Buried
Oak Ridge Cemetery is short more than $900,000, and city taxpayers could be on the hook. The cemetery has six-figure shortfalls in two funds, one set up to pay burial expenses for consumers who have purchased pre-need services, the other established to maintain the grounds in perpetuity. “It’s clear that there have been a number…
Time to graduate?
Illinois grapples with another round of difficult budget cuts, some lawmakers want to eliminate the state’s constitutional flat-rate income tax requirement, opening the door for what some experts call a more equitable and lucrative graduated income tax. Illinois currently has a 5 percent individual income tax for all taxpayers, regardless of income. But a pair…
TREATMENT TREAT
With the rising costs of health care, many people without health insurance opt to forgo basic checkups in the hope that they simply won’t get sick. The same goes for many of our nation’s homeless people to an even greater extent. But that need not be the case when a community works together. For the…
Illogical Silent House fails to close the deal
One of the selling points being used to promote the claustrophobic horror film Silent House is that it was filmed in one continuous take. That would be one unbroken 85-minute marathon consisting of multiple tricky camera moves, precise choreography from the actors and finely calibrated performances from all involved. What the advantage of approaching a…
Marooned motorists
Internationally recognized New York City photographer Amy Stein will have her exhibit, “Stranded,” at the University of Illinois Springfield Visual Arts Gallery from mid-March through mid-April. A reception takes place on March 22 from 6:30-8 p.m. preceded by an hour-long talk at 5:30 p.m. when Stein will discuss her photographic series. The sequence features people…
HOORAY!
This is Sunshine Week, an annual reminder that government should be transparent, organized by the American Society of Newspaper Editors and the Reporters Committee For Freedom of the Press. Why March? The observance is held the same week as the March 16 birthday of James Madison, who drafted the Bill of Rights. But Illinois is…
Injured, he helps others with brain injuries
William “Bill” Shea’s wheelchair sits in the corner of his basement. It is both a reminder of the past and a foreshadowing of the future. At 59, Shea embodies the qualities of an Olympian. He is physically fit, resilient and determined. This has not always been the case. As a child, Shea struggled with respiratory…
Roll-your-own cigs roil Republicans
Despite a long Illinois tradition of supporting them, it’s not exactly news that Republican members of the General Assembly no longer like voting for taxes of any kind. And that attitude created a couple of somewhat absurd positions last week. Let’s start with the “roll your own” bill. Legislation has been proposed to tax a…
Rock show
The Pink Floyd Experience comes to Sangamon Auditorium, UIS on Friday, March 16 at 8 p.m. Six amazing musicians present the legendary rock band’s Wish You Were Here, also the name of the popular album and a favorite of Pink Floyd members Richard Wright and David Gilmour. The show includes interpretive videos, plane crashes, a…
Irish whiskey trifle
Trifles are traditional in England and Scotland as well as Ireland, one of those preparations that undoubtedly came about as a way to use stale leftovers – in this case, cake – but that was so delicious that it soon was being made for its own sake. Various spirits are used to moisten and flavor…
The new 96th
Five candidates are running, but only one will win the race to represent parts of Springfield and Decatur in the new 96th Representative District. The first leg of the race is the March 20 primary election that will eliminate all but two candidates. To this point the Republican candidates are running a clean campaign, while…
True unbelievers
In February, the New York Times’ Timothy Egan nominated Roger Williams as the true founding father of America’s religious freedom. It was Williams who, in 1636, established a new colony at Providence to which he invited Jews, Quakers and unbelievers. These were the sort of people whose presence had offended the Massachusetts Puritans, who had…
African grace
Get ready to put your hands together as you head to Sangamon Auditorium, UIS on Sunday, March 18, to hear the multi-Grammy Award winning Soweto Gospel Choir. The concert, titled “African Grace,” features the vibrant rhythm movement and the renowned vocal harmonies of this 52-member worldwide acclaimed group. Since its formation in 2002, the choir…
Irish fte
The luck of the Irish, or at least the green, descends on downtown Springfield during the St. Patrick’s Day Parade Saturday, March 17, at high noon. The parade is emceed by Amie Menenghetti of COOL 101.9 and Liz Willis of 100.5 WYMG who are stationed at the reviewing stand in the family friendly area on…
Keystone pipeline can bring prosperity to Illinois
The Obama administration recently announced its decision to reject construction of Keystone XL – a planned, state-of-the-art petroleum pipeline to carry crude oil from the oil sands of Canada to refineries in the Gulf Coast. Officials said they weren’t opposed to the project overall – they just didn’t have enough time to conduct a sufficiently…
