In many ways, the legal pot industry in Springfield is flowering, but the success of the industry’s next phase appears to be in the City Council’s hands. Home to three adult-use marijuana dispensaries – and with four more dispensaries potentially on the way in the next 12 months – Springfield is in the sights of […]
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CO2 pipeline project proceeding
The clock is ticking on a Texas-based company’s plans to build a multi-state pipeline carrying pressurized, liquified carbon dioxide across 250 miles of central Illinois – including Sangamon County south of Springfield – to sequestration fields in Christian County. What is expected to be at least an 11-month process for the Heartland Greenway pipeline began […]
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A new look for Ninth Street
Dirt being moved and steel girders going up on the east side of South Ninth Street in downtown Springfield this summer mark the beginning of what the Sangamon County administrator calls a “once-in-a-generation opportunity.” A total of $127 million will be spent to establish a central transportation center called The Hub, consolidate government services on […]
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“Paper terrorism” comes to Springfield
Sangamon County’s top prosecutor and two of his assistants have filed a civil lawsuit to stop what they describe as harassment from a member of the right-wing, anti-government “sovereign citizen” movement. And the Illinois Attorney General’s Office on May 25 filed a felony charge against the Springfield man named in the suit, Derick L. Turner, […]
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Angst over abortion
Planned Parenthood of Illinois expanded the number of days surgical abortions were offered in Springfield in March as part of an ongoing effort to prepare for the U.S. Supreme Court overturning its landmark Roe v. Wade decision. After taking that step and others to increase capacity statewide in recent years, Planned Parenthood officials said they […]
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Hit and run
For April Poole and Paula Harris, Aug. 13 felt like any other Friday night. They attended Brothers & Sisters, a group of friends who gather for dinner each week at a different restaurant, and on this particular Friday, they dined somewhere on the west side. It was close to 9 when they headed home. As […]
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Abortion haven
The woman was nervous when she arrived in Springfield. Earlier in the day, she had flown with a companion from her home state of Texas to a Chicago airport, where she rented a car and the two drove to central Illinois. The woman’s goal was to obtain a medical procedure – abortion – that is […]
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Budget optimism
Springfield is planning almost $23 million in federally funded infrastructure improvements in the fiscal year that begins March 1 as part of a city budget plan flush with cash from COVID-19 relief funds and benefiting from sales and income tax revenue connected with surging consumer demand. The projects, to be funded from the total $33.8 […]
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More girls accuse detective’s son of sexual abuse
The girls were 14, 15 and 16; Zane Merreighn, the adult son of a Springfield police detective, is charged with sexually abusing them, and their parents say area law enforcement failed to adequately protect their daughters. Merreighn, the 22-year-old son of detective Jennifer Oglesby Mack, was arrested Oct. 26 on charges of sexually abusing a […]
Posted inOpinion
Leland Grove is now just The Grove
Last week Illinois Times reported that demolition of the historic old Leland farm house on the corner of Willemoore and Wiggins in Leland Grove appeared to be imminent. By Thursday, Aug. 12, heavy equipment was on site. The ground was scraped clean as vegetation was cleared from around the home. Yellow tape circled the large […]
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Sheriff releases video of fatal jailhouse struggle
A Sangamon County jail video released today provides no clear view of an inmate struggling with jailers and being tased before losing consciousness on April 27, when he was pronounced dead after being rushed to a hospital. There is a 90-second gap in footage from a camera aimed down a corridor that gives a view […]
