Best of Springfield® campaign kit
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Springfield school board to decide whether to begin year remotely
Springfield Public Schools is set to discuss whether to begin the school year remotely. A special District 186 school board meeting was announced for Thursday night to discuss the plan. Families had been asked to choose between registering students either for remote-only, or for a hybrid model that would have them attend school on certain…
Top officials leave teachers’ pension system
Richard Ingram, director of the Illinois Teachers Retirement System, has resigned after being placed on administrative leave by the TRS board. Ingram’s resignation comes after the recent termination of Jana Bergschneider, the board’s chief financial officer. Bergschneider was paid $191,300 last year, according to Illinois comptroller records. Ingram was paid $303,000 per year, according to…
OD numbers rise
With overdose numbers escalating, part of the Sangamon County juvenile detention center on Dirksen Parkway would be turned into a detox unit under a proposal now under consideration by the county. Planners acknowledge hurdles that include coronavirus and a breakdown in a plan to make detox services part of a center for the homeless on…
WE’RE IN THE MONEY, MAYBE
With nearly $32 million available from recreational marijuana taxes, the state expects to award grants next month to help repair damage from the war on drugs, and Springfield hopes to be a player. Mayor Jim Langfelder says the city has applied for a grant that would fund home rehabilitation to help neighborhoods deemed by the…
For better or for worse
My wife, Kathy, did not want her full story told while she was alive. The Aug. 9, 2002, accident that forever changed our lives was simply too emotionally overwhelming for her to consider seeing it in print during her lifetime. Not long ago we had the discussion again, and Kathy agreed that if she were…
State investing $40M in Cairo river port
The state of Illinois is about to invest $40 million into developing an inland river port that officials hope will produce thousands of new jobs and turn the small town of Cairo into a major shipping hub. Gov. JB Pritzker traveled to Cairo Aug. 4 to announce the project, calling it “a game-changing investment for…
Fruit butters are fun
Fruit butters are a fun and relatively straightforward way to preserve the sweet taste of summer for months to come. Unlike jams and jellies, which rely on the addition of pectin to thicken and gel, fruit butters are made by slowly cooking down fruit pulp and sugar to a rich spread, perfect for so much…
Census can ’empower’ Asian Illinoisans
Elected officials in Illinois who make up the Asian-American Caucus, along with local community organizations, held Asian-American Census Day July 31 to promote participation in the census among Asian Illinoisans. During a news conference in Chicago’s Chinatown Square, Rep. Theresa Mah, D-Chicago, spoke about how the census has benefited the Asian community and why taking…
Tomorrow effectively speaks to the dread of today
I’ve always been fascinated by the timeliness of movies. What with a usual lag time of about a year between the end of production and when a film hits the screen, that a feature speaks to social concerns occurring while it’s playing means that either the director in question was very prescient or a bit…
Barney’s bids adieu
In the midst of much economic pain, one longtime independent retailer is folding, due to writing that was on the wall well before the pandemic hit. Barney’s Furniture was founded in 1939 by Bernard “Barney” Seidman, who first operated the family business at a downtown Springfield location. In the 1970s, the retailer moved to the…
Almost fair
Heading into our first full August weekend of 2020, we’re still staring deep into the pandemic hole that’s taken a toll on our live music scene and those all over the world. As our summer festivals, concerts, fairs and anywhere needing a crowd to be a thing are not happening, we look wherever we can…
Guilty Boys
A better moniker could not be invented to match this pair of longtime friends, for these two pals and music makers, Keith Dunlap and Kevin Smith, are indeed some guilty boys. We can proudly say they are extremely guilty of playing good tunes well and being a wonderful act to enjoy, whatever the setting. Along…
The road to riches
Dr. Lawrence Hatchett says he feels like he’s stuck in a desert. He grew up in Colp, a southern Illinois village once known as a safe place for African Americans amid sundown towns where folks who weren’t white couldn’t venture after dark. Basketball was his ticket out. Good enough to land a scholarship at Marquette…
Historic downtown Springfield
Downtown Springfield Inc. is hosting an architectural walking tour of buildings which are of structural and design interest in Springfield’s downtown area. Led by Anthony Rubano of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, the tour discussion will be focused on architectural styles, materials and treatments that make up historic downtown Springfield. The tour will begin…
No mask? Call the cops.
The Sangamon County jail, the county coroner and the Springfield City Council. Too many bars and restaurants to recall. All have been touched by COVID-19 since we celebrated Independence Day. With cases popping up all around like so many mushrooms, it is beyond time to get serious. We’re breaking the wrong kind of records, with…
Editor’s note 8/6/20
The District 186 school board is about equally divided on whether to let some children into classrooms some of the time, while parents are equally divided over whether to send their kids to school. Jennifer Gill, the superintendent under pressure, presses for some classroom education, as long as it’s safe. Leaders try to move from…
Help revitalize our democracy
Amid all the troubles occupying our attention, one of the more worrisome is also one of the least visible. It is the loss of public faith in the effectiveness of our representative democracy. While most state and local governments – and certain federal agencies – have maintained public support during the pandemic, concern over our…
Madigan buys more time
The calls were mostly brief and to the point, recipients said. House Speaker Michael Madigan just wanted to know where his members stood last week after two of his members demanded he step aside as House Speaker and Democratic Party of Illinois chairman. Did they agree with their fellow Democratic state Reps. Terra Costa Howard…
Catholic Heart Work Camp #5
this summer the Catholic Heart Work Camp with its units all over the country has been unable to visit anywhere including springfield but its local director david knoepfle nonetheless gathered a group of teenagers who have been busy here in enos park clearing alleys mending fences carting off brush trash other detritus again expecting no…
Letters to the editor 8/6/20
We welcome letters. Please include your full name, address and telephone number. We edit all letters. Send them to letters@illinoistimes.com. ALPLM NEEDS A LINCOLN SCHOLAR While I appreciate the many sides to the ongoing concerns at the ALPLM (“Getting real: ALPLM wrestles with hat, looks for leadership,” July 30), my esteemed colleague, Harold Holzer, made…
Statehouse statue solutions
About 45 people recently got together to discuss who is represented – and who’s not – around the Statehouse grounds in downtown Springfield. In July, House Speaker Michael Madigan said he wants an audit done and statues of Pierre Menard and Stephen Douglas removed. Menard, the first lieutenant governor of Illinois, owned enslaved people. Douglas…
SCHOOL DAZE
The District 186 school board narrowly approved a plan for some students, whose families so choose, to return to the classroom. The Aug. 3 meeting went on for more than three hours and had its moments of contention. “Every medical person in town (is) saying it’s not a good idea – what is wrong with…
