Willie Horton comes to Cass County
Enough about the Supreme Court. Let’s talk about judgeships closer to home, where things really matter. Luke Thomas, the Republican candidate to replace retiring Cass County Circuit Court Judge Robert Hardwick, Jr., has created a campaign video that features mug shots of Deon McDonald and Deandre Douglas. Featuring images of Jesus, assault rifles, Hanoi Jane…
School board blues
I have long believed that the death penalty is insufficient for the most egregious crimes. Don’t send rapists and murderers and former governors to the gurney. Instead, sentence them to attend school board meetings, where they can be strapped down in chairs and gagged so they can’t scream. Force their eyelids open with metal contraptions and station a…
Trump’s immigration policy
One of America’s great strengths is our highly diversified population, continually fueled by generations of immigrants who come here as refugees or who simply seek opportunity. Consider the example of Fredrich, a 16-year-old boy who fled his tiny German village where he faced a dreary future of poverty. He arrived in Manhattan in 1885 with…
Durkin’s wise move
The Anti-Harassment, Equality and Access panel set up by the Democratic Party earlier this year released its final recommendations last week. The AHEA panel wants the state’s political parties to make their funding of candidates contingent on campaigns adopting specific policies and training. The panel was created in the wake of numerous sexual harassment allegations…
Letters to the Editor 10/04/18
APPETITE ON THE AVENUETaking place in Shop ’n Save’s vast parking lot on North Grand Avenue, just east of First Street from 4:30 to 8 p.m., Tuesday evening’s (Oct. 9) Appetite on the Avenue will be our second annual food truck event. Appetite on the Avenue will have food trucks, thirst-quenching local beer, great music…
Editor’s Note 10/04/18
This needs to be a country that does not go crazy over editorial cartoons. That happens elsewhere, where free speech is not so well understood, or so deeply ingrained as a defining value. Chris Britt, whose work appears weekly in Illinois Times, has been the target of an over-the-top hate mail campaign after a cartoon…
Beware of bogus bipartisanship
On Jan. 1, 1937, Social Security became effective, which meant workers and employers began making payments into a special U.S. Treasury account. The Republican Party, seeing an opportunity to siphon off labor support from President Roosevelt’s 1936 re-election began a political fear campaign. In the weeks preceding the election, workers’ pay envelopes were stuffed with…
Audience-driven improvisational comedy
On Saturday, Oct. 6, enjoy 90 minutes of hilarious improvised comedy and song by Ryan Stiles, Greg Proops, Jeff B. Davis and Joel Murray, four of improv’s biggest names and the current cast members of the Emmy-nominated television show titled “Whose Line is it Anyways?”. Following a similar format to the long-running television program, audience…
Seasonal family fun
Gather the family and spend a gorgeous day (or two) in Cawley Meadow at Lincoln Memorial Garden for the annual Indian Summer Festival. This seasonal festival, a favorite among locals, features craft vendors, a fairy woodland, opportunities to create a fairy house or tree troll, pumpkin painting, crafts and face painting for children, family photo…
Fly in my soup kitchen
I’m a 30-something woman questioning the long-term viability of my relationship. I work for a nonprofit in a community with a high level of volunteerism. My boyfriend is a therapist, so I think he wants to help others. He’s kind and thoughtful toward me and his friends. However, he does no volunteer work or charitable…
Where they stand
Organized labor will have a friend in the State Capitol no matter who wins the 96th District state representative race on Nov. 6. Democratic incumbent Sue Scherer of Decatur was a longtime union member and contract negotiator, and Republican challenger Herman Senor of Springfield has been a Teamsters Union member for more than 20 years. …
Opening doors to beautiful windows
You’ve likely driven by the Sacred Heart Convent Chapel many times without realizing you are passing by an architectural gem filled with spectacular stained glass. The Sacred Heart Convent, on West Monroe Street between Amos and Lincoln avenues, is the motherhouse of the Dominican Sisters of Springfield and retirement home for their senior sisters. To…
