Killer will remain locked up
Gary Schmitt, who killed his father with a rock, then nearly killed two women with a knife, will remain locked up at McFarland Mental Health Center instead of being released to a Springfield group home, a circuit court judge has ruled. In an order issued Friday, Effingham Circuit Court Judge Kimberly Koester ruled that Schmitt,…
Safe travels
Carla Knorowski, chief executive officer of the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library Foundation, has resigned. In a press release, the foundation says that Knorowski has accepted a position as president and chief development officer for the U.S. Naval War College Foundation in Rhode Island, effective Jan. 1, 2020. Knorowski was an unpaid trustee of the Rhode…
Move on
With frost around the corner, it’s time to stop acting like children and start making plans for winter. No one wants a repeat of 15 years ago, when Michael Moffett, recently released from prison after stabbing his father and violating parole, was found frozen under the Clearlake overpass. Helping Hands was full, and Salvation Army…
Who are feds targeting?
The Illinois Senate recently released a heavily redacted copy of the federal search warrant served during the raid of Sen. Martin Sandoval’s Statehouse office last month. And the Village of McCook also released a heavily redacted search warrant from the federal raid of its town hall. It’s impossible to tell from the redactions exactly how…
Letters to the Editor
BUILD ON OUR HISTORYLast week’s cover story (“All charged up,” Oct. 3) had me comparing Springfield to Bloomington/Normal – again. In 2017, McLean County’s planning director spoke to Inner City Older Neighborhoods (ICON) about the true cost of urban sprawl. Couple that with envy over Uptown Normal’s 20-year investment in urban renewal. It’s hard to…
Editor’s Note
Now a heart attack survivor, Bernie Sanders can still win the nomination if he’ll take a politically revolutionary approach. He must stop talking about health care insurance and start talking about health. Medicare-for-all won’t stop heart disease, which starts in the brain with thinking that nutrition and lifestyle don’t matter. Sanders, post-stents, sounds contrite but…
Losing Mom
GALESBURG – My mother’s breathing was ragged. I held her left hand with each labored gasp. My dad, her husband of almost 59 years, gripped her right. As she breathed slowly, shallowly, my dad cried out, “Save a place for me in heaven.” Tears fell down the face of my sister, who sat at the…
Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular
Be sure to put the Jack-O-Lantern Spectacular on your list of must-do fall festivals. About 2,000 hand-carved pumpkins will be displayed and illuminated at the Thomas Rees Memorial Carillon on the evening of Friday, Oct. 18. The carillon will be playing, special lighting and sound effects will add to the experience and you will be…
A musical with a rollicking bluegrass score
Written and composed by Steve Martin and Edie Brickell, Bright Star is set in the Blue Ridge Mountains of North Carolina in the 1920s and 40s. Inspired by the Iron Mountain Baby, William Moses Gould Helms, it tells a tale of love and redemption. When literary editor Alice Murphy meets a young soldier just home…
CENSORED 2020
Every year, Project Censored scours the landscape for the most important stories that the mainstream corporate media somehow missed, and every year the task seems to get a bit stranger. Or “curiouser and curiouser” as suggested in the subtitle of this year’s volume of their work, Censored 2020: Through The Looking Glass, which includes their…
Small town with big plans for growing groceries
It will be a small grocery store in a small town, but its developers hope it will impact area food production, buying and consumption trends in a big way. Market on the Hill in downtown Mt. Pulaski will open in the spring of 2020 and will feature locally grown fruits and vegetables, locally produced meats,…
Whale of a sale
What’s bigger than a Hummer but smaller than an elephant? Dregs from the empire that was once THR and Associates, an erstwhile buy-and-sell Springfield outfit that declared bankruptcy seven years ago, with its founder Jeff Parsons facing criminal investigation and lawsuits galore. Auctioneer Kurt Aumann can’t recollect exactly when he was summoned to the FBI…
MONEY BACK IF NOT DELIGHTED
Before we know it, leaves will turn, it’ll be dark by supper and frost will be on pumpkins, if not inside homes, which are getting tougher to keep warm without taking out second mortgages. City Water, Light and Power wants to help, and so the city’s utility is making an offer no one should be…
Gemini Man: New age visuals clash with old-school script
While watching any movie, viewers should never be conscious of the process that goes into its making. No matter what the film, an illusion of reality – whatever “reality” said production has adopted – should be established and maintained throughout. Nary a thought should be given as to how an effect has been achieved or…
Fairly Odd Duo
This husband and wife combo of J.B. and Michelle Faires keeps the sounds fresh and energetic, pulling from the folk/Americana/pop vein while concentrating on familiar songs not often covered by other acts. J.B., a lifelong musician and music educator, brings his professional experience to the duo as Michelle adds a sweet singing voice, plus her…
Making an art gallery out of Enos Park
A giant paper spiderweb containing an oversized morning glory flower covering the front of an abandoned house. A series of synchronized video monitors flashing various leisure activity options from an upper porch. A palm frond waving maniacally at passersby from a storefront window. A series of bright pink lawn ornaments made out of thrift store…
OSAKA CASE DECIDED
The owner of Osaka, a Japanese restaurant on Wabash Avenue, might be relying on Grubhub for awhile after being sentenced to six months of home confinement for tax evasion. The sentence entered against Chu Chuk Cheung on Oct. 1 by U.S. District Court Judge Sue Myerscough also included two years of probation, a $10,000 fine…
swimming poem #11
I swam young can’t recall anylessons – for my first child I usedthe red cross guide put a tub ofwater on the dock little demi, 2 plus, blew bubbles in the water, docily followed all the directions hold yourbreath etc she gradually learned firston land then out from shore now alongcomes daughter #2: I again…
Springfield-grown mushrooms
Now that cooler fall temperatures have finally set in, foodies in the know will soon be enjoying one of autumn’s most delectable seasonal offerings. Wild mushrooms pop up seemingly overnight in local woodlands and farm fields, waiting to be plucked by an experienced mushroom hunter and taken home to be fried in butter or stirred…
