On the block
La Jolla, Calif.-based Copley Press Inc. is looking for a buyer for seven of its Midwest daily newspaper properties, including the State Journal-Register. Company CEO David C. Copley, whose family has run Illinois’ oldest newspaper since the 1920s, said Tuesday that the exploration of these “strategic alternatives” is designed to protect the company’s most valuable…
Filthy and kid-friendly
Despite being a big fan of their Wallace and Gromit adventures, I was less than excited about seeing Aardman Animation’s newest feature, Flushed Away. Having a film set in the sewer just put me off from the start. The sight of animated critters floating down dingy, dirty waterways and the ever-present creepy slugs in the…
Change of pace
SINGLES ONLY We’ve stood at the edge of commercial crap with Gwen Stefani before, but with her new single, “Wind It Up,” we have fallen off the cliff. Not only does the Hollaback Girl yodel badly, but she’s also yodeling to the chopped-up “beats” of The Sound of Music’s “The Lonely Goatherd”! A little discretion…
Out of the Blue
After more than a decade as a Springfield police officer, Alan Jones has accumulated his fair share of war stories. One involves a man who owned a cache of weapons and a violent temper. When Jones went into the man’s garage to retrieve the weapons, he discovered that the man owned a pit bull, too.…
Winging the news
Where once they were brightly colored, they were all pastel now — all soft, all weak hues. They lived in pastel houses and slept in pastel beds. They ate pastel food, drank pastel drink. They thought pastel thoughts and spoke the day’s news in pastel words. Joyce Hampton had been doing the Channel 6 weather…
Mother’s Day
Bert Vancauwelaert knows the song well. At the end of the verse, he softly sings the refrain. The lyrics ask a question he answered for himself a long time ago, but it’s one that still bears repeating: “Whose side are you on? Whose side are you on?” The 80-year-old retired coal miner was among the…
Bad news calls for good apples
It’s been a rough autumn for the food chain. First it was the nationwide supermarket spinach scare, then (albeit to a lesser degree) it was lettuce and carrot juice. Next came the FDA’s announced plans to approve the sale of meat and milk from cloned livestock. Rounding things out was the release of two major…
Let’s make a deal?
Corrupt political insider Stu Levine was hit with so many federal indictments earlier this year that he was literally facing a life sentence behind bars. Last week, he copped a plea that will let him walk free after five years and seven months in what will probably be a minimum-security prison — in exchange for…
Letters to the Editor
We welcome letters, but please include your full name, address, and daytime telephone number. We edit all letters for libel, length, and clarity. Send letters to Letters, Illinois Times, P.O. Box 5256, Springfield, IL 62705; fax 217-753-3958; e-mail editor@illinoistimes.com. A REAL SOLDIER’S STORY The Doris Chambers story was such a touching and inspirational article [Dusty…
The real bad thing
I read something shocking recently: A study revealed that soft drinks provide 14 percent of an average American’s calories. An Internet search turned up other studies with numbers that varied somewhat, but the conclusions were the same: American consumption of soft drinks is at a historically high level, and it’s having a major impact on…
Watching Obama grow
I’m ready to look beyond this election to the next, and hope that, with Barack Obama, our team can win the World Series again. The prospect of our senator as a candidate for president is more fun to think about than this dreary gubernatorial race in which the best candidate is, once again, behind in…
The war of our fathers
World War II was the big one, and Hollywood must agree. More footage has been devoted to WWII than to all other wars combined. Even in the modern era WWII continues to outpace other wars. While complaints of the abundance of Vietnam War films in the ’70s were growing, no one noticed that six times…
Spoiler?
A lot has happened for Rich Whitney and the Green Party over the past six months. With very little money, the Greens collected about 433 signatures per day between March and June, dodged a formal objection to their 39,000-odd petitions filed with the Illinois State Board of Elections, and became the first fringe party in…
Having a classical guitar gas
In central Illinois the name of Russel Brazzel is practically synonymous with classical guitar. Since moving here in 1990, Brazzel has taught hundreds of music students, co-founded the Springfield Classical Guitar Society, brought internationally acclaimed players to town, and given countless performances. Even the license plates on his red Mustang read “CL GTR 1.” Obviously…
Bring it on
The myth of Robin Hood — the outlaw who steals from the rich and gives to the poor (after deducting a modest commission) — is an ancient myth of universal appeal, one that must predate by many centuries the quasi-historical English bandit of the 12th century whose exploits were as familiar to my childhood as…
Wal-Mart’s new look
The modest working-class persona is passé. Wal-Mart is on the way up! Deciding to market to a more affluent clientele, the retailing behemoth is working up a new fancier look for its workers. Instead of the somewhat dowdy blue vests with “How May I Help You?” emblazoned on the back, the new dress code features…
