“Street” Hits all the Right Notes
John Carney has a gift. Not simply in the way he uses music in his films and understands its power but how he’s able to create characters that on the surface could be dismissed as clichés but wind up having genuine heart and soul. He’s also not afraid to wear his heart on his sleeve,…
“Green Room” an Effective Siege Thriller
Director Jeremy Saulnier’s 2013 thriller Blue Ruin, was a film that effectively employed a long-fuse strategy to build a sense of dread. A simple revenge tale, it was the sort of movie that was perpetually overcast, both physically and thematically, one you knew would end badly, yet so compelling in execution that you had to…
Why don’t we do it beside the road?
Mark Mahoney, city public works director, at the April 21 open house to show off IDOT’s alternatives for MacArthur Boulevard. PHOTO BY PATRICK YEAGLE You wouldn’t ask a carpenter how to build a happy marriage. The residents and business owners along MacArthur Boulevard between South Grand and Wabash did something similar when they asked traffic…
Who says crime doesn’t pay?
Jim Hightower PHOTO BY LARRY D. MOORE Hey, can we all just stop complaining that our government coddles Wall Street’s big money-grubbing banks? Sure, they went belly-up and crashed our economy with their frauds, rigged casino games and raw greed. And, yes, the Bush and Obama regimes rushed to bail them out with trillions of…
Get out of the way
PHOTO BY ALAN SOLOMON/TNS With yet another poll showing plunging Downstate support for Gov. Bruce Rauner in a Republican district and the intense Republican freakout over Donald Trump’s impending presidential nomination and its impact on independent suburban women, there appears to be a growing feeling among Democrats, particularly in the Illinois Senate, that they need…
Letters to the Editor 5/12/16
TOUGH CHOICES The 2016 election is going to be determined by whether Republicans who hate Trump outnumber Democrats who hate Hillary. Democracy is premised philosophically on voting for candidates, ideologies and ideas which will prevail by majority vote going forward. This is almost reminiscent of 2012 when 3 million fundamentalists walked into the voting booth and asked…
Editor’s note 5/12/16
Gov. Bruce Rauner has distanced himself from Republican presidential frontrunner Donald Trump, but the governor didn’t say why. Is it because Trump would close the country’s borders to Muslims? Maybe not – Rauner wants to close the state’s borders to Syrians. Maybe Rauner, who hasn’t funded social services, worries that Trump would lack compassion for…
Is daily fantasy sports illegal?
Virtually a nonentity in 2012, by 2015 Daily Fantasy Sports (DFS) was the largest advertiser in the United States. But by the end of 2015, DFS was the subject of investigations by the U.S. Attorney offices in New York, Boston and Tampa. Other criminal justice authorities, including two dozen state attorneys general, were reviewing various…
Broadway and the Beast
Disney’s Beauty and the Beast Experience the classic love story of Belle, a young woman stuck in a provincial town, and the Beast, a young prince trapped under an enchantress’ spell, when the touring Broadway production of Beauty and the Beast makes a stop at Sangamon Auditorium on Tuesday, May 17. Based off the 1991…
A delicious comeback
Illinois Products Farmers Market On Thursday, May 12, the Illinois Products Farmers Market returns for a ninth year of food and fun. The three-hour night market takes place 4-7 p.m. every Thursday now through October 13. Weekly features include live music and entertainment on the Lincoln Stage, Illinois wine and beer, assorted food trucks plus…
The bleh lagoon
PHOTO COURTESY AMY ALKON Amy Alkon I’m a guy in my late 20s. Two years ago I started a friends-with-benefits thing with a woman, which honestly has turned into one of the most relaxed, comfortable relationships I’ve had. Unfortunately, the sex isn’t that great. I’ve tried to get her to work with me on that…
One year, and counting
PHOTO BY PATRICK YEAGLE It took nearly a year for the honeymoon to end, but Mayor Jim Langfelder this spring finally faced a room full of constituents angry at him. City council chambers in April bulged with people clutching signs: “Enough is enough: Protect our kids.” The signs were held high as speaker after speaker…
Teaming up for environmental justice
Coal-powered electricity production is one of many concerns of environmental justice. PHOTO BY PATRICK YEAGLE The NAACP released a report last week calling for racial justice in Illinois’ environmental policy, prompting a new alliance between groups concerned with civil rights, labor rights and pollution. A meeting held in Springfield to release the report illustrated the…
Prison phone bill targets pricing
The Illinois Department of Corrections benefits from a private contractor fleecing prisoners and their families by controlling phone services, according to three state lawmakers pushing legislation to limit what prisoners pay for phone calls. However, IDOC says the money it receives pays for certain inmate health care treatments. Meanwhile, the private contractor recently settled a…
Let’s celebrate: A cancer survivor’s tale
Ronda Guyton with Heidi Floyd, right, who will speak about her cancer journey in Springfield Friday. PHOTO Courtesy of Susan G. Komen Heidi Floyd still remembers her mother, alone in her bedroom, whispering to her over the phone that she had been diagnosed with breast cancer. “She said it as if she had done something…
A GOLD MEDAL GUY
Ivan Maras of Rochester doesn’t speak Spanish, so how did he become part of a Puerto Rican regiment of the U.S. Army during the Korean War? Through a twist of history, Maras last month joined his fellow service members from the 65th Infantry Regiment in Washington, D.C., to be honored with the Congressional Gold Medal,…
THE HEAT’S ON COLD CASES
From now until Sept. 30, CrimeStoppers of Sangamon and Menard county will be presenting information about 10 cold case homicides to the public on a biweekly basis. A cold case is an unsolved homicide case that has reached a point where investigators can go no further without additional information. During this time, law enforcement will…
Comic inspiration aplenty in Keanu
Keegan-Michael Key and Jordan Peele in Keanu. Very rarely do I see a comedy that, when I think about it days after, I find myself laughing at the memory of its most inspired moments. Such is the case with Keanu, the film debut of the comedy team Key and Peele. While this feature is uneven…
All that HS jazz
The first Springfield Area High School Jazz Festival happens this Friday at The Legacy Theatre. Doors open at 6 p.m. As we march through the merry month of May, live music is on the upswing at several venues, including indoor-outdoor music gardens, as the weather lightens up full time. For a spectacular event of great…
Bob Zany
Bob Zany Not only is he not a band, Bob Zany isn’t even a musician. However, he is one of the funniest guys on the planet, and he’s coming to a comedy club near you (about 43 minutes away in Mason City). As a veteran of nearly 40 years in show business, you’ve heard him…
endings poem # 14
endings poem # 14 when something catches my breathon the car radio – WILL these days – a brandenburg for instance or brahmsvariations on a theme by haydn (that seventh bell-like variation is the one where if I weren’t driving I’d close my eyes) sometimes I pull off into a deserted alley to await the…
Let the sparks fly
Korean short ribs and veggie skewers ready to grill. PHOTO BY PETER GLATZ Some people are security seekers. I have friends who always drink the same brand of beer or wine and order the same familiar foods such as steak, fried chicken or cheeseburgers. Other people are thrill seekers. They are the ones who try…
