Letters to the Editor

LOOPHOLE FOR BACKGROUND CHECKSWith a few computer mouse clicks, Bruce Rushton would know if the Secretary of State’s office had requested a background check on Candace Wanzo, it would have been clean (“Transparency?” Feb.7). How so? Therein lies a tale also played out in the Office of the Executive Inspector General’s report released on April […]

HELP FOR PETS I am writing in response to your Feb. 7 article, “Frigid response to pet law.” I am a humane investigator and was involved with drafting recent amendments. This was necessary to give police officers relief from some of the impediments they experienced with enforcement of the law, as it stood in 2018.  […]

HELP HARVARD PARK Regarding the recent IT article (“Inside a struggling school,” Jan. 10), at Compass for Kids, we know firsthand that Harvard Park Elementary has a great principal and dedicated teachers and staff. We cannot blame the kids for growing up in poverty. Research tells us what works – support parents and their children […]

RACE RIOT ARTIFACTSRegarding “A past worth remembering” in last week’s Illinois Times, please know that there are NO artifacts from the race riot site on display at the African American History Museum.  We do have an exhibit about the race riot that will be in place until the end of February. As a board member, […]

ELECTRONIC MONITORING IS A BARRIERIn honoring the legacy of Rev. Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., I am grateful that the civil rights movement led to the dismantling of segregation and discrimination against people of color. Nevertheless, I am troubled about a resurgence of racism in our society by which people of color still experience hate […]

A fortuitous juxtaposition Last week, a bill was introduced in the House of Representatives that would require federal background checks for nearly all firearm transactions. The same night, the President said this, “I’ve held the hands of the weeping mothers and embraced the grief-stricken fathers. So sad. So terrible. I will never forget the pain […]

WE CAUSE CLIMATE CHANGEIn a recent letter to IT, Jack Heller argues that it would be a “waste of money” for CWLP to capture heat-trapping greenhouse gases from the Dallman power plant because the earth’s current warming trend is just a natural cycle, and that it would be “arrogant” to think humans can influence the […]

HOG CONFINEMENT CONCERNSA Springfield family owning The Pinnacle Group/Farmland Solutions has plans in place to allow manure to be spread on their approximate 400 acres of farmland, which is almost 100 miles away, near Loraine, Illinois. Along with another individual, they propose building a hog confinement with 5,000 hogs, producing around 2.1 million gallons of […]

A SUCCESSFUL BICENTENNIAL The Illinois Bicentennial Coordinating Committee of Springfield worked intently to make the Illinois Bicentennial a celebration that Springfield would be proud of. Now that our work has ceased, I wish to take this opportunity to thank the many organizations, businesses, nonprofits and individuals that made this year so memorable. I certainly have […]

SCOUTING INCLUDES GIRLS Thank you for the great article titled “Scouting for a new generation” (Capital City Parent, Winter 2018, by Elizabeth Watson). I have to share one small correction. Starting on Feb. 1, 2019, our “flagship program” titled Boy Scouts will become “Scouts BSA” … not just “Scouts” as mentioned in the article. Our […]

ALPLM: NOT JUST OLD HAT I read Bruce Rushton’s latest article about the ALPLM and its foundation (“Another day, another circus,” Nov. 29) with interest, as always, and wanted to clarify a few items. First, as executive director of the ALPLM, I share Mr. Rushton’s concerns about our support foundation’s behavior. The lack of transparency […]

CAPITAL TOWNSHIP SHOULD GO TO CITY, NOT COUNTYCapital Township Supervisor Tom Cavanagh called it a “no-brainer” that the township should merge with Sangamon County after a large majority voted yes on the township’s advisory referendum on that question in the November election. The real “no-brainer” from the election, though, is that voters are hungry for […]