The late Mike Royko, Sun-Times columnist Bruce Rauner is trying to divide Downstate from Chicago over school funding. It’s a low tactic that has a long tradition, as I noted in this column from the IT of June 5, 1981. The much longer original will appear on my blog, Second Thoughts. Chicagoan Mike Royko declared […]
race
Posted inOpinion
Dancing around the issue
“It wasn’t the airplanes. It was beauty killed the beast.” – King Kong The Motor City finally ran out of gas. The recent bankruptcy of Detroit’s municipal government has been explained and re-explained. It was a single-industry city, the equivalent of the mining camp, that failed to diversify its economy. It was badly run, meaning […]
Posted inNews
Juvenile Justice shows progress
When the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice was created in 2006, the state’s youth prisons held 1,500 juvenile offenders. Today, there are fewer than 900 kids behind bars in Illinois juvenile justice system. It’s one sign of progress for the relatively new department, which was previously part of the adult-oriented Illinois Department of Corrections. The […]
Posted inNews
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 […]
Posted inNews
Gambling on the fairgrounds
Step right up! Welcome to the Illinois State Fairgrounds, where kids can milk cows, and cows can win ribbons and anyone 21 years and older can contribute to an electronic, press-a-button, hear-a-beep, wait-to-(probably)-lose-while-it-looks-like-you’re-winning casino king’s cash cow – the slot machine. Gambling opponents say that’s what Springfield should expect to see if Gov. Pat Quinn […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Rebirth of a rivertown
Walking down the main business street in Cairo, Ill., it’s tempting to think that this spring’s floodwaters of the Ohio and Mississippi rivers were sent to put the languishing town out of its misery once and for all. Many buildings along Commercial Street in Illinois’ southernmost town have long been abandoned, left to decay since […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Swim, bike, run for fitness and fun
Maybe it’s the obesity epidemic that has so many people worried about their waistlines. Or maybe it’s the ongoing recession that has people looking for low-cost extracurriculars. Whatever the cause, it’s clear that Americans are more interested than ever in getting fit. Last year was the first in which the number of marathon finishers topped […]
Posted inArts & Culture
Charity porker run
Registration is closed for the professionally-timed Fat Ass 5K race through downtown Springfield that starts at 10 a.m., but you can cheer the runners on their 1/10 mile jaunt as some detour to down beer, ice cream and donuts. The party starts at 11 a.m. and includes a pig roast with all the fixings and […]
Posted inNews
Minorities, women poorly represented on city payroll
Minorities are poorly represented in the City of Springfield’s work force, according to an Illinois Times analysis of city employment data, which shows that white workers make up more than 92 percent of city employees. Data filed by the City of Springfield with the federal Equal Employment Opportunity Commission show that as of June 30, […]
Posted inNews
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 […]
Posted inNews
Kids in prison
What do you do when you catch a criminal? Conventional wisdom says you lock them up and hope prison scares them straight. But what if that doesn’t work, and what if that criminal is only 13 years old? That’s what Illinois lawmakers thought they were providing four years ago when they established the Illinois Department […]
Posted inArts & Culture
College sowing seeds for a local slam poetry movement
Local youths may be familiar with the confrontation and spectacle of mainstream hip hop, where the words flow effortlessly with messages of violence, money and sex. Less familiar is a close cousin, slam poetry, which also has smooth lyrical moves, but uses them to deliver appeals to social justice, racial understanding and cultural identity. There […]
