Upon Further Review

The downtown YMCA building shouldn’t be demolished, says the state Department of Natural Resources, because it’s beautiful, useful and historic – after all, Barack Obama played basketball there while a state legislator. “Although outside the purview of our regulatory review, this office suggests that the City of Springfield considers (sic) the potential for future tourism […]

When last I spoke with Ryan Bandy, Donald Trump was on the verge of the presidency and local voters were about to select a circuit court judge. April Troemper won the 2016 election and kept her seat on the bench. During the campaign, David Reid, the challenger, pointed to a bar association poll showing that […]

One of Springfield’s most successful capitalists traveled to the nation’s capital earlier this month to weigh in on the nation’s opioid crisis. It was not a convincing performance. J. Christopher Smith, erstwhile president and chief executive officer of H.D. Smith, didn’t appear happy to testify under oath on May 8 along with executives from three […]

The most intriguing part of dustups over Gov. Bruce Rauner and the Quincy Veterans Home, where 13 people have died from Legionnaire’s disease, isn’t epidemiology. The governor’s ability to turn scandal into something worse is what fascinates and appalls. The state screwed up by failing to promptly tell residents, their kin and employees that an […]

What with everything else going on in the world, getting worked up about Illinois’ bicentennial can be a challenge. For one thing, there’s no mascot, and convincing folks to take Gov. Bruce Rauner seriously as a cheerleader will be a tough sell, especially since he already has said that he’s not in charge of anything. […]

I spent nearly two hours watching last weekend’s gun rally on the Capitol steps and walked away disturbed and buoyant. The good news is, they didn’t get nearly as many folks as hoped, predicted or feared. The daily rag put the number at 100, which seemed about right, and they came from all over the […]

Accepted by the University of Illinois and waiting to hear from Harvard, Jason Spyres doesn’t figure on making pizzas for much longer. Photo by Bruce Rushton The last felon-turned-angel story I wrote did not end well. It concerned a meth cook returned to prison after nearly two years of freedom and gainful employment, on the […]

A couple years ago, I got an email from the blue. It was from a lawyer for an old employer: Mike Lacey is creating a database of former employees, could you please provide your home address? I did. Days later, I received a $5,000 check and a request to help locate other folks. So I […]