A body-painted model walks the runway in a flowing dress made from trash and an ornate headdress of flowers. A dress sculpted from 140 pages of Veranda magazine intrigues the crowd. A model glows with illuminated LED lighting sending pink blooms dancing skyward with iridescent rhinestones. Vintage clothing finds a new life on the runway […]
Cover Story
Posted inNews
Double vision
Springfield School District 186 faces challenges familiar to many urban school districts. Academic achievement at district high schools lags behind state averages. Parents are voting with their feet as they choose to live outside the district or enroll kids in private schools. Segregation remains and demographic trends are ominous. During the past 15 years, white […]
Posted inNews
A second chance in life
More than 150 people who attended a free program in Springfield on Oct. 19 emerged with a possible second chance. The Expungement and Record Sealing Summit, hosted for the second year by the Sangamon County Circuit Clerk’s Office, gave pre-registered participants free, full-service assistance to get their adult criminal records possibly expunged or sealed. Volunteer […]
Posted inBest of Springfield®
Best Of Springfield (intro)
Illinois Times readers are an opinionated bunch, and more than 17,000 of you took the time to cast nearly a quarter million votes for your favorite people, places and things in the Springfield area. This is the 35th year for our Best of Springfield contest, but along the way we’ve continued to tweak both the […]
Posted inNews
School segregation’s new frontier
New Berlin, a village with 1,500 people separated from the outskirts of Springfield by 12 miles of pale blue skies and sunlit cornstalks, still has many hallmarks of a small town. It hosts the county fair, with chili cookoffs, livestock exhibitions and country music stars drawing crowds during the long days of June. Tractors occasionally […]
Posted inNews
Rebounds against racism
“I think we’re more polarized now than we have been for a while as a society, especially when it comes to race,” said Al Klunick, co-organizer of the upcoming Community Unity 2 On 2 Tournament, which aims to pit integrated basketball duos against each other in an attempt to bridge racial gaps. Klunick coached high […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Edible gifts
Several years back, my family agreed to stop buying holiday gifts for the adults. Money was always tight for somebody and none of us are big shoppers, so we decided just to buy gifts for the kids. It was determined that homemade gifts would be an acceptable caveat and we’ve never looked back since. Everyone […]
