Local News
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Greater Springfield, IL 76 storieswidest scope for this area
Collaborating with ICE
This story was reported and produced by Injustice Watch, a nonprofit newsroom in Chicago that investigates issues of equity and justice in the court system, in collaboration with The Intercept. Minutes after Riverton police officer Brad Herzog ran 31-year-old Daniel Torrez…
Beat the frost
Pepper production is reaching its peak at Prairie Fruits Farm and Creamery in Champaign. Our walk-in cooler is filling up with a brilliant display of red, yellow, green and orange capsicums. Even though we are currently experiencing a September heatwave that feels more like July,…
Music to remember in September
We’re showing definite signs of the summer slowdown as fall comes up fast with regular outdoor gigs disappearing and inside shows picking up speed, while the final flashes of the festival season roll on by. Let’s take a look. Thursdays hold on tight with Boone’s booking…
Learn more about Pillsbury Mills
As Pillsbury Mills continues to be demolished, interest remains strong in the complex that employed thousands of Springfield residents. Here’s a chance for local residents to learn more. In this event hosted by the group Moving Pillsbury Forward, curator and artist Robert Mazrim…
Leaving a legacy
Seven charitable organizations that help women in need have received a total of $1.21 million in grants from the newly created Justice Benjamin K. Miller Charitable Fund. Justice Benjamin K. Miller was the first Springfield native on the Illinois Supreme Court, serving from…
The most well-staffed data center in Illinois?
If all ‘projections’ go according to plan, Sangamon County could have the most well-staffed hyperscale data center in the state. The CyrusOne data center slated for Talkington Township in southwest Sangamon County is expected to have four main buildings that convert 1.8 million…
Springfield airport receives $11M in federal funding
The Springfield Airport Authority received more than $11 million dollars in federal funding to improve one of two crosswind runways that intersect with their own primary runway at Abraham Lincoln Capital Airport. Mark Hanna, executive director of the Springfield Airport…
We the people should see this production
Attending a tech rehearsal of the compelling play, What the Constitution Means To Me by Heidi Schreck, I, and a handful of other invited guests entered the penumbra of a dimmed theater space, in the midst of final tech week adjustments, and emerged profoundly impacted. I didn’t…
Mary Lincoln biographer to headline Conference on Illinois History
A complicated first lady, enslaved people starting new lives, women fighting for fair housing, even actors performing on horseback – all those stories and more will be told Oct. 1 and 2 at the Conference on Illinois History, presented by the Abraham Lincoln Presidential Library…
Springfield’s ISO Class 1 win and community legacy
The Springfield City Council packed a lot into a few minutes that matter for everyone living here. First up: a big win for public safety. The Springfield Fire Department just confirmed it kept its ISO Class 1 rating after a year-long review — a distinction only about 1% of…
Ethics commission names acting inspector general
The Legislative Ethics Commission has appointed David Risley acting legislative inspector general effective the day following the Sept. 30 resignation of his predecessor. Risley is a former federal prosecutor who briefly served as Gov. Bruce Rauner’s director of public safety…
“Okies,” Angela Davis, hope and humanity
I recently re-read John Steinbeck’s deeply researched classic historical novel The Grapes of Wrath. I was reminded of a phrase often misattributed to another author, Mark Twain: “History may not repeat itself but it often rhymes.” It’s the story of families from across the U.S.…