Cover Story
Spring Home & Garden
The Spring Home & Garden issue has tips on low-impact landscaping, attracting birds and butterflies, home remodeling dos and don’ts and more. Related Related Related Related Related Related Stories
Woman with disabilities criticizes group home for bad care
Amber Williams says a few things would improve her quality of life despite the cerebral palsy affecting her arms and legs. “Being able to use the bathroom and the toilet” is one of those things. Another is “getting basic needs met” by people paid by the Springfield group home where she lived the past year…
Low-impact landscaping
“A lawn is nature under totalitarian rule.” – Michael Pollan Low-impact landscaping is a broad term that describes a rethinking of the traditional American lawn. Fading away are the ideals of a weed-free, insect-free emerald green lawn perpetually cut to two inches in height. Coming into focus is the idea that the 40 million acres…
A voice from the past, a vision for the future
The Illinois State Museum is a fitting place to gather in honor of Earth Day with its displays of human and environmental history, its stories of habitat evolution and more recent, rapid disturbances. On April 20, the museum will open its doors and auditorium to representatives of the Illinois Audubon Society, Lincoln Memorial Garden, Springfield…
Learn from my mistakes
During the pandemic, I was one of those extremely fortunate individuals whose worst hardship was having too much time on my hands. In hindsight, I can see how I could have more virtuously used that extra time – say, by filling food pantries or checking on elderly neighbors – but as it was happening, it…
King trumpet mushrooms
I’ve been on a mushroom binge of late. I just finished watching the 2019 Netflix documentary Fantastic Fungi. If you haven’t seen it, I highly recommend watching it. Now I’m reading Michael Pollan’s 2018 book How To Change Your Mind which delves into the renewed interest in the therapeutic psycho-active properties of certain mushrooms. Because…
Attract birds and butterflies to your yard
According to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, over 400 bird species have been recorded as living in or migrating through Illinois. More than one-third of the world’s birds are migratory and will be moving back into their northern nests and perches this spring in order to meet, eat, mingle and mate. Interest in backyard…
DHS Q&A
Here are written answers from Illinois Department of Human Services spokespersons Patrick Laughlin and Marisa Kollias in response to questions from Illinois Times regarding the case of Amber Williams and Community Integrated Living Arrangement homes, or CILAs: Can you or someone else at DHS speak with me about this case and who oversees and fines…
What to do when you smell a skunk
Smell is one of the most powerful senses we have. Aromas can instantly transport someone back to their grandma’s kitchen or to the scene of first love with a whiff of perfume. Bad aromas have an equally powerful impact, a fact I was reminded of very early one morning a few weeks ago. My friend’s…
Victims of a dangerous hoax
“Intruder Alert. Intruder Alert,” barked Judy Brady’s telephone about 6:30 a.m. March 10. The phone is connected to cameras on both the front and back doors of the northside Springfield home she shares with her husband, David. She could see a police officer examining the area around the back patio in the chill air, and…
Prioritize spring cleaning
After spending more time than ever indoors over the past couple of years, we have all likely accumulated more dirt, dust and allergens in our homes than usual. Additionally, this extra time at home may have drawn your attention to certain areas that require a little more TLC. This makes spring cleaning especially important this…
A dream come true
A $500,000 gift is being used to transform the lives of young people in Springfield who want to learn a trade. What is now known as The Frank and Linda Vala Dream Center of Sangamon County is located in Dawson Hall on the former Springfield campus of Benedictine University that once housed Ursuline Academy. The…
Van Gogh and an actor’s return to the Springfield stage
A bit of personal history: A very long time ago, when I was an art major, one of my favorite painters (like so many others…art major or not) was Vincent van Gogh. He still is. His bombastic painting style, his poetic letters to his brother, his death at an early age, spoke to my young,…
Ron Dougan writes his kids during World War II
Ron Dougan writes his kids during World War II “Dear kids, Uncle Bert had fun back in the thirties wanting to be our vice president in charge of not growing pigs. It isn’t so funny now. I’ve been getting repeated letters from the Ag Department relative to our not growing wheat program. We could have…
Letters to the editor 04-13-23
SPEAK OUT I think this report brings to light the very issues of children trusting adults to do the right thing and not be victimized over and over again (“Protecting children,” April 6). We as a community need to continually follow up and check in with our authorities regarding these issues. We also can’t turn…
New growth downtown
Competency, courage and integrity of leadership are quickly apparent in the treatment of the urban core. A tone is set every day for those who live there and visitors considering Springfield as their new home. Springfield deserves leadership that has the courage to reinvest in historically neglected areas, the wisdom to treat one another with…
Visual and performing arts
Performing arts Copper Coin Ballet Company 420 S. Sixth St. coppercoinballet@gmail.com coppercoinballet.org Reimagines the context and potential for dance in our community to create unique collaborations in artistic expression among burgeoning artists nurtured by experienced artists. CCBC stages annual performances of “Rockballet” and Tchaikovsky’s “The Nutcracker.” Grant Conservatory of Music and Dance 501 W. Elliott…
Sex-trafficking survivor tells her story
Cyntoia Brown-Long was sentenced to life in prison before she ever got a driver’s license or was old enough to vote. The prisoner-turned-activist spoke at Blackburn College in Carlinville April 3, then signed copies of her memoir in the lobby. The state legislature in Brown-Long’s native Tennessee has just made a significant change to the…
Editor’s note 04-13-23
Life changed this week for me and many northenders when Noonan’s True Value Hardware announced it is closing its retail operations. For the past 30 years or so I’ve relied on the North Grand Noonan’s when I needed a set screw for a doorknob, or a washer for a garden hose, lightbulbs, a bale of…
Art grants plus mid-April music
Well, they sure turned up the heat this week, and not just literally with the weather, as gigs popped up all over the place like dandelions in the yard. We’re not yet totally into the outdoor performance time that so defines our local scene, but the feeling is there, as the beer gardens, wine patios…
Mario movie a fun time, Sweetwater plays it safe, Mafia Mamma falls flat
Mario movie fun even for a newbie I knew practically nothing about The Super Mario Bros. Movie and its world when I walked into see it. Yet, despite my abysmal ignorance of all things Mario, it didn’t prevent me from having a good time as I was bombarded by Aaron Horvath and Michael Jelenic’s kaleidoscope…
The secret to a good marriage
A stream of more than 30 cars and trucks roared down the dirt road, honking their horns and then stopping at our farmhouse just south of Galesburg. Don Swedlund, the dairy farmer down the road, got out and hollered, “We’re having a shivaree!” For the uninitiated, a shivaree is a rural matrimonial custom where the…
