Springfield High’s one-hundredth
I graduated from Springfield High School in 1966. My classmates organized a 50th reunion for the same weekend that the Springfield High School building turned 100. District 186 staged a ceremony Friday evening to mark the centennial of Springfield High School. (There are other events planned; let’s hope they do better than this; the featured…
Centennial Building continued
In “Refined, delicate and urban,” I talked about the Centennial Building on the statehouse grounds, which was built to honor the first centenary of the founding of the State of Illinois. I, argued, not very persuasively, for its restoration to honor the second centenary in 2018. Curious readers might want to also consult this entry about…
Classic country crooners
If you love classic country music, don’t miss Classic Nashville Roadshow, an authentic traveling roadshow featuring the songs of Dolly, Hank, Patsy, George, Merle and more. The touring concert features a live Nashville band, vintage costumes, Opry-style comedy and real country music. Featuring Georgia native Katie Deal as Patsy Cline and Tennessee native Jason Petty…
On a mission
ILLUSTRATION BY CHRIS BRITT Not long after an epic drought, good news arrived. “After what Springfield went through in 1954, it is heartening to know that the city’s water supply will be wholly adequate for the next 20 years,” the Illinois State Journal proclaimed in a 1958 editorial that trumpeted the results of a just-published…
Fair deal
PHOTO BY DAVID HINE When the Illinois State Fair was first staged in 1853, country people went there to see other country people. Later, city people went to see country people. These days – well, I’m not sure what people go to see at the fair. For decades, managers have tried to stage a one-size-fits-all…
How does a CEO feel good about being vile?
Jim Hightower PHOTO BY LARRY D. MOORE Corporate price gouging is never nice. But gouging people on the price of medicines they rely on to stay alive is worse than not nice – it’s predaceously evil. And if you think corporate morality can’t go lower than that, how about gouging people on the price of…
Unfair politics over fair maps
PHOTO BY ALAN SOLOMON/TNS Whenever you see a statement from the Democratic Party of Illinois, you can feel supremely confident that House Speaker Michael Madigan, the party’s longtime chairman, approves of the sentiment. And the same goes for the Illinois Republican Party and Gov. Bruce Rauner, who accounts for 95 percent of the party’s total…
Nobody wants to talk about ovarian cancer
Ovarian cancer touches all women. It does not discriminate based on age, race or ethnicity. More than 22,000 mothers, daughters, wives and sisters will be diagnosed with ovarian cancer this year. That includes more than 920 in Illinois. September is designated as National Ovarian Cancer Awareness Month and is a time to come together to…
Letters to the Editor 9/8/16
BICENTENNIAL DREAMS Thank you for highlighting the many efforts of groups statewide who are enthusiastically preparing to celebrate the 200th anniversary of Illinois statehood in 2018. (“Tardy party,” by Erika Holst, Aug. 11.) While much needs to be done, communities throughout our state are meeting, planning and dreaming big dreams about ways they can commemorate…
Editor’s note 9/8/16
One person who wasn’t surprised by the sudden closure of ITT Technical Institute in Springfield and three other cities in Illinois was U.S. Sen. Richard Durbin, D-Springfield, who has been warning the nation for years about the financial shenanigans of for-profit schools. Only 10 percent of college students attend for-profit schools, but they take in…
An abundance of art
Soak up the last days of summer during the Springfield Park District’s nationally ranked art extravaganza featuring fine arts and crafts and live carillon music plus activities and programs for children. The two-day festival was founded 11 years ago by Rees Carillon Society member Barb Walker and attracts between 5,500 and 6,500 attendees annually. The…
Run on the rolling prairie
See a prairie up close and learn interesting facts about tallgrass prairie ecosystems on Sept. 17 during Friends of the Sangamon Valley’s Run for the Prairie 10K, 5K and one-mile family fun run at Springfield’s 190-acre Centennial Park. The 6.2-mile, 3.1-mile and one-mile low-impact races on Centennial Park’s grass trails are timed but not sanctioned,…
Aisle always love you
PHOTO COURTESY AMY ALKON Amy Alkon My boyfriend and I have been together for a year and a half, and we really love each other. His parents adore me and are thrilled that he might not die alone. After his mom saw us being all cuddly in the supermarket, she warned him that we may…
Rauner tries to fix a bad financial deal
Gov. Bruce Rauner speaks at the Illinois State Fair. PHOTO BY Anthony Souffle/Chicago Tribune/TNS Gov. Bruce Rauner, who previously promised voters he would bring his well-honed business skills to get Illinois back on track, will be tested in coming months as he tries to fix a bad financial bet made more than a decade ago…
CWLP seeks renewed Dallman permit
Don Hanrahan of Springfield remembers spending his childhood summers playing outside in Forest Park Hills subdivision, just across Spaulding Dam from the city power plant. He says that before City Water, Light and Power added pollution controls called “electrostatic precipitators” to the power plant in 1972, “there were days we could not play.” “Our eyes…
Springfield business wins copyright claim
A Springfield-based home décor company won its copyright claim last month against two prominent retailers. Although there are still a handful of issues to resolve, the lawsuit dealing with an alleged knockoff of a decorative clip could become a legal landmark. Design Ideas, a Springfield design firm owned by Sangamon County Board chairman Andy Van…
PROBATION FOR DUI
Randy Blue, deputy inspector general for the Illinois Secretary of State’s office, is facing discipline at work after pleading guilty to driving while intoxicated. A 12-year-old girl suffered a leg injury when Blue left his lane of travel and collided with a vehicle that was headed the opposite direction on Iron Bridge Road last January.…
WHOSE BRAINS ARE ON DRUGS?
The Springfield City Council this week loosened a local law against synthetic marijuana, commonly called K2, even as Illinois and other states are cracking down on the substance said to be more dangerous than real pot. A state law took effect this year aimed at stamping out the synthetic scourge – possession of K2 has…
Sully: A tale of modest heroism
Tom Hanks as Captain Chesley Sullenberger in Sully. I wasn’t sure what to expect from Clint Eastwood’s Sully, but it certainly wasn’t what ended up on the screen. Anticipating a by-the-numbers “you are there” recreation of the events of Jan. 15, 2009, in which Captain Chesley Sullenberger was forced to land his Airbus A320-214 on…
The Deep Hollow
Since the inception of this harmony-driven, original music acoustic trio of Micah Walk, Elizabeth Eckert and Dave Littrell, the attraction between audience and act was obvious and powerful. Also members of other local groups, these three created a world together that brought success not found in other combinations. A possible explanation of the TDH phenomenon…
Go September, go
Erich Thompson & the Stone Cold Cowboys play the Havana Oktoberfest, 8 p.m., Saturday, Sept. 10. Off and running into the blissful unknown, here we go into the autumnal time, even if the weather still thinks it’s July out there. Let’s begin with the rundown, shall we? Wishing a happy birthday to Mike Burnett is…
wordpoem #17
wordpoem #17 there’s this net wordgame babbleI tune in for company with morningcoffee it starts my cogs rolling I aim to locate half the words the grids are sometimes huge though a recent one was only forty-four I favor about a hundred thirty sometimes there there are five E’s or six U’s I find…
Summer’s second act
PHOTOS BY ASHLEY MEYER Just because summer is drawing to an end and the kids are back to school does not mean that farmers market season is over. The Old State Capitol Farmers Market continues to run Wednesday and Saturday mornings from 8 a.m.-12:30 p.m. through Oct. 31. True, corn and peaches will be done…
