Cover Story
The neighborhood is going to art
It was a recent weekday afternoon in Springfield when Erin Washington was hanging crystal prisms from a neon-pink geodesic dome. The dome is outside of Springfield Art Association (SAA) in the Enos Park neighborhood. It is a bright pop of color that draws attention to the lawn, which includes a nearby mural and other displays…
Advocating for animals
As a virus has swept through kennels and allegations of incompetence and wrongdoing have pulsated across the internet and within the halls of local government, at least 17 cats have died that were once housed at the Sangamon County Animal Shelter. The deaths have sparked talk by Springfield Mayor Jim Langfelder of outsourcing the service…
Rachel Otwell leaves Illinois Times for job with comptroller’s office
Rachel Otwell is the new deputy communications director for Illinois Comptroller Susana Mendoza, effective Oct. 20. The position is based in Springfield. Otwell joined Illinois Times in Feb. 2020 and worked as a writer and associate editor for the paper. She won two Illinois Press Association awards for her 2020 coverage at Illinois Times, which…
Confronting housing inequity
Springfield is one of the most racially segregated cities in the United States, according to experts. Citizens Club of Springfield hosted a panel discussion last week that focused on the structural challenges that make homeownership, especially for people of color in Springfield, so difficult to achieve. As part of its third installment in a series…
Mid-October music
As we continue on into autumn, this time of year is most certainly right in the sweet spot. It’s pleasantly not too hot and not too cold, unless of course it rains, heats up or a cold snap rolls in, but otherwise, it’s perfect weather. This week, musician and studio owner John Blockyou releases a…
Editor’s note 10/14/21
When Brian McFadden starts talking about the county’s “campus,” you know he’s on a roll. After the Sangamon County administrator announced in April a $16.7 million makeover of the existing county building, the county last week bought the State Journal-Register building next door because, McFadden said, “It fits naturally into our campus and we’re happy…
Mid-America Horse Show Association
The Mid-America Horse Show Association is sponsoring its final show of the year in the Coliseum at the Illinois State Fairgrounds. Incorporated in 1939, the nonprofit association is a charter member of the American Saddlebred Horse Association and is affiliated with the United States Equestrian Federation and the Horsemen’s Council of Illinois. It is committed…
Oct. 16 Oak Ridge Cemetery tour features historic and rare trees
Witness the beauty of Oak Ridge Cemetery at the eighth annual tree tour on Saturday, Oct. 16, and discover how trees help make it such a special place. The cemetery is a picturesque final resting place for more than 75,000 people, many who contributed prominently to Springfield’s rich history. Established in 1865, Oak Ridge is…
Springfield transportation hub to relieve rail congestion
A railway improvement project intended to improve traffic congestion between St. Louis and Chicago reached a milestone Tuesday, Oct. 12, as work began on a multimodal transportation hub in the capital city. Gov. JB Pritzker was joined at a groundbreaking ceremony by U.S. Sens. Dick Durbin and Tammy Duckworth, along with several state lawmakers and…
Hindu Temple to open Oct. 13-17
This week the Indian community will be celebrating their new Hindu Temple of Greater Springfield, the Shree MahaLakshmi Temple, located in Chatham. Starting Oct. 13 and lasting through Oct. 17, events will include religious and cultural programs, Indian classical dance, and music. The public is welcome. The culminating event on Oct. 17 will be the…
Letter from Jackie, May 1970
dad, I and the kids climbed the fence hiked through the woods to the great blue heron rookery my nieces discovered recently when dad told them to keep their eyes peeled, and they spotted great birds circling over a distant woods we spent two hours watching some 100 huge birds flying to and from their…
Letters to the editor 10/14/21
We welcome letters. Please include your full name, address and telephone number. We edit all letters. Send them to editor@illinoistimes.com. —- NO POLITICS? Years ago, the Springfield Tea Party was denied use of the historic Old State Capitol because political events were not permitted (“The Old State Capitol renovation,” Oct. 7). Obviously, Obama and Biden…
Redistricting leads to lawsuit from Latino group
The Illinois House Redistricting Committee held its first hearing last week on new congressional and judicial subcircuit district maps at the Michael Bilandic Building in Chicago. Another half-dozen hearings were scheduled for the following seven days to redraw the maps, which have to be reconfigured after each decennial census. The hearings aren’t likely to matter a…
Parole offers hope for offenders, while victims relive trauma
“Ma’am, I’ve got some good news for you. Your grandson is being released from prison.” I made that phone call about 20 years ago after covering a session of the Illinois Prisoner Review Board and seeing the board members vote to parole a long-serving inmate. The elated grandmother dropped the phone receiver and screamed, “Thank…
What does it mean to be an American?
I’ve been thinking a lot recently about what it means to be an American, to have a shared stake in this country and its fortunes. In some ways, I suppose the question is unanswerable: We are a vast, diverse country, and we each answer the question in our own way. Yet I also think there…
ISO is back…and beautiful
The Illinois Symphony Orchestra made its triumphant return to the UIS Performing Arts Center stage this past Saturday, for the first time since February of 2020. Of course, the remaining two concerts of that seemingly long-ago season were canceled – along with pretty much everything else in the known world – due to the COVID-19…
Something old, yet new
How is it that the theatrical comedies of the 1930s and ’40s have retained their potency? The evergreen Arsenic and Old Lace (1941), refreshed by the Springfield Theatre Centre, is keeping audiences of your friends and neighbors laughing – rolling in the aisle laughing – from beginning to end. Do yourself a favor. Take a…
How to stew
Humans have likely been making stews for as long as they’ve had the ability to harness fire. By definition “to stew” simply means to cook something slowly in liquid. While similar to another culinary technique called braising, the difference lies in the amount of liquid used. In a braise, just enough liquid is added to…
Last Duel is gripping, Lamb is odd and Fever Dream lives up to its name
Duel proves gripping, timely A hard watch for many reasons, Ridley Scott’s The Last Duel is a bracing, captivating and, regrettably, still timely film that revolves around one incident told from three different perspectives. Adapted from the book by Eric Jager, the time is the late 14th century France, the titular event being the last…
