Cover Story
Shawnee National Park?
When a tree falls in this forest, the sound it makes is definitely being heard. A grassroots proposal fueled by opponents of logging and other concerns is gaining traction to transform the 289,000-acre Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois into a national park and the nation’s first climate preserve. Proponents argue the designation would protect…
Bond reduction denied for two EMS workers charged with murder
Two Springfield emergency medical service workers remain jailed after their failed attempt Feb. 6 to get a judge to reduce their bonds for first-degree murder charges in the suffocation death of Earl Moore Jr. Sangamon County Circuit Judge Robin Schmidt denied any reduction in the $1 million bonds for paramedic Peggy Finley and emergency medical…
New details emerge in case against EMS workers charged with murder
A Springfield paramedic charged with first-degree murder in the death of Earl Moore Jr. tried to influence a police officer’s recollection of the incident that led up to Moore’s Dec. 18 death, Sangamon County’s chief prosecutor says. LifeStar Ambulance Service paramedic Peggy Finley called the Springfield police officer, Jacob Wayda, and suggested Wayda tell officials…
Debt disagreement
Springfield City Treasurer Misty Buscher, who is running for mayor, is calling for greater transparency when the city forgives debts or waives fines. She contends that her opponent, incumbent Mayor Jim Langfelder, is unilaterally writing off debts without informing the council or the public. The mayor responded that is not the case. “I’m not saying…
City council ponders a ban on electric surfboards
A group of Springfield city council members are looking to foil the hydrofoil. The hydrofoil in question is owned by Matt Scherer, an entrepreneur who wants to offer electric surfboard lessons on Lake Springfield. Scherer said he took out a $27,000 loan from the city of Springfield to start the business but now the city’s…
Where did Proft’s contributions go?
State records show that Dan Proft’s People Who Play by the Rules PAC spent almost $36 million during the second half of 2022, mostly on advertising boosting Sen. Darren Bailey’s gubernatorial bid and opposing Gov. JB Pritzker. Of that, $2.4 million was spent on consulting. Former ABC7 political reporter Charles Thomas was paid $100,000 in…
Opening doors to home ownership
Down payment assistance is on its way to low-income homebuyers through the Illinois Housing Development Authority. The program will be part of $75 million in federal funds designated for IHDA by the Illinois General Assembly in legislation which went into effect Jan. 24. The money will allow IHDA to resume the popular “Opening Doors” program,…
Ron Dougan writes his kids: 1948
“Jackie, Gramp just came in and told me one, two, three, what he objected to in certain departments and what he thought I should do about it. This distracts me but why I’m writing you in the middle of the day I don’t know. I could be going to the plant to watch Sparky wash…
Letters to the editor 2/2/23
We welcome letters. Please include your full name, address and telephone number. We edit all letters. Send them to editor@illinoistimes.com. —- PURSUE SUSTAINABLE POWER After reading Dr. Brandon Derman’s recent editorial “This year CWLP needs a new, community-led Integrated Resource Plan,” (Jan. 5), I would like to encourage Springfield Power to the People on their…
No badge, no problem
The chair of the Illinois Police Training and Standards Board has a permit to carry a concealed firearm by virtue of being a retired police officer, even though he never was a sworn officer with arrest powers. In his 2019 application for a permit to carry a concealed firearm via a program for retired law…
Helping the homeless
Last week Julie Bartlett Benson got a 79-year-old Vietnam veteran into a hotel, where he could stay until Feb. 2, when his check comes in. She got a pregnant woman off the street for a week. The woman is trying to get into rehab, but she has a dog so couldn’t get into a shelter.…
Trust but verify
Hoodwinked, fooled, deceived, misled, bamboozled. Those are just a few words to describe what a teenager allegedly did to a community journalist with 40 years of experience. In the small town of Eldridge, Iowa, just north of the Quad Cities, lives a young woman named Madison “Maddie” Russo. Scott Campbell, the longtime editor of the…
Student artists compete in 100th Scholastic Art Awards
This year is the 100th Scholastic Art Awards, the premier art competition in the United States for students in 7th-12th grades. Regional winners will be honored Feb. 5 at Springfield High School (SHS), and their artwork will be exhibited at the Springfield Art Association (SAA) February 5-23. Many passionate individuals make this competition possible. Rosemary…
Okonomiyaki – the Japanese vegetable pancake
Tonight’s shift in the restaurant is over. I clocked in over 10 hours today and I’ve only been able to get off my feet for my half-hour family meal break. I’m very tired and my back and feet hurt. Even though I still have three more shifts ahead of me before my next day off,…
February music finds
Here we are rolling along with lots to see and do and hear as the music-makers are busy this time of year like I’ve never quite seen before. I’m going with the theory we’re making up for the lost last few years by doing more music than ever before. Let’s take a look and see…
Small Beginnings
Celebrate the start of Black History Month and Abraham Lincoln’s upcoming birthday with a variety of events at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum starting this week. The month features performances of Small Beginnings, a short play about Robert Smalls. Smalls, escaping slavery, took a Confederate ship in 1862 and used it to transport…
Knock at the Cabin uses flawed logic, Infinity Pool is thought provoking
Cabin built on narrative fault line I tend to give director M. Night Shyamalan’s movies a bit more narrative rope than others. Intent on surprising us, the director feels compelled to string along the viewer with an outlandish premise that often has us asking questions along the way, wondering about the odd situation we’re witnessing.…
Mayoral candidates meet for first public forum
Springfield needs to create a more “business-friendly” permitting process for construction and improvement projects, and the city should spend more of its money to fix streets, sidewalks and sewers, mayoral candidate Misty Buscher said at a Jan. 25 debate with incumbent Mayor Jim Langfelder. “We need to streamline our services in city hall,” Buscher, 52,…
City TIF administrator on leave following arrest
Amid a mayoral candidate’s criticism that Springfield isn’t doing enough to promote economic development, a city employee described as the face of those efforts is facing a misdemeanor charge that he violated an order of protection against his estranged wife. Ravi Doshi, business projects manager and tax-increment financing administrator in the city’s Office of Planning…
