ILLUSTRATION BY METRO CREATIVE CONNECTION It was like a bad April Fools’ Day prank, only a few days early. Springfield resident Tara Lybarger, a 42-year-old cashier at a laundromat, had been waiting since December to get signed up for the Low Income Home Energy Assistance Program (LIHEAP). On March 24, a few days before the […]
sweep
Posted inNews
Chimney sweep is sweeping up
Reaching into a pocket, Bill Klein pulls out a tiny swatch of soot-stained red cloth. “Here,” he says to a smiling client. “I found this. Santa must have torn his pants.” It’s an “aha” moment that’s been repeated thousands of times by a man who’s been sweeping Springfield’s chimneys for nearly four decades, and it […]
Posted inNews
State repays bulk of seized charity funds
Gov. Pat Quinn has repaid – early and with interest – $1.176 million borrowed during the last fiscal year from 11 state-controlled charity funds. But about $434,300 seized from seven such funds the year before appears. to be gone for good. During the last fiscal year, Quinn, with authorization from the Democratic-controlled General Assembly, borrowed […]
Posted inNews
State taps charity funds to pay its bills
Over the last two years, the state of Illinois in order to pay its basic bills has seized more than $1.6 million from at least 15 different “charity” funds, to which Illinoisans voluntarily donate for causes like feeding the hungry and helping the homeless. Each year, the Illinois Department of Revenue invites taxpayers to donate […]
