Feature

Electronic waste, commonly called e-waste, is a huge issue worldwide. In 2016, 44.7 million metric tones (49.3 million U.S. tons) of e-waste were generated worldwide and only 20 percent was recycled, according to the 2017 Global E-waste Monitor produced by a partnership among the United Nations University, International Telecommunication Union and the International Solid Waste […]

In 1920, the Macmillan Company of New York City published The Golden Book of Springfield written by Springfield resident Vachel Lindsay. Like everything Lindsay did, the novel was a passion project, an elaborate combination of mystical fantasy and social comment written gradually over the course of several years, always while sitting alone in Washington Park. […]

“Don’t you think this will be the year of the insurgent?“ Jeanne Ives said as she strolled across the lawn of the Illinois Statehouse. Synonyms for insurgent include rebel or revolutionary, agitator, renegade, freedom fighter. Ives like to think those terms describe her candidacy. The state representative from Wheaton is challenging Gov. Bruce Rauner in […]

H.D. Smith is a titan in the drug industry. Founded in 1954 on the outskirts of downtown Springfield, the drug wholesaler has grown to become the nation’s fourth largest distributor of prescription drugs, with annual sales surpassing a reported $4 billion in 2015. After years of swallowing competitors to build a nationwide distribution network, owners […]

“This ain’t about the Constitution. This is about those who got more, wantin’ to hang on to what they got, at the expense of those who got nothing.’ And feel good about it.” – President Lyndon Baines Johnson, discussing opposition to the Civil Rights Act of 1964, from All the Way by Robert Schenkkan After […]

As with any toxic relationship, the possibility of a breakup sparks feelings of terror – and maybe a little bit of a relief. That’s the spot that Facebook has put the news business in. Last month, the social media behemoth announced it would once again alter its News Feed algorithm to show users even more […]

He’s been doing Lincoln almost as long as Lincoln did Lincoln. “Lincoln died at 56, and how long has it been since I’ve been 56?” asked 69-year-old Fritz Klein of Jerome, one of the nation’s premier Abraham Lincoln interpreters, who’s been portraying the 16th president for nearly 42 years. It’s no surprise that Klein’s full-time […]

  I first met Pat Quinn when I was a radio news reporter nearly 38 years ago, and interviewed him in person regarding his drive to reduce the size of the Illinois House of Representatives by one-third. At that time I thought the intense, 30-something Quinn was well-informed but a bit crazy. I never had […]

Ann Ridgeway was on her porch when the crash came. No one had told neighbors that a massive metal building was going to fall that day in October 2014. Towering more than 10 stories, the so-called dryer building – locals say artificial sweetener was once made there – produced plenty of dust and debris in […]

“The coolest thing is that so many students participated in big and small ways,” says John Tienken, a former University of Illinois Springfield student trustee who is now a law student at the University of Chicago. Tienken is one of those students who contributed in a big way and was a driving force behind development […]

Founded in Springfield in 1970, Southern Illinois University School of Medicine has seen 2,818 students graduate (with 42 percent of those currently practicing medicine doing so in Illinois). That same year, the medical school – part of the overall Southern Illinois University system, with campuses in Carbondale and Edwardsville – began partnering with the former […]

Everything old is new again in Jacksonville, even the annual New Year’s Day celebration in the west central Illinois city of nearly 19,000. “I would say it started in the 1970s. It was in the early 1980s when I started doing it, then it slowly progressed, and all of a sudden the other bars recognized […]