News across Sangamon County
Send in the clowns
Eleven months of the year, Robert Quance lives a 9-to-5 life working behind the camera as a news assignment editor for WICS NewsChannel 20 in Springfield. Every October, though, Quance takes all his unused sick and personal time, dons grease paint, puts on a bulbous red nose and…
Letters to the editor
BIG WIN Last spring, Jamie Toole (at the time chief storyteller of the Springfield Lucky Horseshoes) came and spoke at an Enos Park neighborhood meeting. He spoke passionately about how baseball should be affordable and accessible to everyone. In addition to the Shoes, he spoke…
Super Cows
In the 1980s a Super Cow was bought for a million dollars. Her superness was the amount of milk she produced each year. Now there is word of a second Super Cow, which was bought for four million dollars. It looks like my family was in the right business at the wrong time or just…
Down the gardened path
Imagine pedaling happily along a paved path where murals and stand-alone art works distract you from the shabbiness or outright ugliness of Springfield’s backsides, passing frolicking children and couples strolling hand in hand thinking how lucky they are to be living in a city…
“Housing is a human right”
Teshia Spencer’s 14-year-old daughter was experiencing shortness of breath. Spencer assumed allergies were the cause until a doctor diagnosed her daughter with asthma. The trigger, according to Spencer, was months of mold exposure in a house they rented in Springfield from…
Sweet starch science
In 2022, I worked in the research and development lab at Audrey Restaurant in Nashville. Our owner-chef, Sean Brock, and his culinary team were deeply committed to supporting local farmers. When one of our farmers asked if we could find a use for 900 pounds of sweet potatoes he…
North end memories
The neighborhood on Springfield’s northeast side, just north of the one where African Americans lived before it was destroyed in the infamous Race Riot of 1908, was at its peak during the 1950s and early 1960s. It consisted mostly of Italian-Americans who owned businesses there,…
Wings and Wheels Fly-In and Cruise-In
Awesome aircraft and cars on display in one place Like to check out cool cars and planes? See both in one place this weekend as EAA Chapter 770 of Springfield hosts this fourth annual event. More than 200 cars and more than 20 planes are expected. Converge on the Stellar Aviation…
October music arrives
Definitely in the class of defining weather months, October can lean any way the wind blows, but by the time it’s over we’re on our way to winter no matter what you want to think, wish, believe or deny. Let’s get going to see what’s in the forecast for our music meanderings.…
New bookstore will support community organizations
Cathy Strukely and Tricia McGann are turning the former Fifth Street Flower Shop location into a Christian bookstore, with the goal of spreading kindness and providing financial support to other community organizations. The friends, who met in a church community group, are…
“We cannot build fast enough”
Memories of his childhood in foster care homes on Springfield’s east side and his more recent behind-the-scenes struggles on the Springfield City Council to improve the substandard living conditions faced by many constituents brought Ward 2 Ald. Shawn Gregory to tears. “For me,…
New transfer hub land deal and funding plan
The Sangamon Mass Transit District Board of Trustees just took a major step toward a new off-street transfer hub — and landed a big land deal to make it happen. The board heard how SMTD secured a parcel for the permanent secondary hub using a mix of state and federal grants plus…