Cover Story
Pandemics of the past
This started as a story about what happens after a pandemic ends. Then the pandemic didn’t end. Vaccinations stalled. The delta variant fueled new waves of infections, hospitalizations and deaths. By September, some states had more hospitalized COVID-19 patients than they did during the winter surge. The economic outlook for this decade has gone from…
Welch reflects on first year as House speaker
One year after being named speaker of the Illinois House, Rep. Emanuel “Chris” Welch says he is proud of the accomplishments he and his colleagues achieved and he looks forward to building on that record. “I actually thought 2021 was one heck of a year,” the Hillside Democrat said during a recent interview. “You know,…
Creating a culture of historic preservation
Hats off to Lisa Moffett and Theresa O’Hare who went into action to save the summer kitchen at the famed Leland Farmhouse even though the main house was demolished. And hats off to the Springfield Park Board for seeing the significance of preserving a piece of history and entering into a letter of intent to…
French onion soup
French onion soup is one of the most warm and decadent wintery dishes imaginable. Rich caramelized onions are suspended in a savory thyme-scented broth and topped with a crusty crouton draped in melted cheese. A quintessential cold-weather comfort food, this bistro classic can be a great addition to any meal plan, unlike many other traditional…
Good year for the music
Good grief and good golly, let’s “let the good times roll” as I bring you good tidings of the Springfield-area music scene. And I am saying all that for me more than you, as the coldness of January combined with the continued pandemic woes tends to bring me down. So let’s see if we can’t…
Art and culture
Nora Moore Lloyd, who grew up in Chicago and is an enrolled member of the Lac Courte Oreilles Ojibwe Nation, focuses her artwork on Indigenous cultures, nature and community, and family history through traditional storytelling and photography. Her work, now on display in the Illinois State Museum’s exhibit, “Human/Nature: The weight of our actions on…
Back to school with omicron
As students returned to school Jan. 10 after the holiday break, Sangamon County reported the highest numbers of COVID-19 cases it has seen at any previous point in the pandemic, with Springfield Memorial Hospital sounding the alarm on the number of asymptomatic cases. The disease’s spread has ramped up in the two weeks students were…
Editor’s Note 1/13/22
Few take the threat of domestic terrorism as seriously as U.S. Sen Richard Durbin of Springfield, who first held a hearing on the subject in 2012. This week, following the anniversary of the Jan. 6 Capitol insurrection, Durbin delivered the opening statement to the Senate Judiciary Committee, which he chairs, as it considered his bill…
Macbeth is poignant, cast can’t save 355, Resurrections disappoints
Bracing Macbeth a staggering achievement At times resembling a horror film more than a staid retelling of William Shakespeare’s oft-told tragedy, Joel Coen’s The Tragedy of Macbeth is a staggering take on the classic tale. Powered by solid performances from its veteran cast, the film is a triumph of production design, Coen and his crew…
UIS plans downtown campus
A once-vaunted downtown hotel project that the Springfield City Council voted to subsidize to the tune of $7.65 million is dead. The $56 million project was to be built in the 300 block of Washington Street, across from the Amtrak station, where a dilapidated parking garage now stands. In 2019, the council voted to provide…
COVID fatigue in cap city
COVID vaccines are readily available; however, a significant percentage of people refuse to get vaccinated. Many of us enjoyed holidays with family; a year ago we hunkered down anxiously awaiting the vaccine. Now COVID cases are surging. On Jan. 5 Sangamon County reported 3,732 new positive cases over seven days, the highest number during the…
Dreams of a year-round fairground
The new year is a good time to imagine new possibilities and take action to achieve positive change. The Community Foundation for the Land of Lincoln (CFLL) is doing just that, in partnership with the Illinois Department of Agriculture (IDOA), by launching a process to reimagine the Illinois State Fairgrounds. For 10 days each year,…
archival find #51
good neighbors can still dispute: my grandma and mrs smith argued year after year which farm owned the fanning-mill which rotated twixt the two places I never heard the ins and outs of the conflict but I do know this: when the fearsome storms of `78 struck, our barn east of the dairy blew down…
Letters to the editor 1/13/22
We welcome letters. Please include your full name, address and telephone number. We edit all letters. Send them to editor@illinoistimes.com. —- A FEW YOU MISSED I see your year-end “Remembering” issue took its cue from pandemic precautions and stayed close to home (Dec. 30, 2021). I’ll try to fill in a few notable Illinois omissions,…
Parties play games with quorums
The Illinois Senate’s COVID mitigation protocols (testing, masks and limited remote voting) didn’t anticipate a partisan attempt to use a record-breaking virus surge to shut the chamber down, but that’s what almost happened last week. The Senate Republicans were rightfully outraged that the Democratic super-majority geared up to jam through a redistricting bill of several…
Multilevel mistakes
I don’t find joy in anyone being swindled, but I do find a bit of irony that the DeVos family, founders of Amway, were bilked out of $100 million. Amway is a pioneer of multilevel marketing, a concept where participants are expected to not only sell something but recruit others to sell it, too. Avon,…
