Cap City

When the Decatur City Council voted 6-1 in September to disallow sales of recreational marijuana within city limits, it also voted against putting the question to the people in a referendum. But knowing that people denied pot are powerful, Springfield attorney Sam Cahnman volunteered his services to help a group calling itself the Decatur Dispensary […]

Call it the Lord Voldemort rule. Without uttering the name of Adam Lopez, disgraced former school board member, the Springfield school board on Monday approved policy changes to prevent another trainwreck that was the Adam Lopez Country Financial Basketball Tournament. While on the school board, Lopez in 2015 established the tournament at Lanphier High School, […]

As the big day nears for GateHouse Media, parent company of the State Journal-Register, some folks are worried. On Nov. 14, stockholders in Gannett and New Media Investment Group, which runs Gatehouse, will vote on a merger to create the nation’s largest newspaper company. If it goes through, one in six daily newspapers in the […]

Following the example of departments elsewhere, the Springfield Police Department has instituted a Safe Passage program wherein folks who’ve fallen prey to drugs or alcohol can get help by showing up at the police station or flagging any cop they see: Please, I need treatment. Gateway Foundation has committed to providing beds. Lt. Brian Oakes […]

Before we know it, leaves will turn, it’ll be dark by supper and frost will be on pumpkins, if not inside homes, which are getting tougher to keep warm without taking out second mortgages. City Water, Light and Power wants to help, and so the city’s utility is making an offer no one should be […]

The owner of Osaka, a Japanese restaurant on Wabash Avenue, might be relying on Grubhub for awhile after being sentenced to six months of home confinement for tax evasion. The sentence entered against Chu Chuk Cheung on Oct. 1 by U.S. District Court Judge Sue Myerscough also included two years of probation, a $10,000 fine […]

What do the state Supreme Court and Roodhouse have in common? Both lie in areas that have gotten picked on during the war on drugs, according to the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity, and so residents, or past residents, who’ve been arrested, convicted or incarcerated for pot offenses will be eligible for special […]

Compass for Kids, the after-school program and summer learning camp for Springfield homeless and low-income children, has been awarded a $25,000 grant from State Farm insurance. The Springfield nonprofit is one of 40 groups nationwide awarded $25,000 grants from State Farm’s Neighborhood Assist program. This is the third year Compass has won the grant, awarded […]

After long maintaining that deputies should have college experience, Sangamon County Sheriff Jack Campbell says applicants will no longer need college classes to get jobs. He says he’s already done that for would-be correctional officers at the county jail. He acknowledges reluctance at dropping the standard that mandated either college degrees or a combination of […]

A majority of Springfield city council members this week said nice things about plans to tax recreational marijuana and establish zoning to decide where dispensaries will be allowed. During discussion of pot proposals up for a vote next week, one to establish a tax, the second to establish zoning, aldermen made the case that weed, […]

On the plus side, the daily paper has begun publishing letters stating the obvious: What in tarnation was the State Journal-Register thinking when it hired Ted Nugent to appear at an outdoor expo set for Sept. 21 at the Bank of Springfield Center? In an advertisement disguized as a news story announcing Nugent’s upcoming appearance, […]

Springfield Police Chief Kenny Winslow this week briefed the city council on the department’s efforts at reducing gun violence, particularly shootings involving proven or suspected gang members. It was a mixed bag. On the plus side, shootings are down 24% since 2017, when a rash of shootings generated fear and attention. On the other hand, […]