Mayor talks with company about Oak Ridge
StoneMor Partners, a Pennsylvania based cemetery company, has been quietly talking with Springfield Mayor Mike Houston and other top city officials about taking over management of Oak Ridge Cemetery. Calling StoneMor “a good company,” Houston acknowledged Tuesday that he has spoken with no other firms about taking over cemetery operations. He has said that the…
Torch Tuesday Concert Series Tonight at Bar None
GrantFlows from Champaign Tonight marks the return of the Torch Tuesday Concert Series with heigh-level hip-hop talent gathered from across the region. Featured performers will include Champaign artist GrantFlows; Woods G and Yung World (both from Decatur) and Springfield favorites Xtortion and Scoobie Da Lyricist. Beats will be provided by the incomparable DJ Yatti DNY with hosting duties handled by Blacksteel. Click…
Oak Ridge may go private
Springfield Mayor Mike Houston has proposed putting Oak Ridge Cemetery under private management. The proposal, aimed at reducing the city’s subsidy of the cemetery where Abraham Lincoln is buried, came during a city council executive session held Tuesday. The city now spends $400,000 a year subsidizing the cemetery, which has 14 employees, Houston said. State…
Health care cuts
I tried to say all this a year and a half ago in “Living too high off the hog” (March 3, 2011) but this time I will hand the mike over to Aaron Carroll at the Incidental Economist. Referring to recent news that hospital systems are laying off people, and that the layoffs are being…
He’s got a gub
Curses, foiled again• Philippine authorities charged Jeane Napoles, 23, with tax evasion after she posted pictures on social media documenting her lavish lifestyle, including one showing her bathing in money. “We follow the Internet,” Bureau of Internal Revenue chief Kim Henares said. “That is where we heard about her.” (Agence France-Presse) • Belgian authorities arrested…
The butt stops here
My husband and I both smoked pot regularly, but I quit several years ago, and he began smoking nightly. I kept encouraging him to quit because it makes him mentally disappear. He goes through periods when he doesn’t smoke (mostly because of my nagging), and then we’re able to connect and have a loving relationship.…
Holiday Book Drive
The brainchild of retired teachers, Holiday Book Drive is a program to get books into the hands of children who might not have the opportunity to learn to love reading. In its fourth year, donations of new books for children from birth to age 12 can be dropped off through Nov. 30 at the following…
Track Home: The Musical
IMAGE COURTESY OF SPRINGFIELD THEATER CENTRE Springfield Theatre Centre presents six performances of an award-winning original musical written during the last five years by playwright Kari Catton and composer Scott David Smith, both of Springfield. Track Home follows 11 children riding the Orphan Train from New York to Missouri in 1910. The musical is based…
How to avoid another shutdown
One of the more amazing spectacles in the days after the government shutdown ended was the obsession in Washington with who won and who lost in the showdown. Yes, the capital is focused on next year’s elections, but honestly! There was only one real loser, and that was the American people. Why? Because nothing got…
Miller on Madigan
The rich irony of Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan denouncing somebody else for attempting to be a “kingmaker” is so obvious and laughable that I can’t help but wonder why a guy who’s been a take no prisoners kingmaker himself for so long in this state would ever think of saying such a thing. You…
Johnnie Owens can sing
Johnnie Owens, joined by his favorite musician friends, hosts a release party for his CD, Butter!, Sunday, Nov. 10, at the Brewhaus from 5 to 9 p.m. PHOTO BY JOE COPLEY Now a renowned and beloved Springfield-based singer, Johnnie Owens’ voice and talent took him around the world in his younger days. Earlier this week…
north fifth street poem #17
every weekday morning I hear the pledge of allegiance it’s broadcast all over the neighborhood by the school next door, no I don’t stop what I’m doing composting the garbage or wiping up a spill to stand with my hand on my heart facing the flag the only flag here is a small one atop…
Guest room rescue
It’s there, at the end of the hall, tauntingly filled with boxed ornaments, folded tablecloths and holiday-themed towels: The dreaded guest bedroom, holder of all things leftover and misplaced. With the holidays approaching and guests arriving, it’s time to clean it out. Where to start? “The first step is not to necessarily take everything out,…
Having fun saving the world
If we are to believe the hype – and of course we are meant to believe it – the proposed Kidzeum of Health and Science will save the earth, rescue our children from disease and invigorate the local tourism economy. I assume the staff will rest on the seventh day. Springfield got into the children’s…
Officials calming fears over Common Core standards
As schools across Illinois prepare to roll out new educational standards, officials are working to battle negative perceptions by the public. The state’s new Common Core learning standards are benchmarks for what students should be able to do at each grade level. Leaders from business, labor and education spoke to a gathering of parents and…
Cast not the only thing old in Last Vegas