Parachutes get more golden at GateHouse
While revenue, circulation, stock price and profits plummet, top executives at GateHouse Media, corporate parent of the State Journal-Register, are getting bigger bonuses and cushier golden parachutes, according to GateHouse’s annual report released last week. On the same day that GateHouse in its annual report disclosed shrinking revenue and profits, LinkedIn, the online company that…
Woody at 100
Where’s Woody when we need him? In these times of tinkle-down economics – with the money powers thinking that they’re the top dogs and that the rest of us are just a bunch of fire hydrants – we need the hard-hitting (yet uplifting) musical stories, social commentaries and inspired lyrical populism of Woody Guthrie. This…
Jason & the Haymakers
Now a Nashville recording artist, Jason Bertrand originally came from a small, rural town in Illinois and attended Eastern Illinois University in Charleston. There he spent time working on a cover country band with reckless abandon and also discovered his calling of playing honest country music. The big break came when Jason got to work…
Letter to the Editor 03/15/12
TAMMS WORKSGov. Pat Quinn’s decision to close the Tamms Correctional Center is shortsighted at best and disastrous at worst [see “End of the line?: The governor wants to close Tamms,” by Bruce Rushton, March 8]. The Tamms Correctional Center has been an integral part of the Illinois Department of Corrections strategy to reduce violence in…
Sewer upgrade estimated at $65 million
Rates will rise to pay for sewer upgrades aimed at preventing sewage from reaching the Sangamon River, under a plan submitted to the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency by the Springfield Metro Sanitary District. Just how much more ratepayers will pay depends on how much improvement regulators require from a system that each year spills hundreds…
Ferreting out fraud
It’s a crucial time for Illinois in terms of the state budget, but investigators say the state is at a turning point in another respect: fighting Medicaid fraud. Gov. Pat Quinn announced a state budget last month that requires $2.7 billion in cuts to Medicaid. While lawmakers look at restricting eligibility and treatments to shave…
Growing knowledge
The University of Illinois Extension Sangamon and Menard County Master Gardeners are putting on a Gardeners Day Saturday, March 17, at Cherry Hills Baptist Church. Nine one-hour seminars are slated to be facilitated by the U of I Extension specialist, Master Gardener volunteers and local horticulture experts. Seminar topics include: Native Wildflowers, Growing Gourds, Prairie Home Herbs,…
Have a spirited St. Patrick’s Day
In Dublin’s fair city,Where girls are so pretty,I first set my eyes on sweet Molly Malone,As she wheeled her wheelbarrowThrough streets broad and narrow,Crying, “Cockles and mussels, alive, alive O!” –Traditional Irish folk song It starts early every March – earlier, really. No sooner does the Valentine’s Day paraphernalia disappear from stores – after a…
Colorful comedy
This Tony-award winning musical features puppets, with their masters in full view, but don’t let the furry little guys fool you – these fellows are more like the older dudes on Fraggle Rock than the young’ns on Sesame Street. And their bite of sarcasm and realism makes this an adult-audience-only show. The story follows recent…
Lard of the Dance
When I got married, I was a slim 6 feet 2, but I’ve gained a lot of weight. My wife gained about 20 pounds but recently lost that and more. I’ve been as high as 265, but I’m now at 238 and losing about a pound a week, which isn’t fast enough for my wife.…
prairiepoem #9
a tranquil spring afternoon todayburning the prairie warm sunlow breeze a thin line of firespreading across the brush-hoggedacre leaving black ash behindtwo springs ago my daughter aidedthis yearly burn but we nevergot back summer or fall to seethe prairie in glorious bloomit is one of my many regrets yetregrets do not nourish and are bestsquelched…
21 Jump Street funny and smart
While I was reasonably sure that 21 Jump Street would be reasonably funny, what I didn’t anticipate was how smart it would be. As written by Michael Bacall and Jonah Hill, the film contains the requisite number of laughs, with far more of the gags working than not. But what makes this the comedic movie…
Mussels steamed in Guinness
Corned beef and cabbage may not be traditional Irish fare, but seafood is. Even when potato crops failed, the island nation could depend on the abundance of fish and seafood. Guinness Stout is practically synonymous with Ireland. It’s a classic beverage accompaniment to oysters on the half shell; Guinness and Oyster festivals are popular throughout…
Under the Irish influence
In Springfield our Celtic heritage runs deep, with St. Patrick’s Day as one of our most anticipated holidays, celebrated with the long-running marching band parade on the nearest Saturday to March 17. Other celebratory activities include corned beef and cabbage on every corner, excused excessive drinking, sporting Irish colors as a one-day fashion statement and…
