Doctor shopping?
After failing to persuade Dr. Jessica Bowman to establish a cause of death for Cory Lovelace, Quincy police detective Adam Gibson went searching for other pathologists. He found several. Dr. Jane Turner was the third pathologist to testify in the murder trial of Curtis Lovelace, who stands accused of suffocating his wife Cory, who was…
Handsome ghosts
You really ought to go see “Shifting Sands: Springfield’s Architectural Legacy, Part 2,” a photographic portrait of a changing Springfield. Co-curated by the excellent Erika Holst, a regular contributor to these pages, and Curtis Mann of Lincoln’s Library’s Sangamon Valley Collection, the exhibit will be up at the Springfield Art Association, 700 N. Fourth St.…
Ex-wife testifies in murder trial
The ex-wife of a former Adams County prosecutor charged with murdering his wife in 2006 testified Monday that the defendant was physically abusive and suggested strongly that he was a killer. “I don’t want to hurt him, I just want people to know who he really is,” Erika Gomez-Steinkamp testified Monday. Curtis Lovelace, a former…
City vs. countryside
The current Atlantic Monthly, staff writer David A. Graham, explores an issue that I’ve addressed from time to time in an Illinois context — that the real division in the U.S. is not between black and white, rich and poor, Democrat and Republican, but between city and countryside. That became vividly clear in the presidential election when,…
A broken marriage
Curtis Lovelace’s marriage to his wife Cory was in shambles in the months leading up to her 2006 death, according to friends and former neighbors who testified Friday in his murder trial. Lovelace stands accused of killing his wife, who was found dead in bed on Valentine’s Day more than a decade ago. An initial…
Time is of the essence
When Curtis Lovelace’s wife expired was a center of debate on Thursday as a pathologist hired by the prosecution painted a picture of murder. Dr. Werner Spitz is a high-caliber hired gun, having helped investigate the assassinations of John F. Kennedy and Martin Luther King, Jr. – in the Kennedy case, he told the House…
Absolutely ridiculous
“It’s absolutely ridiculous,” said Springfield’s Rosanna Pulido about a bill in the General Assembly that would bar from schools, health care facilities and places of worship non-federal law enforcement officers seeking to enforce the Trumpian crackdown on residents whose papers are not in order. “I think the biggest question we have for Governor Rauner and…
Wall Street plowboys
Every decade or so, the public is shocked by yet another discovery that migrant farmworkers are being horribly abused by the wealthy masters of the corporate food system. And here we go again. Last November, the New York Times reported that the workers who grow and harvest the cornucopia of fruit and veggies in the…
Emulate Trump at your peril
If you’re running for office anytime soon or if you currently hold office or are a “public figure,” please try to keep one thing in mind: So far, the only person to prove he can thrive by talking like President Donald Trump is … President Donald Trump. Trump, and only Trump, can insult a war…
Letters to the Editor 3/2/17
RELOCATING MLK’S STATUEI recently came across the February 2017 edition of PURE NEWS USA. The article on the MLK statue took me down memory lane. There were three of us; Jimmie Treadwell, Lillian Kinnel and myself, who witnessed and were horrified at the 1989 placement of Geraldine McCullough’s statue of Dr. Martin Luther King,…
Editor’s Note 3/2/17
There is room for hope that the state Senate will do the right thing and pass the package of “grand bargain” bills over to the House, where there will be more bargaining and eventually, finally, a budget. But any deal that allows Gov. Bruce Rauner to force a strike by AFSCME workers won’t feel like…
Beware, GOP has plans for Medicare
Recently I was talking with a small business owner about the privately purchased health care policy that covered the owner and spouse. They pay about $12,000 a year for a policy with a $6,000 deductible each. Preventative health maintenance with a medical professional is something that they just can’t afford. Their insurance is only to…
International Womens’ Day
On Wednesday, March 8, join University of Illinois at Springfield alumna Samantha Drew Gordon for an ECCE Speaker Series presentation that explores how women can succeed and lead in traditionally male-dominated environments. During her lecture, Gordon will offer suggestions on ways women can lead and achieve respect, drawing on her personal experiences leading a variety…
Information on immigration
On Tuesday, March 7, the University of Illinois at Springfield will present a panel discussion designed to clear up myths associated with immigration and provide a clearer understanding of the hotly-contested subject. Panelists Adriana Crocker, UIS Associate Professor of Political Science; Anette Sikka, UIS Assistant Professor in the Legal Studies Department; and Yona Stamatis, UIS…
