Cover Story
Meet me at Southtown
The block between 11th and 12th streets along South Grand Avenue, known as Southtown (often spelled as two words), appears run-down, with empty buildings and lack of upkeep. There are a few businesses still going strong. According to John Stremsterfer of the Community Foundation for the Land of Lincoln and Dominic Watson of the Springfield…
Beth Ann Handshy-Booker
Beth Ann Handshy-Booker of Knoxville, TN. formerly of Springfield. IL died on Sunday January 23,2022. Beth was born April 19,1958 in Springfield, Il the daughter of Marshall W and Anna Mae Freligh Handshy. She married David Booker January 1,1993. She graduated from Springfield High School and held Bachelor’s and Master’s degrees in Dietetics from U…
Doctor dilemmas
Stress has caused Amber Shipman to lose sleep and shed tears as her family deals with the fallout of an ongoing contractual dispute between Springfield Clinic and Blue Cross and Blue Shield of Illinois. The clinic became an out-of-network provider for Blue Cross members in mid-November – a change that affected up to 100,000 central…
Why I weep when I hear “Danny Boy”
I glanced at the calendar and the date Feb. 26 stared back at me. It was my brother Danny’s birthday. He would have turned 65. A milestone birthday. At 13 you are a teenager. At 16, a driver. At 18, a voter. At 21, an adult. And at 65 you’re a senior citizen. But there…
Behind the legend of Rudy Rudolph, 1928-2022
Rudy Rudolph is best known as one of the most famous female athletes ever t o come out of Springfield. I would like you to know something about the person behind that fame – a simple, sweet, honest lady who was my friend. Born Elenore Rodolfi, “Rudy” lived a humble life growing up in Devereux…
Why I weep when I hear “Danny Boy”
I glanced at the calendar and the date Feb. 26 stared back at me. It was my brother Danny’s birthday. He would have turned 65. A milestone birthday. At 13 you are a teenager. At 16, a driver. At 18, a voter. At 21, an adult. And at 65 you’re a senior citizen. But there…
A strategic plan to address homelessness
Community leaders who plan to put out a strategic plan this spring for eliminating homelessness in the Springfield area hope to avoid previous failures stemming from neighbors who may want more services for this much-maligned segment of society, but not in their backyards. “We support a comprehensive plan to address homelessness, as long as the…
Maple syrup time
It was one of those times in February when the night was frigid but the afternoon was warm, when the sky changed from grey to blue and the sun had melted the morning frost. I was walking my dog through the woods behind my old house when I felt what I thought were tiny droplets…
March and music
Hello fellow travelers, and welcome to the month of March in 2022. Our first full weekend is chock-full of goodies as we continue to work our way back to our regularly scheduled programming after the nearly two-year pandemic interruption. I’m going to jump out of the daily order to start with Sunday and the Doug…
Editor’s note 03-03-22
Thirty-two years ago this week, David Brodsky and his family arrived in the U.S., and soon came to Springfield, from Kyiv, as Soviet Jews seeking refuge from anti-Semitism and economic hardship in Ukraine. His local hosts from the Springfield Jewish Federation brought him by the office of Illinois Times, hoping we could use his graphic…
Invasion, resistance and the 21st century
David Brodsky remembers March 1, 1990, the day he arrived with his family in the United States. They came directly to Springfield as Jewish refugees from Ukraine, which was then still part of the Soviet Union. “We had friends who emigrated to big U.S. cities who didn’t have such a welcome,” he recalls. The family’s…
Mobile Museum of Tolerance visits here
The Mobile Museum of Tolerance was in Springfield last week at the request of Senator Doris Turner, D-Springfield. The Simon Wiesenthal Center created the mobile museum to inspire and empower people of all ages and backgrounds to raise their voices and combat anti-Semitism, bullying, racism, hate and intolerance. The bus is adorned with images of…
emigration poem # 1
emigration poem # 1 she was 6 months old, my grandma, cuddled in the lap of her mother as the two large families waited on the birmingham dock to board the ship that would carry them to america the baby’s aunt looked critically at the infant’s bonnet then said to …
Letters to the editor 03-03-22
FIND COMMON GROUND It is reassuring to read Tim Moore, president of Springfield Right to Life, acknowledges there are some underlying reasons women choose abortion (“Abortion haven,” Feb. 24). However, actions speak louder than words, and I have not seen or heard of any efforts on their part to address these issues. Here are some…
Illinois Supreme Court reverses mask ruling
For what seemed like an eternity, but probably just for the past year or so, infamous COVID attorney Thomas DeVore has been citing the first paragraph of Section 2 of the Illinois Department of Public Health Act to claim that only IDPH has the power to quarantine or isolate Illinoisans. And, indeed, the statute clearly…
