Mixed-martial arts fighter opens Springfield gym
Justin Robbins, a Sacred Heart-Griffin wrestler turned mixed-martial arts fighter who appeared on the cover of IT last June, has punched up efforts to supply Springfield with a new brand of competitors. On April 15 he opened Robbins Mixed Martial Arts at the corner of Jefferson and Veterans Parkway. The new gym, which specializes in…
The new play at the Presidential Museum
Two actors. No set. Multiple characters, none of whom can be the killer or victim. Wrap it up in no more than 45 minutes. Audience? Everybody age 7 to 70 and beyond. Those were a few of the constraints placed on California playwright and theater educator Richard Hellesen when Ford’s Theatre in Washington, D.C., commissioned…
IT Picks
MUSIC | Big beautiful bells The Carillon Festival fills the late spring air with the sounds of 67 cast bronze bells in a mixture combining the ambiance of church, heaven and nature. Each night the warm air welcomes in a different musician, visiting from somewhere in the world, who sits atop the tower and plays…
When a media mogul bought a cow pasture that was New Salem
If it had not been for media mogul William Randolph Hearst, New Salem State Historic Site might still be a cow pasture. In 1906 Hearst was a wealthy New York congressman who owned several newspapers and had hopes of becoming president. On August 17, he stopped here while traveling back to New York from his…
Crossing Lines, the documentary
For Indira Somani, growing up in Springfield wasn’t always easy. Her parents moved to the capital city from Pittsburgh in 1974, and the next year, Somani became both a kindergartner and the first Indian student at Owen Marsh Elementary School. In the ’70s and ’80s, Springfield wasn’t as diverse as it is now, she recalls,…
White meat vs. dark
“I’ll bet a dollar we get something this time besides [fried chicken] ribs and neck,” said Leon. “How do you suppose breast would taste?” [Later ….] “He gave me a big bite of breast. It was sort of dry and tasteless; I didn’t like it. “Why, I think neck or back beats that all to…
No salvation from Terminator sequel
If your idea of a good time is a series of ear-splitting action sequences strung together by a plot that’s obscured by a meaningless barrage of gunfire and barking actors, Terminator: Salvation is the film you’ve been waiting for. This reboot of the classic sci-fi franchise is as different from the original trilogy as dirt…
Take power into your own hands
City Water Light and Power’s new Dallman 4 coal-fired power plant is going online and testing of pollution levels will continue for several months. Although the power plant nears completion, important work remains to complete the clean energy agreement between CWLP and the Sierra Club. Involvement by CWLP customers and support from the city council…
You can always bank on the greed of Wall Street bankers
No doubt you’re going to feel terrible about this. Top executives of Goldman Sachs, the Wall Street powerhouse, are in a pout about how they’re being treated by you and me — i.e., the public. These execs are used to being revered as financial geniuses, but having taken a $10 billion bailout from us taxpayers…
High-octane intervention
From the kitchen table where he was eating supper with his family, Jeff Hart saw the clouds change direction. They rolled east, then shifted suddenly west, like they had just decided to make a U-turn. Maybe we should go down to the basement, Jeff thought. While his wife Julie helped their daughter Bella out of…
Letters to the Editor
Train station investment The Amtrak Station needs renovation. Let me congratulate the city council for supporting this worthy TIF project. The Amtrak folks at the Illinois Department of Transportation are a big boost to Springfield tourism; last year 157,540 passengers used the Springfield Amtrak station, compared to 113,199 who used Capital Airport. Amtrak distributes a…
Take a gamble on Hillbilly Casino
Hey there you cool cats, when was the last time an honest-to-goodness, classic looking, real sounding, nationally touring, rockabilly band rocked your world? Back in the heyday of local music organization Sangamon Valley Roots Revival, every time you turned around another band attired in the official costume of cuffed jeans, boots and a white T-shirt…
Museum worth visiting a second time
Though it gets off to a slow start, Night at the Museum: Battle of the Smithsonian, eventually succeeds to charm us much like the first film, primarily because of its game cast. Ben Stiller returns as Larry Daley, now a successful “inventor” who’s left his security guard uniform behind. Consumed by his work, he’s unaware…
An end to homelessness?
Billie Aschmeller has no doubt in her mind about what happened to Tim Hawker. “He died from being homeless,” she says, adding: “You shouldn’t have to wait until you’re in a casket to have a permanent home.” Hawker, who was one of about two dozen homeless people who slept at Lincoln Library before the city…
After the whistle blows, governor rethinks fundraising strategy
At the same time that Gov. Pat Quinn is pushing the General Assembly to pass major ethics reforms and solve a horribly complicated $12 billion budget deficit, his campaign committee has been calling top Statehouse groups to set up private meetings with the governor. The asking price for the exclusive meetings? $15,000. But the program…
Group helps prostitutes recover; struggles for recovery itself
Positive Options, Referrals and Alternatives, a Springfield nonprofit that provides housing for survivors of prostitution, as well as food and free HIV testing at several sites around Springfield, has seen its share of financial and personnel struggles over the past six months. PORA’s board of directors announced two weeks ago that the organization would temporarily…
The end of the Prairie House era
Back in the early 1970s, the owner of a downtown Springfield gallery hired metalsmith Joe Spoon to work as the “artist in residence.” The gallery owner provided a small, open studio in the center of the shop, and tended to usher any customer who asked about jewelry straight over to Spoon’s workbench. “We’d sit down…
