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Winter Guide
Our annual Winter Guide has info on holiday happenings, local stores with unique gifts and activities for the whole family to enjoy. Related Related Related Related Related Stories
Big plans for county health department
Clients seeking medical care, employment training and rental and utility assistance will find more of these services in one place after a planned $5 million expansion and renovation at the Sangamon County Department of Public Health. The services, some of which are currently offered in multiple locations throughout Springfield, will be consolidated as part of…
Revolving door benefits state Rep. Tim Butler
Months after demanding that fellow lawmakers close the “revolving door” that allows legislators to leave the General Assembly and immediately lobby their former colleagues, state Rep. Tim Butler is quitting to do just that. The four-term Springfield Republican lawmaker announced three days after being reelected to the post that he has accepted a position with…
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unnamed I’ve killed four animals through ignorance they have been on my conscience all my life I’ll spare you the details one was a small frog one was a lamb one may have been a raccoon or at least a creature who lives under brush the fourth was a puppy whose death was…
Letters to the editor 11-23-22
QUICK RESPONSE Interesting how quickly the Springfield Police Department was able to get this dealt with (“The wild west end,” Nov. 17). It took months and a neighbor’s house being shot before the landlord finally did something about a drug house in my neighborhood. The police said they “couldn’t do anything.” I’ll be saving this…
Proposing a clean future for CWLP
All but one of the City Water, Light, and Power coal-fired electric generators have been shut down. According to the CWLP website, it generates 200 MW of electricity. The utility will be partnering with the University of Illinois to conduct testing of carbon capture technology. Other research projects associated with coal-generated electricity are also in…
Plant native pollinators this winter
As more people become interested in low-impact landscaping, native pollinator planting has come to the forefront of transforming lawns into functioning ecosystems. American turf lawns have been the ideal yard for decades, but not without consequences. A contributor of greenhouse gases due to exhaust from lawnmowers and decomposing lawn clippings, lawns use more irrigated water…
Give unique holiday gifts
Springfield is fortunate to have more than a dozen brick-and-mortar stores that sell primarily handmade and often unique gifts. Some feature works from area artists, others have items by artists around the world, and some have both. You can find jewelry, pottery, hand-painted clothing and much more. While many of these stores are located downtown,…
Meet in St. Louis for some holiday magic
If grand displays of lights, old-fashioned Christmas traditions and special holiday performances are your things, then meet in St. Louis for some magic this winter. Plenty of family-friendly festivities await you less than two hours away. The city and nearby spots are bursting with holiday events, according to Catherine Neville, Explore St. Louis’ vice president…
Enjoy new and familiar family traditions
Whether it is time-honored traditions or new and novel experiences that you seek, Springfield has plenty of holiday programming for you and yours beginning Thanksgiving weekend and lasting until the New Year. Grab your calendars and be sure to schedule some of these wonderful holiday offerings, focused on sustainable shopping, parent-child bonding and family-friendly merriment.…
Beethoven and Brahms take the spotlight
Maestro Vince Lee stepped ably into the role of guest conductor for the Illinois Symphony Orchestra last Friday, Nov. 18, with an enjoyable and occasionally galvanizing concert at the UIS Performing Arts Center. Former ISO music director Ken Lam has departed for a position at the Juilliard School in China. Lee currently wields the baton…
Head downtown for the holidays
The excitement of the holiday season returns to downtown this year during the annual Memorial Holiday Fest and the Old Capitol Holiday Walks. Staff and volunteers with Springfield Memorial Foundation and Downtown Springfield, Inc. have outdone themselves once again to make this holiday season as merry and bright as ever. With so much to do,…
Springfield’s Caring Corner
The section along South Grand between Seventh and Eighth streets could be called the Caring Corner. Since the 1860s this area has been the site of a complex of buildings that housed many organizations, which often changed names but with the same mission – to care for orphans, children, families in need, and to provide…
Giving thanks for family
Editor’s note: One of Scott Reeder’s most requested columns is this one on the meaning of Thanksgiving. It has become an annual tradition to share it with readers. There is no place more miserable to be on Thanksgiving Day than in a buffet line in a Las Vegas casino. Trust me. I’ve been there. Back…
Old Fashioned cocktail
Anyone who’s checked out the cocktail menu at a posh restaurant lately may have noticed that classic cocktails are very of the moment. Perhaps we have Don Draper to thank, the enigmatic leading man on the TV show “Mad Men.” It’s hard not to thirst for Draper’s drink of choice as he sips from a glass…
Understaffing problematic at McFarland Mental Health
When registered nurse Stephanie Ambrose was attacked by a female patient at McFarland Mental Health Center in February 2021, short staffing in other parts of the building delayed workers from coming to her aid, she says. “The patient jumped on top of me, and she grabbed me and slammed my head into the floor 10…
Thanks for the music
Well, ladies and gentlemen, it’s time for our annual Thanksgiving issue and that means we should all take the time to think about thanking things. So here in our music column called Now Playing, we should not even have to think about what to thank and just get directly to giving thanks for the music.…
Editor’s note 11-23-22
Abraham Lincoln issued his Thanksgiving Proclamation in 1863. This was at the depth of the Civil War when, “harmony has prevailed everywhere, except in the theater of military conflict,” the proclamation reads, as if to say, except for this war, there would be peace. Among other “gracious gifts of the Most High God,” are that…
Satiric dinner party on The Menu, The Wonder well-crafted, Disenchanted a Disney spoof
Menu offers a tasty satire Deliciously wicked, Mark Mylod’s The Menu gleefully skewers elitism in all its forms, laying waste to the pretentious and privileged with abandon. The action takes place at Chef Slowik’s (Ralph Fiennes) The Hawthorn and the dining party of 12 includes mismatched couple Tyler (Nicholas Hoult) and Margot (Anya Taylor-Joy); a…
Speaker Welch reflects on growing House majority
Illinois House Speaker Emanuel “Chris” Welch, who recently announced he has the support for another term as House speaker, says he looks forward to governing with an even larger supermajority than he had during his first two years. “Expanding our caucus was definitely a priority of mine,” he said during an interview with Capitol News…
