The Illinois Department of Agriculture hosted 32 international dairy producers and veterinarians from seven countries in an effort to increase export sales for the Illinois dairy industry. Individuals from Guatemala, Mexico, Myanmar, Peru, South Korea, Thailand and the Dominican Republic visited farms and agribusinesses throughout Illinois over a three-day tour Oct. 2-4. Since its inception […]
Cap City
Posted inOpinion
BROTHER, CAN YOU SPARE SOME FREON?
It was a tough summer for campers who remain at the State Journal-Register. Down to a half-dozen news reporters (Springfield city hall reporter Mary Hansen, who’s taken a job at NPR Illinois, is the latest to leave), the paper has soldiered on in an era of cuts that have decimated newsrooms nationwide, and it shows […]
Posted inOpinion
JAPANESE INTERNMENT DOCUMENTARY
The University of Illinois Springfield will host two screenings of the “Hidden Histories” film series, including the short film A Song for Manzanar, produced and directed by Springfield native Kazuko Golden and based on a story of the family of her mother, Springfield resident Yosh Golden, who was born in the Manzanar concentration camp in […]
Posted inOpinion
FARMERS MARKET FREEDOM
Farmers markets throughout Illinois will be able to offer even greater variety beginning Jan. 1, 2018, thanks to a pair of local food bills that have now both been signed into law by Gov. Rauner. The Local Food Business Opportunities Act (House Bill 2820), sponsored by state Rep. Steven Andersson, R-Geneva, and state Sen. David […]
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ILLINOIS HISTORY
The 2017 Conference on Illinois History will take place Oct. 5-6 at the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library and Museum. Featured speakers will be Stuart Layne, executive director of the Illinois Bicentennial Commission, and Louise Bernard, director of the Museum of the Obama Presidential Center. Topics will include the centennial of the 1917 East St. Louis […]
Posted inOpinion
MORE HOME FOR THE MONEY
In a new study, New York-based personal finance company SmartAsset analyzed 200 cities and found that Springfield ranks sixth among U.S. cities where the median income goes the furthest in terms of home buying. Among the cities included in the study, Springfield households were shown to have both the third-highest average income and also face […]
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VIETNAM REDUX
If you thought The Civil War, the PBS documentary released in 1990 that made filmmaker Ken Burns a household name, was a big deal, just wait. Burns says that The Vietnam War, set to premier on Sept. 17, is his most ambitious project ever – if nothing else, it’s longer than Burns’ take on the […]
Posted inOpinion
Black Sheep fears closure
This week, Black Sheep Café, the independent all-ages punk music venue that anchors a group of music-related businesses in Springfield’s Southtown neighborhood, was the subject of an extensive feature on noisey.vice.com, the “music channel” of prominent international media outlet Vice, which praised what it termed the Springfield scene’s “celebrated do-it-yourself climate.” Within a few days, […]
Posted inOpinion
IT’S HAMMER TIME! NOT
Grant Hammer, chief of staff at the Department of Agriculture as well as a member of the Springfield park board, says that talk of him running to replace State Rep. Sara Wojcicki Jimenez, R-Leland Grove, in the state legislature is exactly that. Talk. Jimenez, who could’ve had both hands tied behind her back and still […]
Posted inOpinion
CATHOUSES NEEDED
Do you like pets with sharp teeth and claws that hate you? Run when you come near? Refuse to come inside and sit quietly by a cozy fire come winter? Hiss and yowl at members of their own species and fight with each other for silly reasons? If so, drop plans for acquiring a Komodo […]
Posted inOpinion
BACKPACK GENEROSITY
Aaron’s Sales and Lease stores from across central Illinois have donated 350 backpacks to schools across the region this year, continuing a decade-long company tradition. The backpacks are filled with school supplies such as notebooks, pocket folders, pencils, pencil boxes, erasers, scissors, crayons, rulers and glue sticks, with the understanding that the schools will then […]
Posted inOpinion
CAN’T ANYONE HERE DO MATH?
While Gov. Bruce Rauner continues to rail against an education funding bill he claims is a bailout for Chicago schools, the man who vowed to shake up Springfield still isn’t showing us the numbers. A week ago, the governor briefly put his own calculations of how much school districts would gain – or lose – […]
