Feature

Winter Art SaleNov 30, Dec 1, 10am-2pm Thu-Fri. Featuring one-of-a-kind student-created art plus complimentary coffee and cookies. Free. LLCC Trutter Center, 5250 Shepherd Road, 786-2200. Edwards Place Restoration TourNov 30, 5:30pm Thu. See Edwards Place decorated for the holidays and view the second floor restoration progress. Free. edwardsplace.org. Edwards Place, Springfield Art Association, 700 N. […]

We are late. Usually, we do this in October, when oompah’ers are oompah’ing in oompah bands in the beer tents of Munich while drinkers pay homage to malted beverages without which the world would be much poorer. But, then again, everyone, really, does that during Oktoberfest season, when you can’t turn around at the supermarket […]

In the guidebook for Narcotics Anonymous there is a paragraph which begins: “We have a disease; progressive, incurable and fatal.” The paragraph ends with the sentence: “Insanity is repeating the same mistakes and expecting different results.” Though this is in reference to drug abuse and chemical dependence, these statements could be equally applied to the […]

Sitting quietly inside an empty McDonald’s, Tracey and Michael Gragg ponder how they’ll find shelter for the night. Married for 18 years, the Graggs have been homeless for the last two. Michael’s faltering physical condition has heightened the couple’s hardships. Currently he is blind, has hypertension, kidney failure and Stage 5 renal failure. “We’ve been […]

Is there a doctor in the house? Not as many in the Springfield area, thanks to the state of Illinois’ budget woes. Uncertainty over the state’s fiscal situation, fueled by Illinois’ record-setting budget battle and huge backlog of unpaid bills, is having a noticeable impact on the sale of high-end homes in the area. These […]

Saying Jackie Jackson’s magnum opus is about a barn, is like saying Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland is a history of rabbit holes. The Round Barn encompasses a way of life that has all but disappeared. It captures the history of an extraordinary family whose members will live forever, thanks to a girl who kept notebooks […]

Who would rise early to get to a class at 7:30, leave at 9 to spend a full day at school, return in the evening and even weekends to fulfill requirements, while also finishing homework, participating in sports and other extracurricular activities, and possibly even working a job? Well, 50 amazing high school seniors from […]

Hundreds of people turned out for the inaugural Best Of Springfield party at the BOS Center on Thursday, Oct. 26. I t was 1985 all over again, and there were many celebrity sightings, including Flavor Flav and his crew, Prince, MC Lyte, the Blues Brothers, Slash, Brett Michaels, and not just one, but two, MC […]

It’s not unusual for Illinois politicians to end up in prison, but usually it happens after they are elected, not before. For Erika Harold, the only Republican running for Illinois attorney general, prison is a place she visits often as part of her ministry with Prison Fellowship. With last month’s surprise announcement by Attorney General […]

In America, we commonly think of press freedom and censorship in terms of the First Amendment, which focuses attention on the press itself and limits on the power of government to restrict it. But the Universal Declaration of Human Rights, drafted in the aftermath of World War II, presents a broader framework. Article 19 reads: […]

Bram Stoker would have liked this school. “Just drive by at night,” said Benedictine University Springfield Campus Director Janet Kirby. “It has taken time for the community to understand that we are still here, we are teaching students, we are alive and creating great stories.” Kirby was among the 25 of Benedictine’s 100 employees who […]