Cover Story
National Park Service boundaries to expand
The Lincoln Home National Historic Site may soon be larger and tell more of Springfield’s history if several local organizations are successful in their efforts to expand the site’s boundaries to encompass the old and the new. The Elijah Iles House Foundation Board on Dec. 29 passed a resolution encouraging the National Park Service to…
There was no arrest, Speaker Welch claims
House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch is claiming that he neither hit a woman nor was arrested in a 2002 incident. The speaker’s claims are contradicted by police reports and by a 2012 opinion from the state attorney general’s office, which ruled that Welch had been arrested and so police reports must be released. According to…
Plywood and troops to protect Statehouse
Illinois is ramping up efforts to protect the Statehouse in Springfield. That comes in the wake of reports that groups connected to deadly violence in the U.S. Capitol on Jan. 6 might be plotting further actions in capital cities. On Monday, an FBI memo warned that armed protestors could be headed to state capitals in…
Illinois politics redux
Bill Dwyer, former newspaper reporter, doesn’t spare words when it comes to Emanuel “Chris” Welch, the new Illinois House speaker. “He’s the worst of the worst when it comes to crony politics,” says Dwyer, who lives in the Chicago area. When Welch ran for the House in 2012 after losing a 2006 bid, Dwyer got…
Will Republicans finally reject Trump?
“This isn’t their Republican Party anymore!” Donald Trump Jr. declared Jan. 6 during a fiery speech near the US Capitol. “This is Donald Trump’s Republican Party,” the President’s son insisted. “Today, Republicans, you get to pick a side for the future of this party. I suggest you choose wisely.” And then, later in the day,…
Music charges
Welcome to our world as we are into the second issue of 2021 with a slight thaw in the live music freeze about to happen. Here come our first live gigs of the year with the promise and hope of more to come as the COVID vaccinations continue, our infection rates drop and, most importantly,…
COMPTROLLER ON MOVE?
With a lease expiring in June, the state comptroller’s office has won legislative approval for a new deal that could result in relocation within the capital city. One option is to buy the building at 323 West Adams Street where comptroller employees have worked for 40 years. Under the expiring lease, the state is paying…
Advancement through service
Advancement through service Springfield Frontiers International will host a virtual version of the annual Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Breakfast. Rev. Dr. Melvin Charles Smith, an internationally recognized evangelist with the Mt. Moriah-East Baptist Church, is the scheduled speaker. Frontiers International, Inc. is a national, nonprofit and nonsectarian service organization founded in 1936 and headquartered…
WOMEN SPEAK ON SPEAKER
As of early Wednesday, it appeared state Rep. Chris Welch had the most support to be the next House Speaker. If he wins enough votes from fellow reps, he will be the state’s first Black person to fill the post. It’s a title Michael Madigan has held longer than any other in U.S. history. The…
Mulligan continues to impress in Promising Young Woman
Sometimes, the sheer force of a single performance can elevate a film, taking what would be a run-of-the-mill project and turning it into something truly special. Such is the case with Carey Mulligan and Promising Young Woman, a social diatribe disguised as a pitch-black comedy, a film that takes no prisoners as it examines sexual…
Democracy, eh
Last week, I flew a Canadian flag. I had meant to do this when George W. Bush got reelected. But I finally affixed the maple leaf banner to my front porch the day after pretend patriots stormed the Capitol. It was a low point long in the making. Forget Donald Trump. He’s symptom or opportunist…
Editor’s note 01-14-21
A season of rapid change, as in Springfield and Washington, is not the time to shrink as though violence, disease and racism will win. It is the time, rather, to say with Nancy, JB, Joe – and now maybe Mitch, and Tim Butler, who’s finding his voice – to say we can do this, we…
How do we respond to the nation’s crisis?
On Wednesday last week, the world saw an insurrectionist mob forcibly enter the U.S. Capitol and violently interrupt the certification of Electoral College votes confirming the election of Joe Biden and Kamala Harris as the next president and vice president of the United States. This frightening incident dramatically exposed the fragility of our democracy and…
Non-new year poem again:
Non-new year poem again: this time on the value of books the times are still chaotic so how about a bit of dubious humor till the pendulum swings? my librarian friend heard this from a coworker at west branch so It’s surely true – a woman came in to pay for a lost book “why…
Letters to the Editor 01-14-21
BACK TO SCHOOL NOW? I teach third grade at a school with a diverse student population in a neighborhood of working-class people. I have been in this school nearly a decade now, and I have come to know the businesses and families I serve. I want my students in class. I want to be in…
Healing from racism
In the wake of the police killing of George Floyd and subsequent uprising, many have grappled with the question of how to address systemic racism in substantive ways. Last fall, the state launched the Healing Illinois initiative. The goal is “to prompt ideas and activities that help build a bridge toward a racially equitable Illinois,”…
House moves bill to end Medicaid managed care
A House committee on Monday, Jan. 11, advanced a bill that would end the system of hiring private insurance companies to manage the state’s Medicaid program at the end of their current contracts and replace it with a standard fee-for-service payment system. The bill also calls for a three-year moratorium on any hospital closures or…
Bail bucks
Sangamon County is facing a potential budget hole as the state contemplates ending the cash bail system. When someone posts bond, the county charges a 10 percent fee that goes into the county’s general fund after cases are adjudicated. With $4.1 million of bonds held in 6,799 pending cases as of Dec. 31, the county…
Sweeping criminal justice bill moves toward passage
The Illinois Senate passed a criminal justice omnibus bill early Wednesday morning after a grueling 20 hours of politicking during Tuesday’s lame duck session. The legislation is made up of several provisions that touch all facets of the criminal justice system. The Pretrial Fairness Act, a longtime passion project to end cash bail in Illinois…
Education reform heads to governor
A bill aimed at improving racial equity throughout the state’s K-12 and higher education system passed both houses of the General Assembly on Monday, Jan. 11, while another bill, to address economic inequities received House approval Tuesday night. Both bills were part of an agenda being pushed by the Illinois Legislative Black Caucus, which called…
You can make Bread in a Can
Throughout the pandemic, I have been binge-baking, dutifully feeding my sourdough starter every day, and feeling pangs of guilt every time I scrape my extra sourdough starter “discard” into the garbage. Having trained under a Michelin-starred chef who is renowned for her perfect sourdough boules, I struggle constantly to live up to her lofty standards…
