Feature

The sixth annual Images of Illinois photography contest saw numerous changes. The contest showcases the splendor of Illinois through professional, amateur and youth photography. It is spearheaded by the SAA Collective and sponsored by Illinois Times, Cherry Berry, PSC Digital and MicroPower Computer Systems. As in the past five years, photos eligible for submission must […]

This Saturday, July 1, at the Black Sheep Cafe, four bands spanning nearly 40 years of alternative rock, punk and new wave genres play together on the same bill. Two once-popular area bands, Food & Money from the early 80s and Backwards Day from the early 90s, reunite to join with two currently working bands, […]

To see the old Marbold Farmstead is to want to see more. The imposing brick residence on Illinois Route 29 20 miles north of Springfield dates to the 1850s and has been uninhabited since the 1960s. Passing by its grand edifice, tattered but majestic, you want to pull over and see it up close. If […]

“I believe that Illinois is a lot more connected than people portray it to be,” said Niala Boodhoo, host of the daily Illinois Public Media-produced talk show “The 21st” which airs live Monday through Friday at 11 a.m. on Springfield’s NPR Illinois as well as in DeKalb, Peoria, Bloomington and Urbana. The show’s motto, “21st-century […]

  If you ride fast and crash, you are a bad rider. If you go slow and crash, you are a bad rider. And if you are a bad rider, you should not ride motorcycles.  – Hunter S. Thompson Each spring, like swallows to Capistrano, motorcyclists flock to Martinsville, 120 miles southeast of Springfield and […]

  “How’s that working out for you?” That’s what Bruce Rauner, the 2014 Republican candidate, often asked in questioning why voters kept returning Democrats to run Springfield. Now he’s governor of a very troubled state and the same question may loom large over his reelection bid next year. Bruce Rauner ran for governor pledging to […]

“I figured if Peoria was ready, Springfield was ready,” said Springfield PrideFest founder Jonna Cooley, offhandedly describing her rationale for starting up the festival celebrating the central Illinois LGBT community, being held for the seventh year on Saturday, May 20. Back in 2010 Springfield resident Cooley was running a booth at a Peoria Pride event […]

A century after its peak, Enos Park soldiers on, hoping to regain its reputation as one of Springfield’s most desirable neighborhoods. It has not been easy. Elegant Victorian-style homes are in assorted states of elegance, some restored to magnificence, others waiting for saviors. There are a few blue-tarp specials with peeling paint, questionable roofs and […]

Growing up in the Philly projects with an African-American father and Italian mother, my Mom would try to cook soul food for my Dad and we appreciated it. But I’m telling you, spaghetti and pig’s feet is not good. And chili lasagna is worse. So goes the joke of Raymond “Philly” Phillips, one of the […]

The Illinois Innocence Project based at University of Illinois Springfield, is part of a nationwide network of groups working toward overturning wrongful convictions. Since it began in 2001, the IIP has helped win freedom for 10 innocent people, the most recent of which was Charles Palmer, set free on the day before Thanksgiving 2016, after […]

Tiffany Ann Rusher could be a handful. She was nonetheless loved. In Rusher’s final days, relatives gathered at St. John’s Hospital. Her mother, Kelli Andrews, rubbed Rusher’s stomach and feet in the intensive care unit, hoping to evoke a response, if only a twitch, from a daughter on life support whose last of many suicide […]

On Monument Avenue, next to the main entrance of Oak Ridge Cemetery, the Springfield and Central Illinois African American History Museum sits in view of the Lincoln Tomb State Historic Site. The museum opened on March 3, 2016, and recently celebrated its anniversary by signing a three-year lease with the City of Springfield, owners of […]