Architecture makes life better
As a freelance writer, I enjoy writing about an eclectic range of topics – health and fitness, nutrition, museums, travel, advocacy, government, local businesses, community leaders, wedding planning, programs for kids, activities for seniors and interesting people, places and organizations. Recently, I was asked to write about two seemingly different topics: the Sacred Heart Convent…
Growing green buildings
Solar panels, monarch butterflies, energy efficiency, eco-designed chairs, clean energy, rooftop gardens, manufactured construction and pollinator pockets are just some of the sustainability topics discussed at the 15th annual Green Symposium held at the University of Illinois Springfield Student Union Sept. 20. The keynote speaker addressed how the environments we create impact the lives of…
A trio of travel
Black Hawk, John Deere and Ronald Reagan are an unlikely trio, but you can honor all of them with a trip along the Rock River. Stop to see the stately trees at White Pines Forest State Park and take a riverboat ride to add a nice note of nature. The Dixon-Oregon-Grand Detour area, 170 miles…
Peace of paper
Betsy Dollar, whose current exhibition “New Paper Works” is ongoing at the Chatham Area Public Library, explained that papermaking was not always an end in itself for her. “It started out as a technique to generate something to print or paint on, to make into a book or fold into a sculpture,” she said. Eventually,…
Antidotes to a toxic political culture
This summer, State Representative Carol Ammons, D-Urbana, State Senator Melinda Bush, D-Grayslake, and Illinois Comptroller Susana A. Mendoza – working together as the Anti-harassment, Equality and Access Panel (AHEA, a nonprofit 501(c) (4) organization) – traveled across the state on a listening tour, engaging female political candidates, campaign staffers and officeholders in conversation about their experiences…
MEMORIAL PARK
Gov. Bruce Rauner and Illinois State Police (ISP) director Leo P. Schmitz were among those in attendance Tuesday, Oct. 2, when the Illinois State Police Heritage Foundation held the official dedication of the Illinois State Police Memorial Park, honoring 67 ISP officers killed in the line of duty. Formerly known as Becker Park, it is…
LAUGHING FOR 20 YEARS
After nearly closing its doors forever this past June, venerable Springfield comedy club Donnie B’s (3455 Freedom Dr.) has survived to celebrate its 20th anniversary this month. The club, which was saved from going out of business at the 11th hour in June by an anonymous $20,000 loan, will begin its new season with an…
Cooper, Gaga salvage Star
There’s a great deal to like in Bradley Cooper’s A Star is Born, the directorial debut from the actor. Cooper pulls off an Orson Welles, where in addition to acting in the film, he serves as one of its writers and producers. Good for him for having the clout to pull this off; however, the…
Taking to giving music
Off we go into October of 2018 with a blast of low-end sounds and high-end musicality, all available for your perusal simply by heading out the door and into a venue hosting live music. We begin with a memorial tribute on Tuesday evening, Oct. 9, during the award-winning Curve Inn open mic to honor the…
Los Injectors
There’s nothing in the world quite like this trio of “HeavyMetalPunkPsychobilly” music-mayhem makers, and more than likely, there never will be. Blessed with monstrous music chops and cursed with a desire to destroy any semblance of sanity (or maybe that’s the other way around), DeMON (Damon Soper on guitar and vocals), Jackhammer Washington (Jeff Cunningham…
nuptials poem #3
we went to an eco-wedding in abarn the bride a vision in whitethe groom in jeans the scriptureincluded dr seuss later plates wereof pressed palm leaves sort of likeheavy paper the cutlery was woodenknives forks all guests had a masonjar with a place to mark your name so’sto use it all evening then it would…
Upside-down cake
With the onset of crisp autumn weather, I’ve been eager to retreat into my kitchen and bake. Displays of ripe autumn fruit, stacked high on tables at the market, make me want to run home and turn off the news, turn on my oven and work myself into an apple and cinnamon-fueled oblivion. At times…
