More than half of residents at Sherman nursing home infected
Sangamon County is reporting 41 new confirmed cases of coronavirus, the most ever in a single day. Of those, 37 are affiliated with The Villas Senior Care Community in Sherman, according to a county spokesperson. There were 40 new confirmed cases announced Tuesday in total from the nursing home. 17 residents of the nursing home…
Pritzker blasts GOP legislator’s lawsuit, saying downstate isn’t immune from virus
Pritzker blasts GOP rep’s lawsuit, says two downstate counties have highest death rates Appeal coming as judge grants Rep. Bailey temporary restraining order for stay-at-home order By JERRY NOWICKI, Capitol News Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker urged southern Illinoisans to continue to comply with a stay-at-home order and named a pair of counties where the rate…
A candle for each lost life
It was a stark sight. Tiffany Mathis sat on the steps of the Abraham Lincoln statue, in front of the capitol building in Springfield. She was surrounded by 1,933 candles as she sang You’ve Got a Friend by James Taylor. Each candle represented a person in Illinois who died after being infected with the new…
Gov. extends stay-at-home rules
Illinois Gov. JB Pritzker announced an extension of the stay-at-home mandate, with some changes. Many of the same rules will remain in place through the end of May, though some businesses such as greenhouses will be allowed to open. Other retailers are allowed to re-open so that staff can work on online orders and answering phones.…
Films to watch at home
Now that movie watching has become a home-viewing option for the time being, this space will be devoted to small reviews of films that can be seen on various streaming services, cable channels and video-on-demand. Stay safe and happy viewing! Amazon Prime The Lost City of Z – ½ (Rated PG-13, 141 minutes) Director James…
Moving Pillsbury Forward, inches at a time
Asbestos, arson and a dead dog. The things Pillsbury Mills are now known for are a far cry from its origins. “Pillsbury was a fantastic company,” said John Keller, president of the Pillsbury Mills Neighborhood Association. “They wanted to be a good neighbor. And most of the neighborhood worked over there at the time, that…
Music to cope by
Welcome to week number six of downtime, sheltering and stay-in-place doings as we pay attention to the experts and curb the curve on this COVID-19 pandemic that has sent our world and the world at large into a tailspin. I’d like to express a special thanks to those working in direct contact with this stuff…
Ramadan in Springfield
Thursday, April 23, marks the official start of Ramadan, the annual month-long Islamic observance of fasting and prayer that encourages reflection and promotes community. Members of Springfield’s Muslim community will join their 1.8 billion faith brothers and sisters in daily suhur pre-dawn meals; abstention from food, drink and several activities from sunrise to sunset; and…
Fresh food is serious, not social
Downtown Springfield, Inc. will host the final Winter Farmers Market on April 25. Farmers markets are considered essential businesses that should remain open during the pandemic because they are a critical link between local farms and consumers. However, with new social distancing rules in place, shoppers will see some changes to what is expected of…
Editor’s note 4/23/20
For Earth Day and its season, friends of the planet are celebrating the life of Woody Woodruff, 59, the central Illinois conservation hero who died earlier this month after a long struggle with cancer. He had worked as a Sangamon County Soil and Water Conservationist, and recently as a soil health educator for Illinois Stewardship…
The preexisting pandemic known as chronic disease
The COVID pandemic would be little more than a bad flu season in a healthy population. It would barely make the news. Without Type 2 Diabetes, obesity, arterial disease and other chronic conditions, the mortality rate, the strain on our health care system and the devastation to our society would be far less. We had…
What will it take to reopen Illinois?
While short on details, the state and regional guidance finally issued by the White House last week gives us a set of pretty reasonable, if difficult-to-achieve, goals. We all know why we need to contain and reduce our risk to the COVID-19 virus: Save lives, preserve health and get people back to work. And we…
voyage poem #1
over a hundred years ago shackleton rowed 800 miles over antarctic winter seas in an open boat to get help he made it back months later saved all the sailors left behind on a few black rocks they were down to their last penguin for fare that voyage is now famed in history nova nat…
Going to church, or pot
I don’t know much about religion. I do know something of drive-ins, the last of which I visited to watch Rambo many years ago. Just out of high school, my date and I did not depart our car – we started out pretending that we would count shots fired. I do not recount how many…
Capitol Cast
Capitol News Illinois · The FiscalHit from COVID-19
Letters to the editor 4/23/20
We welcome letters. Please include your full name, address and telephone number. We edit all letters. Send them to letters@illinoistimes.com. CWLP DEBACLE Thank you, Bruce Rushton, but is it really necessary to have you expose our city officials’ decision to hide the truth from us tax-drained citizens (“What happened? City still mum on CWLP mishap,”…
Tattoo artists have time
Brian McCormic was in the middle of smoking a chicken outdoors when I called him on a weekday afternoon. He took a long polite pause in the conversation for a garbage truck to go by. Not much is being rushed these days. McCormic’s friends have joked that it took a pandemic for him to finally…
POUNDING NAILS
Construction trades are essential and hardware stores are open under pandemic orders. And so, if you’re handy with tools, you’ve got time on your hands and you can finish by June 15, you might be eligible for recognition by Landmarks Illinois, which is now accepting nominations for the Richard H. Driehaus Foundation Historic Preservation Awards,…
STATE OF THE AIR
As the world battles a respiratory virus with no known cure, Springfield faces increased ozone pollution. That’s according to The American Lung Association’s 2020 “State of the Air” report. The change, compared to its report from last year, is “mostly driven by vehicle emissions and extreme heat as a result of climate change, placing our…
How to cook a wolf
As long as we end up beating the Reaper, these past weeks of self-quarantine really haven’t been awful. Amid bad news and increasing fears we have been gifted a rare period of respite to reflect and reassess. Life as we knew it will never be the same. The future? It’s not yet been written. As…
Dollars and sense
The pandemic and resultant shutdown of bars, restaurants and other businesses will cost the city of Springfield’s $130 million corporate fund between $6 million and $16 million, city budget director William McCarty figures. Or maybe something else entirely. “It’s throwing darts,” says McCarty, who has produced estimates of budget hits predicated on the state’s stay-at-home…
Living well in the world
Nature lovers are sure to enjoy The Eight Master Lessons of Nature: What Nature Teaches Us About Living Well in the World, by Gary Ferguson. So should anyone worried by the global coronavirus pandemic and the dramatic changes in our world. People often see humans as outside of nature, rather than fundamentally connected to it.…
East Springfield is worth it
Like you, I am frustrated with having to limit my movements and social interactions. I am worried daily about my family and friends, thankful for each day that averts bad news. I am terrified by the prospect that my children or my 90-year-old mother could become sick and I couldn’t be there. I am horrified…
Impressive action makes for thrilling Extraction
It’s funny the things you end up missing. Since movie theaters have closed, I find myself yearning to see a bigger-than-life, Hollywood production wash over me, the kind that, through its sheer size, overwhelms and takes me away. And while I’ve had more than my fair share of rote action films, I wouldn’t mind seeing…
Making history
The Illinois State Museum in Springfield is setting its sights on how to retain the historical impact of the new coronavirus. Previous planned exhibits and events have been canceled as a result of efforts to mitigate the spread of the virus. But the museum is forging ahead in a new direction. “We want to hear…
