Cover Story

Ladda Tammy Duckworth’s life is full of firsts. The 53-year-old junior U.S. senator from Illinois is the first Thai American woman and the first person born in Thailand to be elected to Congress, and is the second of three Asian American women to serve in the U.S. Senate. Duckworth is the first senator to give […]

Sydney Capers of Springfield, 25 years old, gave birth to her son, Phoenix, last November. She was an early childhood education major in college, and nannied for special needs children. She has since worked at preschools and plans to go back to teaching once her son is ready for child care himself. Phoenix struggled in […]

Years ago, opposing nuclear power was cool. A partial meltdown at Three Mile Island lit a nationwide fire in 1979, when an estimated 200,000 anti-nuke protesters flocked to New York for a demonstration six months after what remains the nation’s closest brush with nuclear energy catastrophe. Tens of thousands marched elsewhere. “If they can open […]

The Lincoln Developmental Center, first called the Illinois Asylum for Feeble-Minded Children, had a sordid history before former Gov. George Ryan closed it in 2002. Founded in 1877, it was an institution for developmentally challenged children and became the largest employer in Logan County. Ryan was pressured to shut it down by those advocating for […]

It was the morning of Sept. 15, 2020. Jaala Smylie, 20 years old at the time, rented a room in her aunt’s home on the west side of town. Smylie’s aunt had woken up later than usual and didn’t want to be late to work. She asked Smylie to take her 10-year-old son, Smylie’s cousin, […]

Could Petersburg become the next Illinois destination community, like Galena or Grafton? A $3 million project funded by a local investor aims to take the Menard County seat a major step in that direction. A home-grown design and construction team is busily transforming the northwest corner of the town square into a multi-use showpiece with […]

Facebook posts by two Springfield police officers last year harmed police operations and community relations. That was the conclusion of internal affairs investigations by the city police department, as well as reactions from capital city activists working to improve the relationship between law enforcement and the people they serve. In a widely reported incident last […]

Jim Moll may not be the smartest man in Springfield, but the Hanson Professional Services engineer sounded like it during a public meeting held last week to discuss progress on a rail line under construction along 10th Street. The new line will replace tracks along Third Street. Moll’s been in charge of the $353 million […]

A year ago, Rick and Carla Phelan were on the cusp of homelessness. They’d been there before, but pandemic was different. After two nights spent sleeping in their 2004 Buick LeSabre with their dog – their son stayed with relatives – the Phelans were among the first in Sangamon County to drive home that a […]