Digital cameras that are affordable and easy-to-use, including those cameras and image-sharing apps in our smartphones, have sparked a photo craze. Who could have predicted that so many Americans would have a camera in hand today Prairie Art Alliance might have. Often ahead of others in town with innovative programs highlighting what’s popular in contemporary […]
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The cost of fracking
Nearly a mile below the surface of southern Illinois, a vast reserve of oil and natural gas sits locked in thick shale rock. While Illinois has a long history of tapping into its enormous fossil fuel resources, unlocking the shale reserve takes a new approach that could bring both economic windfall and potential for environmental […]
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Gus’s new gig
“At a certain point I realized I was a clone,” says Gus Gordon of his 22-year tenure as chief meteorologist at WICS-TV Channel 20. His tone is more amused than bemused, and entirely without rancor. “There was a middle-aged white guy like me at pretty much every local TV station in America. There are really […]
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Fixing things
No one seriously argues that Springfield doesn’t need street, sewer and sidewalk repairs. Anyone who negotiates potholes at 11th and Carpenter or the cracked-and-crumbling stretch of Ash between Third and Fifth or dozens of other intersections and streets knows that. Sidewalks, where they exist, are in such poor condition that the sight of kids riding […]
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Gunning for change
I first realized something was wrong when I noticed that everyone else was running the other way. I was an undergraduate in my senior year at Northern Illinois University in DeKalb, walking across the snowy campus on Valentine’s Day, 2008. The usual random movement of the crowd seemed to have become a stampede away from […]
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You drink, you drive, you cruise
If you drive drunk in Sangamon County, you’re less likely to get caught than you were a few years ago. And you’re less likely to lose your license. Since the early 1980s, lawmakers in the Land of Lincoln and throughout the nation have passed one get-tough law after another aimed at getting intoxicated drivers off […]
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Housing with Hope
“I love this palace,” beams Joann, sitting on a flower-patterned couch as mid-morning sunlight floods her one-bedroom apartment. A Spongebob Squarepants episode plays muted in the background. She happily explains it is her canary’s favorite show. “Where I used to live, I had a lot of trouble, people picked on me over there and pushed […]
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A history of Springfield romances
Love to last a lifetime Sarah Blanchard and Stuart PatersonWhen Sarah Lee Blanchard of Springfield entered the University of Michigan in the fall of 1961, she had no idea she would cross paths with the love of her life. In fact, she thought she had already found him: the dark-haired, brown-eyed beauty was going steady […]
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MMA mania
In an unassuming beige garage on the edge of town, two muscular, tattooed young men circle around and around, punching, kicking and grappling with one another with all the intensity of a dogfight. A lightning-fast back kick misses its mark, blocked instinctively by the other fighter. Though he avoids a potentially devastating kick to the […]
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They saw him standing here
The 50th anniversary of the Beatles’ first visit to America will be commemorated in February 2014. The Liverpool lads, shortly after their single “I Want to Hold Your Hand” reached the top of the Billboard charts in the U.S., arrived on American soil on Feb. 7, 1964, and stayed until Feb. 21, playing such venues […]
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No room at the inn
You may recall Alonso D. Travis, even if you never knew his name. He was the guy who hit you up for money on downtown sidewalks and store parking lots along Jefferson Street and on North Grand Avenue. He got angry when you said no. He frightened people. Was he dangerous? Folks who knew Travis […]
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The Lanphier lion learns to roar
The halls of Lanphier High School are strangely quiet. About 1,100 students file through the school’s maze of corridors several times each day, bringing the usual sounds of slamming lockers, chatty children and a shrill bell announcing the start and end of every period. But absent are certain sounds that used to be common at […]
