Hot talk
It’s a common accusation. Business interests with an important case pending before government give big money to an influential politician who’s running for reelection. Critics cry foul — this, they say, is nothing more than an attempt to buy favorable treatment. Business interests and politician deny any wrongdoing and throw mud at the critics. Before…
A first step
The U.S. Supreme Court’s central ruling in Suzette Kelo et al. v. City of New London has created a firestorm of controversy and outrage in state legislatures and among property owners across the nation since it was handed down last fall. The court, in effect, endorsed what has become a dangerous trend wherein governments, mostly municipalities,…
Health-care morality
Providing health care for everyone is not an economic or even a health issue — it’s a moral issue. Notice that corporate chieftains and the political elites all have the Rolls Royce of health care while most Americans are trying to make do with a sputtering Yugo and millions more must walk barefoot. This crass…
On our side again
Now that President George W. Bush’s approval ratings are stagnating around 30 percent, protest songs are fashionable again, with everyone from Pink to Pearl Jam clamoring to kick ol’ Dubya while he’s down. Sure, indie rockers such as Jay Farrar and Conor Oberst had already been there and done that, but big whoop: Most of…
Hupperware
It must have taken years to accumulate. Collectible plates commemorating the Russo-Japanese War. A grandfather clock. Old comic books. Baseball cards. A gumball machine from the 1920s. Wooden chests. Tonka trucks. A Mickey Mouse Club beanie. Rare books. Antique furniture. World War II artifacts. Depression-era baby strollers. Vintage photographs. Old dolls with price tags still…
Vinyl Static
O CANADA! Let me reintroduce you to a little country I like to call Canada, the place where draft dodgers used to go and where everybody gets to see a doctor. But there’s so much more to our neighbor to the north, which has become a hotbed of experimental rock. Music devotees know the sounds…
The Hype
ILLINI NOISE Illinois lawmakers want entities that regulate intercollegiate sports to stay out of schools’ beeswax in terms of athletic nicknames, mascots, and logos. Earlier this month, Republican House Speaker Dennis Hastert, Republican U.S. Reps. Tim Johnson, Ray LaHood, and Mark Kirk, along with Democratic U.S. Rep. Jerry Costello, co-sponsored the Protection of University Governance…
South Town rising
One of the largest impediments to growth in Old South Town neighborhood, as some business owners — some of whom live in the area — joke, is that that the area “is one block into the ghetto.” According the city of Springfield’s consolidated plan, the neighborhood “shows signs of advanced dilapidation, obsolescence, deterioration, structures below…
Memorial Day, up north
I love the internal party meter of Springfield’s North Enders, and nothing revs it up like the world-famous Springfield Mile motorcycle race at the Illinois State Fairgrounds. During the Mile weekend, bars are full of biker-type people, bands squeeze in as many shows as possible, live music crops up in the unlikeliest of places, and,…
Downtown St. Louis tries another comeback
There wasn’t much that was more exciting for this small-town boy 50 years ago than to load up with my family in Dad’s Oldsmobile and drive two hours to go shopping in downtown St. Louis. That was on two lanes, believe it or not, and before we started locking our car doors for the drive…
Teacup Cadet
When you watch Lauren Beckler skate, you can’t help but wonder whether the dainty figurine in some elegant music box has sprung to life and magically materialized before your very eyes. She’s beautiful, graceful, lissome, and delicate, and even her triple-toe-loop seems to hover above the ice before landing with all the force of a…
Letters to the editor
We welcome letters, but please include your full name, address, and daytime telephone number. We edit all letters for libel, length, and clarity. Send letters to Letters, Illinois Times, P.O. Box 5256, Springfield, IL 62705; fax 217-753-3958; e-mail editor@illinoistimes.com. RODNEY MILLER’S LEGACY Dusty Rhodes’ tribute to Sgt. Rodney Miller was excellent [“One of the good…
Jacqueline Jackson
parisweddingpoem #2 in the days after the nuptials why go right home again when there’s the glory of sainte-chapelle the eiffel tower an exclamation point against the sky the cluny’s unicorn the musée of musical instruments’ boggling octobass where you must stand on a ladder to play it then contemplating the effluent of a great city…
She would not be ignored
Her name was Lovana, but everyone called her Lou. There haven’t been many politicians like state Rep. Lou Jones in this world. The Chicago Democrat was completely out front about whatever she was doing, and I don’t think she ever minced a single word in her entire career. She took on issues that almost nobody…
Labor’s day in court
Each time that leaders of Boilermakers Local 484 have met with officials from the Celanese chemical plant in Meredosia, where union members have been locked out for almost a year, they’ve been “cautiously optimistic.” Now, says Jim Pressley, the union’s international representative, they’re “optimistic” — an improvement. On Monday, May 22, Celanese and Local 484…
Jacqueline Jackson
angerpoem #gazillion and one if that pit bull had torn out her throat instead of her ear that little eight-year-old would be dead now as it is she’s scarred for life inside and out they shot the dog we can’t impeach or even censure the pit bull in washington who’s torn out thousands on thousands…
Repairing plaster walls
Dear Gene: How can we make lasting repairs to cracks in our plaster walls? Also, should plaster be primed before it is painted, and what primer should be used? — K.L. I can’t guarantee that the patches will be permanent, because cracks are often caused by settling or movement in the building. Cracks can reopen…
