When a tree falls in this forest, the sound it makes is definitely being heard. A grassroots proposal fueled by opponents of logging and other concerns is gaining traction to transform the 289,000-acre Shawnee National Forest in southern Illinois into a national park and the nation’s first climate preserve. Proponents argue the designation would protect […]
Cover Story
Posted inNews
Harming health care workers
After working as a nurse’s aide in Springfield Memorial Hospital’s emergency department for four years, and after dodging a chair swung at her by one visitor and being pinned to the ground by another, Susan decided to leave for a different health care setting. Part of the reason for resigning once she completed her training […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Healthy, Wealthy and Wise 2023
It’ s easy to make New Year’s resolutions to eat better, exercise more, drink more water and the like, but much harder to sustain by the time February rolls around. Our annual health and wellness issue has tips on tracking your goals, continuing your exercise routine even when the weather is less than ideal and […]
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The school that calls the police on students every other day
On the last street before leaving Jacksonville, there’s a dark brick one-story building that the locals know as the school for “bad” kids. It’s actually a tiny public school for children with disabilities. It sits across the street from farmland and is two miles from the Illinois city’s police department, which makes for a short […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Best films of 2022
In looking back at past year-end lists, more times than not, embarking on such an enterprise proved difficult because there were simply too many quality films to consider. Having anywhere from 20-30 exceptional movies was an embarrassment of riches and winnowing them down to a final 10 representing the best of the best was an […]
Posted inSpecial Issues
Remembering
Our annual REMEMBERING edition, the last issue of the year, reminds us small-town folks that people we thought we knew we didn’t know as well as we wish we had, and those we didn’t know, we wish we had known. It reminds us that many more have died this year than we could possibly write […]
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Sweeping crime law in the spotlight
Derrick Davis would like to thank the state lawmakers who passed a comprehensive crime bill in 2021 – and tweaked the law three times since then, most recently this month – that on Jan. 1 will make Illinois the first state to completely eliminate cash bail. “Thank you for giving us a chance to get […]
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Faith, family and football
It’s all about Jesus. After four decades as a coach, six state championships and an unparalleled career as the winningest high school football coach in Illinois history, that’s how Coach Ken Leonard sums up his career. It would be easy to discount the statement as a throwaway line like: “Leave it on the field,” “One […]
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Project Censored
Since its founding in 1976, Project Censored has been focused on stories – like Watergate before the 1972 election – that aren’t censored in the authoritarian government sense, but in a broader, expanded sense reflective of what a functioning democracy should be, censorship defined as “the suppression of information, whether purposeful or not, by any […]
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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
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Children’s challenges
After being out of the classroom for 18 months beginning in March 2020, Elias Boone enjoyed and benefited from two different summer instructional sessions this year, his mother says. The 7-year-old first-grader at Springfield’s Black Hawk Elementary School made friends while learning during one week of Camp Invention at Franklin Middle School and four weeks […]
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Mentoring young men
“Then the Lord answered me and said: Write the vision; make it plain on tablets, so that a runner may read it.” Habbakuk 2:2 NRSV “You have to have faith,” says Michael Phelon of Springfield. This is a perpetual mantra for Phelon, who founded The Outlet in 2005. It is a faith-based nonprofit organization that […]