Kevin Kline, Robert De Niro, Michael Douglas and Morgan Freeman in Last Vegas. PHOTO COURTESY CBS FILMS Don’t you just laugh and laugh when you see a senior citizen unable to operate a newfangled gadget like a trunk latch in a car? Or how about when they act hip but are really out of touch…
Local First kicks off Holiday Sweepstakes Nov. 13
Who: Local First SpringfieldWhat: Kickoff Party & Press EventWhere: Isringhausen Imports /BMW StoreWhen: Nov. 13 at 5p.m. The fourth annual Local First Holiday Sweepstakes officially begins on Wednesday, Nov. 13. More than 120 Local First Springfield business members are participating in this holiday promotion, which encourages consumers to focus their holiday spending with locally owned…
Paddling the Sangamon River water trail
The 65-mile Lincoln Heritage Water Trail spans two historic sites – the Lincoln Homestead State Park and the New Salem State Historic Site PHOTO BY BEN KINNINGHAM Rivers have dictated the history of life itself, drawing to it animals, with humans in their wake. There are celebrated, legendary and notorious rivers – rivers that rage…
It could happen to you…
Children get injured; children get sick. And more often than we might expect, they have medical conditions that even the parents may not be aware of and are yet to be diagnosed. It is every care provider’s fear that something will happen to a child who has been entrusted to his care. So when something…
Ansar Shrine Circus
Royal Hanneford Circus comes to town to delight and amaze audiences young and old at the Prairie Capital Convention Center, Nov. 8-10. Six shows are slated with morning, afternoon and evening hours. Reserved seats are available for an additional charge. The Hanneford family first toured as a troupe in 1807 and currently has two full-time touring…
Prep the Halls!
Guests will jam your home during the holiday season, many of them staying for a week or longer. You don’t want your furnace to conk out. And you certainly don’t want your toilets to go on the fritz. Fortunately, you can take steps before guests arrive to make sure that your home is both functional…
Say ‘no way’ to NSA
The very fine public servant, Russ Feingold, cautioned against the steady slippage of our democracy toward autocracy back in October 2001, when he stood tall as the only U.S. Senator to vote against the Patriot Act. Warning that its anti-democratic provisions would create a nation “where the government is entitled to open your mail, eavesdrop…
Can you hear me now?
Springfield Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin has long warned that the city is headed toward financial disaster thanks to unsustainable pension obligations. He’s usually been a voice in the wilderness, the only “no” vote on collective bargaining agreements that contain raises McMenamin says will exacerbate an already untenable pension situation. Last month he held a…
Greater Downstate Bluegrass Festival
PHOTO COURTESY DOYLELAWSON.COM The 27th annual Greater Downstate Indoor Bluegrass Music Festival returns to the Crowne Plaza Hotel Nov. 8-10. Six concerts are scheduled for Friday at 2:30 p.m. and 7 p.m.; Saturday at 10:30 a.m., 1 p.m. and 7 p.m.; and Sunday at 10 a.m. Artists include Doyle Lawson and Quicksilver, seven-time International Bluegrass…
Letters to the Editor 11/7/13
ILLUSTRATION BASED ON ORIGINAL ARTWORK BY RICK NEASE/MCT RAISING DISTRICT 186 FEESI have been following with interest the variety of proposed tax increases to benefit School District 186. I should begin by acknowledging that a strong school system is paramount to a great community. The students we turn out of the system today are our…
Retirees rankled over health benefits audit
A new package of health benefits for state retirees comes with a string attached: an audit to make sure every dependent on the new plans is eligible for coverage. But some retirees say the audit is skewed to kick people off of the rolls. Historically, most state retirees have paid deductibles and other costs for…
NICE WORK IF YOU CAN GET IT
He’s baacck. Actually, Joseph Zeid Langan, erstwhile cop for Springfield and Southern View, never really left the employ of the University of Illinois Springfield, where he worked as a police dispatcher after being forced to resign as a Springfield police officer in 2008, when a prostitute said she performed a sex act on him in…
Micky and the Motorcars
Micky and the Motorcars If you’re familiar with Midwest music clubs, then you’ve heard of Mojo’s in Columbia, Mo., Knucklehead’s in Kansas City and Off Broadway in St. Louis, the other venues Micky and the Motorcars play during a roll through the prairie. That says volumes about these guys and the alt/country, roots-rocking world they…
SHOES FOR WATER
How can shoes help solve the problem of poor water access in developing countries? George “The Shoeman” Hutchings has found a way. Hutchings’ Shoeman Water Project exports shoes to street vendors in Kenya, Haiti and South America, where the shoes are sold, and the proceeds go toward drilling wells in impoverished areas. Sean McConnell, a…
A rare verdict
Attorney Douglas Quivey achieved the near-impossible by winning a criminal case in federal court. PHOTO BY DAVID HINE Get charged with a crime in federal court and you might as well get used to wearing stripes. That’s the common wisdom, at least, borne up by statistics that show defendants in federal court almost never walk,…
