Lakeisha Purchase took part in phone calls unrelated to her job at the Illinois Department of Transportation for almost half of the time she was supposed to be working during an 18-month period in 2021 and 2022, a state report says. Purchase, 35, a former Capital Township trustee and the Springfield Ward 5 alderperson since […]
Illinois Department of Transportation
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IDOT spends $143,000 on zombie-themed seat belt ad
IDOT’s “Driving Dead” short film on seat belt use features an armored Mustang with a machine gun and actor Michael Rooker from the “Walking Dead” TV series about zombies. PHOTO COURTESY IDOT In a dusty, dimly-lit warehouse, a horde of zombies closes in two men with high-powered firearms trying in vain to escape through a […]
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Sniffing out trouble
Springfield patrol officer Dave Pletsch prepares for a training search with his dog, Utah, in a building on the Illinois State Fair Grounds. PHOTO BY PATRICK YEAGLE Inside a livestock building on the Illinois State Fairgrounds, a man is hiding stashes of marijuana, methamphetamine, heroin and cocaine in state-owned work vehicles parked inside for the […]
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Drug dogs fail the sniff test
Flip a coin and pick a side. Repeat 50 times. Chances are, you’ll guess the coin toss more often than drug-sniffing police dogs in Springfield found contraband during traffic stops in 2012. Traffic stop data reported by the Springfield Police Department shows the police found contraband in 25 percent of searches prompted by a drug […]
Posted inArts & Culture
See them
A.B.A.T.E. (A Brotherhood Aimed Toward Education) of Illinois motorcycle organization has a ride planned for Sunday, May 5, for motorcycle awareness month. The ride starts at the Illinois Department of Transportation parking lot. There will be food, beverages and A.B.A.T.E. products available for purchase between 8 a.m. until the group leaves at 1 p.m. All […]
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Minorities disproportionately stopped and searched
A study of traffic stop data released by the Illinois Department of Transportation shows minority drivers in Illinois and in Springfield are more likely than white drivers to be stopped and searched by police. Meanwhile, the American Civil Liberties Union is pushing the federal government to investigate racial bias in traffic stop searches. The IDOT […]
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IDOT overtime excessive
The Illinois Department of Transportation last fiscal year spent more than $33 million in overtime costs. But in several cases Illinois’ auditor general couldn’t tell why overtime was necessary or find records of actual hours worked. In an audit of IDOT released last Thursday, June 9, Illinois’ Auditor General William Holland found that employees who […]
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Group wants local rail jobs
A Springfield-based community group is hoping to make the contentious arrival of high-speed rail into a blessing by making sure 30 percent of the jobs from the project go to local disadvantaged workers. The Faith Coalition for the Common Good hosted a public meeting Aug. 19 at Union Baptist Church to discuss the coming project’s […]
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Springfield minorities stopped more often
Minority drivers in Springfield had more than double the chances of being pulled over by police during 2009 compared with white drivers, according to data on traffic stops released July 1 by the Illinois Department of Transportation. The data come from the Illinois Traffic Stop Statistics Study, which directs police agencies to collect information about […]
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IDOT: 10th Street option would delay high-speed rail six years
The Illinois Department of Transportation will consider putting the proposed high-speed rail system on 10th Street, according to its application for federal stimulus money to build the system. But IDOT is calling on the City of Springfield and Sangamon County to complete an environmental study on the 10th Street option, and the application indicates such […]
