he removing the emblems that identified his…
