Drying paint and picking jurors
It took just two weeks to try mass killer Richard Speck in a Peoria courtroom in 1967. Forty-six years later in a courtroom adjacent to the one where Speck was convicted after less than an hour of deliberations, it took a full week simply to pick a jury in the murder trial of Christopher Harris,…
Here’s the scoop, I mean scope
Southern Illinois University School of Medicine’s literary arts magazine, Scope, just made its way into my hands. Contributors recently read at the Vachel Lindsay State Historic Site, SIU and Charlie’s Club at Andiamo’s. Perhaps you were able to hear them and received a copy of the chapbook. Here’s an image of the cover. At first glance…
Fundamental issues
I have written before (here, here, here and here) about health care – an important topic in a town like Springfield in which the health racket industry in all its manifestations is the top employer. I take it up again here to vent about the now-famous (among wonks) study of Medicaid outcomes in Oregon –…
City lacked approval to destroy records
Springfield police destroyed internal affairs files older than four years just eight months after establishing a five-year retention period under a state law that requires records to be preserved according to retention schedules approved by a local records commission. The city last September applied for and was granted a five-year window to retain the records,…
Houston: We have a problem, maybe
Springfield Mayor Mike Houston has asked attorney general Lisa Madigan to determine whether the city’s police department did anything wrong when it expunged police internal affairs files, apparently while those files were the subject of records requests made under the state Freedom of Information Act. In a Monday letter to Madigan, Houston wrote that 30…
Come on in, click this line: It’s Poetry, Etc.
Welcome to Poetry, Etc. Welcome poetry lovers and curious souls (ha, ha … didn’t you know you can’t write “souls” in poetry, or “soul” they say)! Welcome to my new poetry blog at Illinois Times. I’ll be writing about all things poetry including what I find poetic in life. If it weren’t so hokey I…
The new Know Nothings, continued
Readers with long memories might recall my rant in 2010 about voter ignorance. (“The new Know Nothings,” Nov. 18, 2010.) Apparently the public has not taken my criticism to heart. After years during which Republican Party candidates and Fox News repeatedly, even obsessively talked about little else, after the more recent (and well-reported) wrangles…
This afternoon: Owen x Dooley = Rock and Roll
What do Owen and Dooley present? I would submit that this multi-generational duo presents blues-based, balls-out rock on a level rarely achieved. Tom Dooley Woolsey has been the guitar player to beat on the Springfield rock scene pretty much as long as there has been a Springfield rock scene. He hits the strings with authority…
City council mulls criminal investigation
Springfield aldermen are considering whether to ask attorney general Lisa Madigan to investigate the shredding of police internal affairs files to determine whether the cops broke the law. Under state law, public records cannot be destroyed without approval from a local records commission, and violations of the law can be prosecuted as felonies. Former Sangamon…
Special guests for symphony finale tonight
ISO guest pianist Martina Filjak Guest conductor Stefan Sanderling The Illinois Symphony Orchestra will be closing out its 20th anniversary season (and first under the musical direction of Maestro Alastair Willis) in just a few hours with the appropriately named Fabulous Finale. Tonight’s program will be led by guest conductor Stefan Sanderling, and includes Beethoven’s Seventh Symphony…
Strange sonic rumblings at the Pharmacy (tonight)
I once took two different women to see the same band a month or so apart. It was a group whose music I really enjoyed, but I suppose it would generally be considered difficult– noisy, discordant and exploratory, fusing elements of avant-garde jazz and punk rock in a theatrical way that was as much about…
Mayor reins in chief
Springfield Mayor Mike Houston on Friday issued an order barring any changes to union contracts without his approval. The order came one week after more than 70 internal affairs files were destroyed after police chief Rob Williams agreed to reduce the retention period for such files from five years to four, a move that has…
Mostly educated
