I complained here recently that the University of Illinois at Springfield’s recently adopted master plan will make the future UIS campus the kind of sprawly, inchoate, inefficient place that alert urban planners everywhere are abandoning. (“Stuck in the ’70s.” Sept. 3). How backward-looking, I wrote. In fact, this vision of the future UIS is not […]
Illinois
Posted inArts & Culture
When the railroad first came to Springfield
In the 1830s, when people traveled by foot, horse, stagecoach or boat, Illinois developed a railroad. It was ahead of its time. Like others around the state, central Illinoisans wanted faster transportation to relieve their isolation and farmers wanted to get products to top markets in the south, according to Paul Angle’s Here I Have […]
Posted inNews
Blogger busted
On April 2, Scott Humphrey was visiting his next-door neighbor Sandy when she looked out her kitchen window and noticed that an unfamiliar man and woman were standing on his front porch. Humphrey stepped outside and called across the yard to them, and the man replied that they had been looking for him. When Humphrey […]
Posted inNews
Stimulus funds boost electronic health records
The national health care debate continues on Capitol Hill, but that won’t stop Springfield medical leaders from injecting innovation into the local health care scene. Last week U.S. Sens. Richard Durbin and Roland Burris, D-Ill., announced that the United States Department of Health and Human Services would award $750,000 to the Illinois Primary Health Care […]
Posted inNews
Domestic violence programs need more funds, better services
From July through early September, Sojourn Shelter and Services could only offer emergency shelter beds to 16 women and children fleeing domestic violence — a dramatic decrease from the 32 the local nonprofit provided before the summer’s state budget scare. Candi Clouse, Sojourn’s prevention and development coordinator, says the organization is now “getting back to […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Man vs. good lord, my mouth’s on fire
Wednesday, watch as Man vs. Food’s Adam Richman eschews “chili” for chilLi the Springfield way. In the Springfield-based episode, taped in July, Richman visits Springfield favorites D’Arcy’s Pint and Cozy Dog Drive-In, sampling local delicacies such as the horseshoe and hot dog on a stick. The titular premise, however, comes into play when he visits […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Man vs. good lord, my mouth’s on fire
Wednesday, watch as Man vs. Food’s Adam Richman eschews “chili” for chilLi the Springfield way. In the Springfield-based episode, taped in July, Richman visits Springfield favorites D’Arcy’s Pint and Cozy Dog Drive-In, sampling local delicacies such as the horseshoe and hot dog on a stick. The titular premise, however, comes into play when he visits […]
Posted inNews
Springfield’s shrinking state workforce
Thousands of state jobs are at stake in Illinois as the largest union of state employees squares off against Gov. Pat Quinn in the fight to keep their jobs. The American Federation of State, County and Municipal Employees Council 31 filed a lawsuit against the state in August to stop Quinn from cutting 2,600 state […]
Posted inNews
Educator: Springfield needs more charter schools
Dr. Patrick Hardy, chief academic officer for Rockford Public Schools, visited Springfield last week to encourage educators and community members to consider offering more alternatives to traditional public education. During a presentation hosted by the Illinois Policy Institute, a nonpartisan research and education organization, Hardy contended that charter schools — open-enrollment public schools usually operated […]
Posted inFood & Drink
Springfield’s destination diner
It’s practically a place of pilgrimage. A Mecca for food historians. Tourists flock there, not just from Illinois, but from all across America and around the globe, by motorcycle, car and by the busload. It’s the Cozy Dog on South Sixth Street. The story of Cozy Dogs — the original hot dogs on a stick, […]
Posted inOpinion
Look who’s Pat Quinn’s new best friend
Gov. Pat Quinn brought out one of the biggest Democratic Party guns possible last week in his latest fight with Comptroller Dan Hynes. As you already know, Hynes is running against Gov. Quinn for the Democratic nomination. Hynes recently refused to process several million dollars worth of state payments for tourism programs and various consulting […]
Posted inNews
Eyes on the prize
“Somebody has to do something, that somebody is us.” Scribbled in blue and yellow chalk on the cinderblock wall of a garage plunked in the middle of a Divernon cornfield, these nine words remind Illuminati Motor Works — a team of local engineers, automotive technicians, and car enthusiasts — what’s at stake. On a cold, […]
