News

Site improvements are ongoing at Town & Country Shopping Center after a Missouri man bought the 65-year-old strip mall this year. Trent Overhue of Springfield, Missouri, repeated his prior commitment to make about $5 million in renovations at the complex on South MacArthur Boulevard in Springfield when contacted recently by Illinois Times. Overhue confirmed that […]

The Lincoln Land Community College Police Department officially welcomed its newest “pawfficer” as Everest, the college’s outreach and therapy dog, was sworn into service Monday during a special ceremony on campus. During the event, LLCC Police Chief Chris Russell administered the oath of office, asking Everest to “solemnly swear to provide both students and staff […]

The Mini O’Beirne Crisis Nursery sits behind a white picket fence in a quiet, historic neighborhood on North Seventh Street. For nearly four decades the nonprofit has worked to prevent child abuse and neglect by providing free 24-hour emergency childcare to families in need. The nursery has been a neighbor to Fletcher Farrar and his […]

The Sangamon County Mental Health Board is hosting its first public engagement event on Thursday, Oct. 22, from 5-8 p.m. at Sangamon South Auditorium, 300 S. Ninth Street. The Mental Health Board is responsible for disbursing tax revenue to mental health programs in the county through a limited 0.5% sales tax levy (groceries, medication and […]

Democratic Lt. Gov. Juliana Stratton vowed to serve as a check on President Donald Trump while Republican Don Tracy largely defended the president’s positions in their only face-to-face meeting in the race to succeed retiring Democratic U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin. In the hourlong WTTW forum Tuesday evening, Stratton stuck to the unapologetically progressive message that […]

The University of Illinois Springfield is hosting a presentation on Wednesday, Oct. 21, focused on the environmental impacts of artificial intelligence and data center development. The talk is free and open to the public. Mary Willis, assistant professor of epidemiology at the Boston University School of Public Health, “will investigate the local effects of data […]

Sean Grayson’s murder conviction for the 2024 shooting death of Sonya Massey will remain on the books after his death after all. The Illinois Appellate Court’s Springfield-based 4th District on Oct. 13 dismissed Grayson’s appeal of his October 2025 second-degree murder conviction, citing the fact that Grayson’s Aug. 23 death made the appeal moot. An […]

The state has erased over $1.4 billion in medical debt for almost 700,000 Illinoisans for pennies on the dollar, two years after launching a new relief program. At its launch, the Illinois Medical Debt Relief Program aimed to eliminate $1 billion in debt. The state has surpassed that goal by $400 million, spending less than […]

Democratic Gov. JB Pritzker and Republican Darren Bailey spent an hour talking over and accusing each other of stretching the truth in their only planned meeting of the campaign Tuesday night. The WTTW forum was supposed to be a question-and-answer session, but Bailey quickly revealed his strategy to interrupt Pritzker on nearly every question, launching […]

Continuing a local trend that flies in the face of conventional wisdom about physical media, a new bookstore specializing in literary fiction, contemporary nonfiction, poetry and graphic novels will hold its grand opening on Saturday, Oct. 17, from 9 a.m. until 7 p.m.. Three Ducks Bookstore is located at 414 E. Monroe St. in downtown […]

It’s been more than three years since Springfield’s Police Community Review Commission reviewed a complaint, and it won’t review any this year after the PCRC met for the second, and final, time this year on Oct. 14. The Massey Community Action Network, a group of former Massey Commission members and staff, organized a group of […]

Plans to demolish the headquarters of Springfield’s public radio station and move the station elsewhere on the University of Illinois Springfield campus will create additional expenses for the financially challenged station but also opportunities. NPR Illinois General Manager Randy Eccles told Illinois Times the move will be a “pretty good result” after UIS officials said […]