Remembering | Thursday, December 27,2012

A second chance ends

SHARY ELIZABETH ALWARDT March 4, 1989-Nov. 16, 2012

Shary Elizabeth Alwardt never gave up.She was born with a hole in her heart, which was bad enough. She also had pulmonary hypertension, a rare condition in which arteries that carry blood to the lungs

Remembering | Thursday, December 27,2012

The cycle of life

GROVER E. EVERETT Nov. 3, 1941-Nov. 15, 2012

By Bruce Rushton

Grover Everett had at least one James Bond moment.It came at a Lincoln air show in 1988, while Everett was still in his skydiving phase. He was second in line, jumping right after someone who was goin

Remembering | Thursday, December 27,2012

Champion for the masses

MARY LEE LEAHY April 28, 1940-Dec. 12, 2012

By Bruce Rushton

Mary Lee Leahy fought for underdogs.Best known for representing state workers in a landmark Supreme Court decision that ended overt patronage in government, the Springfield attorney who succumbed to p

News | Thursday, December 20,2012

No joking matter

Police sued after cops laugh

By Bruce Rushton

A Springfield man has sued officers from Springfield and Jerome, claiming that police used excessive force while arresting him a year ago.A police microphone captures officers Michael Brown and Chance

News | Thursday, December 20,2012

The sky’s the limit

Airports are cash cows, except for Grandpa’s Farm

By Bruce Rushton

As the nation hurtles toward a fiscal cliff, the Illinois Department of Transportation has released a study showing that airports are economic catalysts.The study’s authors, it seems, have never

News | Thursday, December 13,2012

Can I get a witness?

After witness doesn’t get to testify, city loses case

By Bruce Rushton

There are more questions than answers in the wake of an arbitrator’s decision rescinding the termination of a City Water, Light and Power employee who cut down a relative’s tree on city ti

News | Thursday, December 13,2012

Rats!

Henson-Robinson Zoo gets a fascinating new species. It’s not a panda.

By Bruce Rushton

Imagine being impervious to pain, immune to cancer and darn near immortal.Then imagine, as one scribe once put it, looking like a penis with buck teeth.That is the conundrum of the naked mole-rat, the

News | Thursday, December 6,2012

Not so fast

Chemical dumping at Clinton challenged

By Bruce Rushton

A consortium of local governments stretching from Urbana to Bloomington is suing a Peoria-based waste company in hopes of killing a hazardous waste landfill near Clinton in DeWitt County.The plaintiff

News | Thursday, December 6,2012

Going to pot

Illinois a battleground for medical marijuana

By Bruce Rushton

While voters in two states have legalized marijuana for anyone over 21, Illinois legislators may take a key vote on a much stricter measure that would allow for medical use of marijuana in the land of

Profile | Thursday, November 29,2012

The Cinema Snob

Bad movies are beautiful to Brad Jones

By Bruce Rushton

Brad Jones doesn’t stand out amid 100 or so vendors at HorrorHound Weekend in Indianapolis earlier this month.He is a diminutive, bearded, 30-year-old guy from Springfield in baseball cap and gl