Sinfonia Orchestra and Youth Symphony
On Saturday, March 4, join the Sangamon Valley Sinfonia Orchestra and Youth Symphony for their annual Winter Concert. The Sinfonia Orchestra will perform Bach’s “Brandenburg Concerto No. 4” plus a modern dance brimming with rhythm and harmony. The Youth Symphony will perform Mozart’s “Jupiter Symphony,” Holst’s “Jupiter” from “The Planets,” “Dance of the Tumblers” by…
A ruse is a ruse is a ruse
A year ago, the woman who pet-sits for me began inviting herself over for dinner. We started going out about three times a week. I always paid for dinner. She never introduced me to her friends, wouldn’t let me pick her up at her apartment and wouldn’t let me touch her. Even a genial “thank…
The vanishing Statehouse press corps
In the 1980s and 90s, when state government coffers appeared to be overflowing and the political parties worked together, the Statehouse press corps numbered in the 40s. Its size made “Illinois State Government one of the most comprehensively reported in the nation,” according to the 1991/1992 Illinois Blue Book. Today, the coffers are broke, the…
Precision beef bulls
The Annual Illinois Performance Tested Bull Sale on Feb. 23 during the 29th Illinois Beef Expo was pretty predictable. And the genetic testing that made that predictability possible was good news for those buying or selling animals during the event. The Illinois Beef Expo took place Feb. 24-28 at the Illinois State Fairgrounds. “This absolutely…
State Museum showcases contemporary art
A new exhibit at the Illinois State Museum (ISM) aims to introduce visitors to contemporary artworks. “Just Good Art: The Chuck Thurow Gift” opened Feb. 4. It is a collection of modern paintings donated last year to the ISM by art collector Chuck Thurow. Thurow, a former executive director at the Hyde Park Art Center…
Stowell fights firing at hearing
His former bosses at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum say that Daniel Stowell, former director of the Papers of Abraham Lincoln Project, was an insubordinate employee who botched efforts to publish every document ever read or written by the Great Emancipator. But Stowell, who was fired last month and is appealing his dismissal,…
SOHO no mo?
After 12 years of directing and coordinating the SOHO Music Festival, founder Eric Welch is stepping away. “I’ve come to the realization that I can’t do it one more year,” Welch said. “It was a difficult decision to make – but I just don’t have the energy for it anymore.” SOHO (an acronym for Service…
CONGRATULATIONS
The Sangamon County mental health court finally has a graduate. After two years in the program aimed at keeping mentally ill folks out of prison (“Treatment instead of jail,” April 23, 2015), on Monday was discharged from the program. There were plenty of tears in the courtroom. Overton stands alone – the other four defendants…
SPRINGFIELD FILM PREMIERE
Springfield-based filmmakers Dave Heinzel and Emma Wilson will premiere their new short film, Sarah, at 8 p.m. this Saturday, March 4, at The Studio, located at 401 1/2 S. Grand Ave. West (due to demand, a second screening was added on March 11 – both screenings are sold out). Sarah stars Springfield High School senior…
Get Out succeeds with horror and humor
There’s a sense of unease that sets in early on in Jordan Peele’s Get Out, and as well made as this acerbic, entertaining hybrid is, this may be its most significant accomplishment. Our protagonist, a young African-American photographer by the name of Chris Washington, is meeting his girlfriend Rose’s (Allison Williams) parents in their posh…
March on the move
Perhaps the warming weather trend we’ve felt through February made it happen, but things do seem to be heating up early in the music community for 2017. Before you know it, birds will be singing, bells will be ringing, and outdoor music venues attached to taverns will be bustling in their hedgerows. Here comes the…
Galen Weston Band
Blazing a trail from Toronto across the world in the jazz-fusion-blues crossroads of music, Galen Weston is the guy who gets quotes like “a guitar tour de force, the kind they just don’t make anymore” and “Weston is an impressive guitarist.” With his all-star recording and live performing band comprised of David Woodhead on bass,…
Crazy for cauliflower
Spend a few minutes perusing popular food blogs for health-conscious recipes and one thing begins to become clear – cauliflower is the new “it” vegetable. Thanks to popular diet trends such as a Paleo and Whole 30, health-conscious cooks and food bloggers have been developing creative and nourishing substitutes for our favorite starchy foods like…
suicide poem #17
I have a friendwho every morndoes twenty-twopushups forthe number ofveterans whoare predicted tocommit suicideon this day