A while back, in “Teaching idiots,” I ventured the view that it has never been easier than it is today to give oneself an education. I did not however settle the question of whether is might be wise to do so. The self-taught tend to have patchy educations. This can be bad, it can be…
Harris trial juror saw TV coverage…in the jury’s waiting room
A prospective juror in the murder trial of Christopher Harris dropped a miniature bombshell this afternoon. Asked by the presiding judge whether she had heard any thing about the case, the woman said that she had. When and where, asked Circuit Court Judge Scott Drazewski. Just now, the woman replied, from a news broadcast on…
Teaching requirements
James Krohe Jr. Remember the news, announced by District 186 in March, that 68 of Springfield’s 1,329 public school teachers did not have the required paperwork in their personnel files showing them to be fit for the classroom? This except from A New Guide for Emigrants to the West, written by the American Baptist missionary…
Boyle’s Trance rewards the patient
How much you enjoy Danny Boyle’s Trance depends entirely on how much you like to be manipulated while watching a movie. And while it might be distracting to other viewers, they may end up thanking you if you were to bring pencil, paper and a penlight in order to make notes and keep track of…
Bloodbath in Beason
Logan County state’s attorney Jonathan Wright was raging. With trial scheduled to start in just three weeks, defense attorney Daniel Fultz had tainted the jury pool by granting an interview to a television news reporter, Wright told the judge as the defense attorney buried his head in his hands, as though deep in thought or…
HELP HISTORIC FIREHOUSE
Springfield’s first African-American firehouse is in need of restoration. The Springfield Area Basic Crafts Council, Operating Engineers Local 965 and The Springfield Project have helped raise money for the restoration of the historic building. Built in 1902, the firehouse is at 1310 E. Adams and has been owned by the Prince Hall Free Masons since…
Ready, set, shred
Springfield city council members want answers about the shredding of dozens of police department disciplinary files last week. This comes in the wake of an unexpected change in policy that shortened the retention period for internal affairs files from five years to four. The union that represents police officers is lauding the policy shift and…
Letters to the Editor 5/2/13
UNSUNG TREASURE Of course Mbanna Kantako has made a difference (“Keeping it real,” by Bruce Rushton, April 25). If Mr. Kantako has been able to widen just one person’s view of the universe (with all of its glaring injustices, absurdities and whatnot), he has succeeded. In fact, it appears as though a whole bunch of…
We’re all losers in the War on Drugs
The “War on Drugs” launched by President Richard Nixon in the 1970s has had a lasting effect on society that can be felt decades later. For many American families the War on Drugs has created grief, separation and a continuous cycle of poverty. In the film The House I Live In, the drug industry…
ECONOMIC OUTLOOK
Is this sluggish economy ever going to get back to normal? A recent survey of Sangamon County employers doesn’t hold out much hope, though the employers seemed optimistic about their own situations. Conducted by the Center for State Policy and Leadership at University of Illinois Springfield for the Greater Springfield Chamber of Commerce, the survey…
Leak questions remain, but there are deeper problems
Many questions remain unanswered regarding the unlawful release by School District 186 of student data from the Capital College Preparatory Academy (CCPA), and the official apology issued by the Springfield Board of Education rings hollow. The police and district investigation did uncover much of the mystery – the who and how. Even a motive –…
Josh Catalano and The Dirty Thoughts
A stalwart on the local music scene in performing, writing and recording original, rocking American music, Josh Catalano (guitar, vocals, songwriting) formed The Dirty Thoughts in 2011 with former Damnwell Betters bandmates Patrick Miller (drums) and Jordan Laier (guitar, keys, pedal steel, vocals), then added Keith Voegele (bass, vocals) of the nationally renowned St. Louis-based…
Gagging on ag-gag laws
In most state legislatures today, “off the wall” has become the political center, and bizarre bills are no longer unusual. Still, it seems strange that legislators in so many states – including Arkansas, California, Florida, Indiana, Missouri, Ohio and Vermont – have simultaneously been pushing “ag-gag” bills that are not merely outrageous, but downright un-American.…
