Cover Story
Taking health care to the streets
“The sad part is, I never smoked.” Zevernett Holloway had been inhaling the equivalent of 28 cigarettes per day for the past 43 years by simply living in her Springfield home. “I did not know about radon until I heard about it about five years ago,” Holloway said. “Then I met Nick through this program,…
Former Vibra Hospital sold
A Springfield developer has acquired the shuttered former Vibra Hospital of Springfield and says he plans to rent it to an undisclosed tenant involved in “ancillary health care.” Developer Chris Stone told Illinois Times he finalized the $1.43 million purchase from Pennsylvania-based Vibra Healthcare on Dec. 6 and plans to have the tenant move in…
Mayor fires director of Lincoln Library
The director of Lincoln Library, who moved to Springfield from La Crosse, Wisconsin, when she was hired two-and-a-half years ago, says she was fired by Mayor Jim Langfelder Jan. 20. Rochelle Hartman, 59, told Illinois Times the following day that she was surprised and bewildered when Langfelder summoned her to City Hall and told her…
217 Burger Week
Seven days was not enough time to try all the burgers, so most locations have added three days to Burger Week. Be sure to check 217foodweek.com to confirm the number of days being offered at each location, their hours and their offerings. Then get together with your friends and start making plans. The $7 price…
conjecture poem #1
sometimes something defines a life (besides one’s being itself) my cousin, a post grad from ohio working in israel was alone in the office of antiquities all those in charge off at a meeting when a group of bedouins showed up with an arm full of scrolls they’d found in an unexplored cave my cousin…
Letters to the editor 01-27-22
LOTS OF OPTIONS Hold art festivals, music festivals, food festivals or car shows and create or renovate meeting rooms for conferences and special events (“Dreams of a year-round fairground,” Jan. 13). Create a wedding/special events pavilion. Create a retreat center for youth groups with onsite lodging and camping. Create a plan for Happy Hollow. Renovate…
Aurora mayor enters governor’s race
Richard Irvin is a Republican. Period. Irvin might not be enough of a Republican for the purists. And Democrats might want to weaken Irvin in the Republican primary for governor by pointing to some of the nice things he’s said about Democrats (including the governor) over the years. But Richard Irvin is still a Republican.…
Russian bear is on the prowl
Seventy-seven years of relative world peace since 1945 is now at risk. After the First World War the Versailles peace compact failed. After the Second World War the U.S. succeeded with its allies in keeping the peace among major nations for three-quarters of a century. Russia, by taking the Crimea in 2014 and invading the…
Letters get results
I mail letters to get results. This month, I noticed a leak under my kitchen counter and called a plumber. He told me how much it would cost and asked for payment in advance. Over the next week, plumbers visited our house multiple times but the project was never quite done. My wife and I…
Mary Miller takes on Rodney Davis
The new 15th Congressional District borders three states, encompasses one-third of Illinois’ counties, is overwhelmingly Republican and is the new battleground between two GOP incumbents: Rodney Davis and Mary Miller. “Conventional wisdom says this is Rodney Davis’ race to lose, but I’m not so sure. I wouldn’t write Mary Miller off. She has the endorsement…
Editor’s note 01-27-22
On a recent cold morning the Springfield temperature was zero, but the “feels like” temperature, we were told, was 11 below. It was sunny with no wind, so if this is what 11 below feels like, maybe it’s not too bad. How do they even know? There used to be talk of a wind chill…
Dispute between city and Springfield Airport Authority continues
The Springfield Airport Authority hasn’t followed through on its threatened lawsuit against the city of Springfield to obtain disputed sales tax revenue on the sales of aviation fuel at Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport. But lawyers for both sides have started to talk, and the SAA has filed a Freedom of Information Act request to determine…
Student art on display
It’s well-documented that participation in the arts has a positive impact on the cognitive development and well-being of children and young people. Local organizations and volunteers are partnering with District 186 and surrounding schools to showcase the creative talents of our youth. Art for the Ages, at the Springfield and Central Illinois African American History…
New grant program for minority business owners
Dee Clay hopes to acquire adjacent land so she can install a drive-through window and make other improvements to her restaurant on Springfield’s east side with a grant from the city’s share of recreational marijuana tax revenue. Clay, the owner of Clay’s Popeye’s BBQ, 1121 South Grand Ave. East, said devoting some of the revenue…
Novice is compelling, King’s Daughter is an outlier, watch difficult Mass
Bracing Novice flawed but compelling Lauren Hadaway’s The Novice is a bracing debut that immediately has the viewer sit up and take notice as she tells its story of a troubled college rower using a unique sensory approach that allows us to see into the mind of its protagonist. It proves to be such a…
DCFS director quizzed on contempt citations, child deaths and employee safety
It was a full afternoon of questioning for Illinois Department of Children and Family Services Director Marc Smith, who appeared before the House Human Services Appropriations Committee for a three-and-a-half-hour virtual hearing Friday, Jan. 28. “This hearing comes in the wake of recent reports of the department; the litigation issues, the court findings in recent…
Hot ‘n’ cool music
Here we are and here we go through the last weekend in January for 2022 and we have a bang-up bunch of stuff going on. After this week of chilling temps, do I contemplate using the “cold weather, hot music” cliche to discuss upcoming live music in our fair city? Then again, isn’t music good…
Citrus for sunshine
If 2022 has you wanting to crawl back into bed and pull the covers over your head, let me invite you instead to whip up one or all of these sunny citrus desserts. Citrus is in peak season right now, so it’s a perfect time to take make some lemonade out of whatever lemons life…
Lisa C. Tomasino
Lisa C. Tomasino, 56, of Springfield, passed away on Wednesday, January 26, 2022 at her home, surrounded by her wife, daughter, family, and fur babies. She was born September 15, 1965, in Woodstock, IL, the daughter of Frank and Charlotte Pearman Hartman. She married Jonna J. Cooley on their 20th Anniversary, April 5, 2020 and…
