Cover Story
The future of electric vehicles
Electrons are gradually replacing hydrocarbons as the propulsive power of choice for many Americans as electric-powered vehicles continue to make inroads with the motoring public. According to Kelly Blue Book, electric vehicle (EV) car and pickup truck sales reached 1.3 million in 2024, which is a 7.3% increase from 2023. EVs made up 8.7% of…
Four police officers disciplined following crash involving former sergeant
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with comments from the March 18 meeting of the Springfield City Council. Four Springfield police officers were disciplined – and one of them will serve a six-day unpaid suspension – in connection with their work at the site of a Sept. 5 car-motorcycle collision in which a recently…
Dr. Blair Whitney
Dr. Blair Whitney, 82, of Springfield, died March 14, 2025, at The Villas in Sherman. He was born in Chicago on June 1, 1942, the son of Frances and Ellen Todd Whitney. He graduated from Springfield High School in 1960. He married Rita Janicek in 1964, and she survives. He received his doctorate in English…
When you can’t see the forest for the trees
The forest – an expanse of land densely populated with lust vegetation, covering and rising above the ground. Animals of varying species and birds of varying types and sizes. Some dwelling above and beneath the ground. Then there are bushes, slopes, changes in rivulets and suddenly changing and an indiscriminately located topography, which may hinder,…
Questions arise about overtime at CTA
Rep. Marty Moylan, D-Des Plaines, recently told me he was “astonished” by some Chicago Transit Authority employee paychecks. Moylan, the chair of the House Transportation: Rail Systems, Roads & Bridges Committee, is heading into the transit funding discussions armed with an inch-and-a-half-thick binder filled with CTA salary data. The agency’s gross payroll for all employees…
School safety measures and student achievements discussed
The Springfield District 186 Board of Education meeting tackled pressing issues and celebrated achievements: – Superintendent discusses the rise in school violence and outlines safety measures like metal detectors and crisis teams. – Board President calls for stronger leadership at Lanphier, highlighting frustrations with current disciplinary policies. – Celebrations of student achievements, from basketball victories…
Inside the harrowing 100-mile police chase in Sangamon County
When Sangamon County Sheriff’s Deputy Jonathan Pearce saw a white pickup spotted outside a motorcycle shop that had been burglarized earlier that night, he punched the gas and chased the fleeing truck, reaching race car speeds and screeching his tires through hairpin turns. Sgt. James Hayes, his supervisor, asked whether he had enough gas. “I…
SPD adds Community Service Officers
The Springfield Police Department has a new tool in its fight against crime – cops without guns. They were once known as traffic wardens but have been redubbed “community service officers” and given an expanded job description. The idea is to free up armed, sworn officers to handle more serious offenses by assigning less dangerous…
Politics infiltrating local elections
It’s been just four months since the last election concluded, but another election is on the horizon in Illinois: the April 1 elections for school boards and municipal offices. Though municipal and school board races in Illinois are nonpartisan, voters may see many of the same political themes that were hallmarks of races during the…
Commit to vaccines
As president of the Sangamon County Medical Society, I feel compelled to address a tragic and entirely preventable loss in our country: the recent death of a child from measles in Texas. Our medical society, which is composed of physicians across all specialties, is dedicated to the health and well-being of the individuals not only…
Preserve Medicaid funding
Attention across the nation is rightly focused on potential massive and drastic Medicaid cuts under consideration by Congress that would imperil health care for nearly 80 million of our most vulnerable neighbors – low-income families, expectant moms, children and senior citizens, as well as individuals with disabilities. Rural hospitals caring for communities in America’s heartland…
Novocaine overdoes it, Looney Tunes movie a wasted opportunity, Electric State excessive folly
Novocaine too much of a bloody thing The DNA of Dan Berk and Robert Olsen’s Novocaine is evident from the start. The fingerprints of Nobody, Home Alone, Road Runner cartoons and any Jackie Chan movie are all over this actioner with a gimmick and, to their credit, the filmmakers acknowledge these influences. Yet, they bring…
Don’t scorn those frozen veggies
The seeds I planted in salvaged takeout containers back in mid-February are about a half an inch tall now. Lined up along the south-facing wall of my garage, the verdant little lettuce and cabbage seedlings serve as a harbinger of good meals to come. Yet even with such a head start on nature, it will…
Green goes the music
Slante, my friends and welcome to the Celtic Nations edition of Now Playing. As some are wont to say, everyone is Irish on St. Patrick’s Day (or near to it anyway) so most of our venues are partying it up in one way or another, some with Irish-based music and most with regular-styled, local performers.…
Engaging people with poetry
Illinois Poet Laureate Angela Jackson fell in love with poetry at a tender age, thanks to a poem called “Eletelephony” by Laura Elizabeth Richards, which begins: “Once there was an elephant/Who tried to use the telephant.” “The musicality, the rhyme,” Jackson said. “I was in love.” When Jackson was 8 years old, she wrote a…
Show explores love and loss in small town
This weekend, visit the fictional almost-town of Almost, Maine, where one mid-winter night the town’s residents will “fall in and out of love in the strangest ways” while northern lights glow in the sky. The play, written in 2004 by John Cariani, explores love and loss in the small town. Since it hit the stage,…
Potential $80,000 identified to assist with laundry services for low-income families
The council discusses rising utility fees, the upcoming St. Patrick’s Day parade, making the 1987 federal consent decree that guides Springfield government public, a dangerous intersection, and the push to serve families living in poverty with laundry services. Watch the full Springfield City Council meeting here:
Editors note 3/13/25
“St. Louis was shrinking until the immigrants arrived,” according to the March 9 New York Times. The long article details the city’s efforts over the last several years to attract immigrants. In 2023 the region added 30,000 foreign-born residents, almost enough to replace the 34,000 native-born residents who had left. Now parts of the city…
From struggle to strength: How United Way is changing lives in central Illinois
When Maria lost her job last year, her world turned upside down. As a single mother of two, she had always worked hard to provide for her children, but an unexpected layoff left her without an income. Rent, utilities and groceries became overwhelming expenses, and she didn’t know where to turn. “I remember lying awake…
Fixing the fairgrounds
State Fair organizers announced further updates to the Illinois State Fairgrounds improvement project at the Springfield Citizens Club, detailing restoration efforts of historic buildings, greater disability accommodations, sensory stations and 16 selfie kiosks. The Illinois State Fair, scheduled for Aug. 7-17 this year, has been undergoing various grounds and facilities updates between events since before…
Chutzpah
It would’ve been nice to be asked. After all I was a bridesmaid at their wedding 60 years ago been family historian did a lot of tending to our folks in their waning years though I live much farther away did most of the cleaning of the family home went to their kids and grandkids…
Letters to the editor 3/13/25
We welcome letters. Please include your full name, address and telephone number. We edit all letters. Send them to editor@illinoistimes.com. — WORDS MATTER As someone who is part of the local Asian community who has heard from massage therapy owners being negatively affected by this rhetoric, I am communicating that this has caused harm (“Combating…