A big, big world
Susana Baca Traves’as (Luaka Bop) Travesías means “passages” in Spanish, and it’s an especially appropriate title for Susana Baca’s latest album, her fourth for Luaka Bop. Last August, after a trip to the Congo, the Afro-Peruvian singer and ethnomusicologist began a fellowship at Tulane University, in New Orleans, where she planned to study the music…
The Hype
Opportunity knocks State Republican and Democratic candidates made huge symbolic statements at last week’s annual meeting of the Illinois Association of Minorities in Government — the GOP by showing up, the Dems by, well, not. State Sen. Christine RADOGNO, a Lemont Republican vying for the job Treasurer Judy Baar Topinka is leaving, made an appearance.…
CAP CITY
WHO NEEDS A LAWYER? Ever since the Springfield Police Department’s two top detectives were put on administrative leave, defense attorneys have been clamoring for their personnel files. Detectives Paul Carpenter and James Graham were assigned to SPD’s now-disbanded major-case unit, meaning that they worked on solving all of the biggest crimes. As soon as they…
Find the answer
At this time of year, gardeners are full of questions: When can I prune my lilac bush? What can I do to get rid of these weeds? I found this bug — what is it? Will it ever warm up so my tomatoes will grow? But even though garden information is everywhere — books, magazines,…
One of the good guys
When I met Rodney Miller, I was shocked to find him wearing blue jeans and a turtleneck. From all I’d heard, I expected him to be dressed in spandex tights and a cape, because people who knew Miller promised me he was a superhero. I was doing some preliminary research on our local Goodwill Industries,…
Vinyl Static
SHOWS A-GO-GO! Champaign-Urbana band Shipwreck ventures our way for a show at the Underground City Tavern on Saturday, May 20. If anyone can bring the rock, it’s Shipwreck. This year alone, the band has plans to release an ambitious four — count ’em, four — EPs, and if the 2005 release “Origin” is any indication,…
The last rhubarb
Brad Dood (pronounced “dude”) settled into a smirk. “Right place! Right time! Right stuff! No one more deserving,” he thought. “I’ve paid my dues!” Humiliating dues for someone so talented; he’d spent four months in this godforsaken place, just so he could get his foot in the sportswriting door. He’d even suffered a degrading day…
Recycled America
There comes a time in a man’s life where he feels at ease in a hotel lobby across the street from the state Capitol, dressed in a lime-green fluorescent jacket, black tights, and nylon-mesh shoes that are something between ballet slippers and football cleats. Joe Bowen is anything but in-between. He’s all-out — always has…
Late spring roundup
If haven’t heard already, the big news on the bar scene this week is the long-awaited arrival of a 3 a.m. liquor license for Marly’s Pub’s (9 W. Old State Capitol Plaza, 217-522-2280). The popular bar on the square features live music four or five nights a week, all performed through an excellent house P.A.,…
Battered but beautiful
“Populations” and “communities” are ecological terms describing scientific premises, but the large groups of waterfowl resting on Lake DePue, chattering among themselves, seem to imply community in its human sense — that of homes and the relationship of one being to another. The lake sits just above the point where the Illinois River turns to…
American life in poetry
Midwestern poet Richard Newman traces the imaginary life of coins as a connection between people. The coins — seemingly of little value — become a ceremonial and communal currency. Coins My change: a nickel caked with finger grime; two nicked quarters not long for this life, worth more for keeping dead eyes shut than bus…
Earth Talk
Dear “Earth Talk”: How is it that African-Americans are said to suffer the most in the United States from pollution and other environmental ills? — Jon Stein, Novato, Calif. While conducting research on completion of his doctorate in sociology in Houston in 1979, Dr. Robert Bullard noticed that all the city’s garbage dumps were located…
Power struggle
Speak now or forever hold your breath. Springfield residents may opine on a proposed City Water, Light & Power plant until midnight Monday, May 22. After that, the comments will be compiled by the Illinois Environmental Protection Agency and made public as part of a responsiveness summary that will accompany the draft permit. To date,…
Letters to the editor
We welcome letters, but please include your full name, address, and daytime telephone number. We edit all letters for libel, length, and clarity. Send letters to Letters, Illinois Times, P.O. Box 5256, Springfield, IL 62705; fax 217-753-3958; e-mail editor@illinoistimes.com. WHERE WILL THE HOMELESS GO? I worked at Lincoln Library, Springfield’s public library, for nearly 30…
The K Street brand
Thanks to Grover Norquist, the Republican lobbyist and right-wing anti-government guru, the world has just gotten weirder. Along with Newt Gingrich and Tom DeLay, Norquist developed the “K Street Project” in the 1990s. It was an effort to require corporate lobbying firms, which are mostly headquartered along Washington’s K Street, to hire partisan Republicans as…
Animal attractions
If you’ve confused Over the Hedge with a Pixar film, that’s OK — the plot of this delightful flick appears to borrow from Toy Story. Just like Cowboy Woody and Buzz Lightyear, the two main characters in Hedge, Verne the turtle and RJ the raccoon (voiced by Garry Shandling and Bruce Willis, respectively), form a…
Passing the buck
State Rep. Larry McKeon has raised new questions about the way in which Marty Dwyer was fired from his full-time job with the Illinois Air National Guard. Dwyer’s employment was terminated in February after officials confirmed that the staff sergeant with the 183rd Fighter Wing had a profile posted on a Web site called Gay.com…