earthday poem #3
earthday poem #3 went to earthday festivities at union park: encouraging displaysgreeny ideas demonstrationsso cold and rainy not many camethe decorated refrigerators caughtmy heart they should be a travelingexhibit green trolls popping out tosing green limericks thumb nosesat gas guzzlers and get this if youwant a green whole-body burialyou can now be shrouded in juteand…
See them
A.B.A.T.E. (A Brotherhood Aimed Toward Education) of Illinois motorcycle organization has a ride planned for Sunday, May 5, for motorcycle awareness month. The ride starts at the Illinois Department of Transportation parking lot. There will be food, beverages and A.B.A.T.E. products available for purchase between 8 a.m. until the group leaves at 1 p.m. All…
Brilliant trails
Join Lincoln Memorial Garden in an evening of stargazing on Friday, May 3. Dr. John Martin from the University of Illinois Springfield’s Astronomy and Physics program will kick off the agenda with an hour talk about planets, meteors and meteorites that can be seen in the night sky. There will be an opportunity to gaze…
Must-see screening
Touted as a “must-see, jaw-dropping” film, the documentary Burn will be screened at The Legacy Theatre on Wednesday evening, May 8. Burn tells the story of Detroit firefighters. But this first responder story is unique. Detroit is a city with more abandoned buildings and arson fires each day than cities twice its size. Los Angeles,…
Unseen floors
Downtown Springfield, Inc. presents its 14th annual Upper Story Tour on Thursday, May 2 during National Historic Preservation Month. The tour gives Springfield residents the opportunity to see historical, residential and commercial spaces downtown that are not usually open to the public. Tour sites include: 930 E. Monroe Street; 524 E. Monroe; 518 E. Monroe;…
20 years of the FTQ
Oh, how we love to measure time, indeed, we live by that desire, but that’s the human way of observing and commemorating movement through our lives. Important events in our travels are designated by counting the years and creating anniversaries. Please join us for one of these milestones as we celebrate 20 years of the…
City sued again
The destruction of more than 70 Springfield police internal affairs files has landed the city in court. Calvin Christian, a city resident who has twice sued the city in recent years seeking internal affairs files, sued again on Thursday, claiming that the city violated both the state Freedom of Information Act and the Local Records…
A state divided on guns
A new statewide poll shows a majority of Illinoisans favor concealed carry. But an overwhelming majority in every area of the state also say it’s OK with them if Chicago and Cook County police have additional authority over who gets to carry in their own jurisdictions. The Capitol Fax/We Ask America poll of 1,284 likely…
Cakes on a plate
In a recent column (“Keeping Springfield weird,” April 25, 2013) I tried to explain why Springfield’s built environment strikes so many visitors as off-putting. I mentioned as likely causes parking lots and incoherent zoning practices and tawdry construction. I also mentioned ill-defined streetscapes, which can induce confusion and unease in the first-time visitor. So much…
Pain’s outlandish story matches Bay’s garish style
Director Michael Bay throws audiences a curveball with his latest film Pain and Gain as he actually tells a story that revolves around human beings rather than alien robots. After conquering the international box office and rupturing an untold number of eardrums with his Transformers films, he brings his manic style to a stranger-than-fiction tale…
Happy birthday, King’s Daughters, with an apology
The King’s Daughters Organization celebrates its 120th birthday this year. Actually, their celebration began last fall with the long-awaited publication of their cookbook, Dining with the Daughters. I wrote about KDO and the cookbook back then. Normally I don’t revisit topics so soon, but I have good reason to do so in this instance: I…
In sickness and in stealth
This woman and I were involved 13 years ago, before I met my wife, but she was married then. She got divorced and moved away. We reconnected recently on Facebook, and I discovered she’s now only 20 miles away. I told her I’m happily married and I’ve never cheated on my wife, but I would…
