Sex, lies and videotape
The ickiness started in 2013, when Christina Hibbert, an Illinois State Police employee assigned to the Firearms Service Bureau that issues firearm owners identification cards and concealed-carry permits, began an affair with Master Sergeant Anthony McClure. They were not discreet. Someone once spotted McClure standing between Hibbert’s spread legs as she sat in an office…
Lightfoot learning to get along?
The statement issued by Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s office last Thursday night had some good advice for Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who gave what was billed as a “State of the City” address earlier that evening. Lightfoot had outlined the challenges facing the city, including an $838 million budget deficit and her need for Illinois government’s…
Mature Mob goes for rock ’n’ roll
The Mature Mob was born in 1991 as a fundraiser for Senior Services of Central Illinois, a revue of talented actors, singers and dancers aged 50 and over. Few Mob shows in recent memory have been as successful, in terms of popularity and audience acceptance, as last year’s “Flashback to the 50s,” a salute to…
Letters to the Editor
BAN DICAMBAWhoever extended the deadline for dicamba application to July 15 should be asked to resign (“Dicamba is proving a headache for some Illinois farmers,” Aug. 15). The Illinois Department of Agriculture has informed me as of July 29 that my off-site misuse complaints for soybeans, trees and health hazards will not be investigated for…
Rochester turns 150. Let’s party.
The Rochester Park and adjacent Stone House historic park will be a sea of activity and celebration during the weekend of Sept. 13-15 as the town commemorates its sesquicentennial, 150 years since it was incorporated in 1869. There will be a 5K/10K walk/run, pancake breakfast, carnival, car cruise, vendors, speakers, reenactors and music. Carolyn Moore…
Springfield Bicycle Club
Join Springfield Bicycle Club (SBC) on a casual and easy-paced bicycle tour of historic sites in the capital city. SBC vice president Troy Gilmore will lead the traditional, neighborhood-style ride, and the anticipated site visits include the Lincoln Home, the Old State Capitol, Lincoln Tomb and others. Site tour guides will be on hand to…
Annual memorial parade and ceremony
The memorial parade and ceremony to honor first responders and others who lost their lives on 9/11 occurs annually on the second Sunday of September. Vehicles will begin lining up at Hall’s Harley Davidson at 9 a.m. and the parade will begin at 10 a.m., ending at the 9/11 Memorial on the Illinois State Capitol’s…
Summer, kids and so many parks
Jessica Handy became a licensed foster parent last year, and now shares her home with 18-year-old K, plus K’s two sons, M (4) and B (just turned 3). A few months ago, just on a whim, they decided to embark on what they called the “Summer Park Challenge” – visiting every public park. The first…
Big money
Terry Farmer doesn’t like being called a crook, but that comes with the territory when you run a raffle that’s grown like a major league ballplayer on steroids. Should someone get lucky in tonight’s weekly drawing sponsored by the Knights of Columbus, he or she will win more than $625,000. The board started with 100…
LOCK YOUR DAMN CAR
Springfield Police Chief Kenny Winslow this week briefed the city council on the department’s efforts at reducing gun violence, particularly shootings involving proven or suspected gang members. It was a mixed bag. On the plus side, shootings are down 24% since 2017, when a rash of shootings generated fear and attention. On the other hand,…
JESSE WHITE DAY?
We can’t imagine, sometimes, what goes on in the minds of the Masters Of The Fourth Estate, aka the Illinois Press Association. A few years ago, they were rigging journalism contests, which led to the departure of president and chief executive officer Dennis DeRossett, who walked away with his full $185,000 salary in 2017, according…
Ready a timely, bloody good time
I have a feeling audiences are going to respond quite favorably to Matt Bettinelli-Olpin and Tyler Gillett’s Ready or Not. Very clever, darkly funny and tautly constructed, the film not only delivers a fair amount of thrills but manages to be merciless in its approach to the 1%, showing what unconscionable lengths they will go…
A multitude of music
Now that we’ve made it through the summer of 2019 with Labor Day weekend behind us, the fall season of music fests begins. For me, it’s really the best time weather-wise and music-wise, as the world slows down a bit, while we roll along toward the waiting wintertime. What do I see while perusing the…
Relativity
There’s nothing like making music with close relatives, an experience relished by Relativity, the Hofstrand family cover band from Rochester. With dad Damon on the drums and his sons Reese and Troy on guitar and vocals, plus Clark, the youngest of the clan, covering bass, they’ve been out playing open mics for years before graduating…
Fish in a bag
What a long strange trip it’s been! This line from the Grateful Dead’s song “Truckin” keeps going through my head as I look back at the events of the last three days. It all started with an email I received: “Hi Peter. I work with Nonesuch on public relations, and we’ve received quite a bit…
rescue poem #3
she returns with the herd: distressed no longer pregnant where is your calf? asks ron – how can you lose a baby? girls, he asks the others, where is it? for everyone knows when a bovine birth is in the wild the others circle and watch (curiosity? protection?) he sends out pasture search parties his…
