The beginning stages of a plan to improve education in Sangamon County are already showing promise, according to an upcoming report from the Sangamon County Continuum of Learning. The Continuum is working to implement pre-kindergarten screening county-wide, along with a handful of other projects aimed at preparing children for school. It’s just the first step […]
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10-year prison sentence for hit-and-run driver
He was left to die in a pool of his own blood “like roadkill.” That’s how Sangamon County Circuit Judge Leo Zappa described the death of Danny Dapron Jr., a 30-year-old cyclist killed in a hit-and-run accident on Aug. 8, 2010. Zappa sentenced the driver, Ursula Jones, 23, of Springfield, to 10 years in prison […]
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Judge sides with Illinois Times on lawsuit
A Sangamon County judge has ordered a Springfield city government committee to hold open meetings following a lawsuit by an Illinois Times reporter. Bruce Rushton, a staff writer for Illinois Times, filed a lawsuit against the city’s Joint Labor Management Health Committee after a closed-door meeting on Jan. 10 in which the committee decided to […]
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Everything you wanted to know but were afraid to ask
Stumbled upon this site, Crime Reports, and wanted to share it. Plug in Springfield, Illinois and whammy – all the statistics for crime in our fair city – the third most dangerous city in the U.S., according to some.
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Neighborhood sues owners of abandoned house
Fed up with blight, activists in Enos Park are taking the law into their own hands. The Enos Park Neighborhood Improvement Association is suing the owners of a home at 1144 N. Sixth St., hoping for an injunction to either force the owners to bring the boarded-up house into compliance with city code or put […]
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Fired worker sues state over medical privacy
A dispute over a computer program at a state agency in Springfield has escalated into a federal court case involving doctor-patient confidentiality, more than $771,000 in damages sought and even a fake bomb threat. Michael Sanders, 46, of Springfield, a former data processing technician with the Illinois Department of Central Management Services (CMS) since 2005, […]
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My night on patrol with the Springfield police
It’s dark while I’m seated in the front passenger side of a Springfield Police Department squad car. I feel my voice box drop into my stomach to stay for a while as a handcuffed male suspect arrested for alleged criminal trespassing at Mac’s Lounge climbs into the back seat. The driver’s seat is empty while […]
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Local lore
Who walked in our footsteps before us? What were our ancestors’ lives like from 1817 through the 1850s? Find out about the people of the Sugar Creek area, now known as Ball Township in Sangamon County, from John Faragher, Yale University professor of American history and executive director of the Howard R. Lamar Center for […]
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Big Brothers and Sisters wanted
Yvonne Wapniarski says it takes her an average of two years to match a child with an adult mentor through Big Brothers Big Sisters of the Illinois Capital Region in Springfield. “Two years unless they match right up,” she says. “If I don’t match them in two years, I’m supposed to take them off the […]
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‘Lawbbyists’
From shady money transfers by former Gov. Rod Blagojevich to the return of a missing baseball signed by Babe Ruth, attorney Herman Bodewes has seen it all throughout more than 40 years with a Springfield law firm. Giffin, Winning, Cohen & Bodewes, located on Fifth Street in the Myer’s building, celebrated their centennial year serving […]
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Springfield blogger cleared of electronic harassment charges
The pen is mighty, says Scott Humphrey of Springfield, but he’ll be more cautious when he uses it from now on. The 58-year-old construction worker and blogger learned that lesson after his recent acquittal on charges of making threats on the Internet. Humphrey’s case is among the first local tests of a 2008 Illinois law […]
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‘Put Illinois to Work’ doesn’t always work
Judy Smith, president of Avenue Thrift Shop, signed up last year for Put Illinois to Work. She trained workers so they could advance to another job but says by the end of the program she would consider the experience with PIW trainees “a headache,” and the source of more problems than she has had in […]
