News | Wednesday, June 10,2009

Charter schools are on the ball

Study says more are needed outside Chicago

Even though politicians and education reformers have been singing the praises of charter schools for a number of years now, the concept has been slow to catch on outside of America’s big inner

Feature | Wednesday, June 3,2009

The electric Sliders

The capital city’s collegiate baseball team promises to continue dazzling fans on and off the field

By R. L. Nave

Darren Feller recalls that while he was attending the 2002 winter baseball meetings in Nashville, a prospective employer asked a question right out of the job interview playbook. “S

News | Wednesday, June 3,2009

Protesters hungry for a fair budget

Illinois group finds spending cuts hard to swallow

By R. L. Nave

After debating well past midnight Monday morning, Illinois lawmakers scurried out of Springfield leaving the state’s gaping $11.6 billion budget hole largely unfilled. In add

Feature | Wednesday, May 27,2009

An end to homelessness?

For years, the city said there was no money for the homeless. Now there’s lots of it.

By R. L. Nave

Billie Aschmeller has no doubt in her mind about what happened to Tim Hawker. “He died from being homeless,” she says, adding: “You shouldn’t have

Summerguide | Wednesday, May 20,2009

The American game

The play-by-play on baseball in and around the capital city

By R. L. Nave

Not a full year after the first organized baseball game was played in New Jersey’s Elysian Fields, in 1846, poet Walt Whitman is said to have written of the fledgling sport, “I

News | Wednesday, May 6,2009

Wind resistance

Property owners have questions about proposed energy project

By R. L. Nave

Residents of western Sangamon County, where a Springfield company is planning to build a large-scale wind farm, insist that they are not opposed to wind energy. Instead, they want fell

News | Wednesday, May 6,2009

Indy film planned for Springfield

Auditions to be held this month

By R. L. Nave

Kimberly D. Conner isn’t a newcomer to the world of movies. She’s placed as a finalist in several film writing contests, including Los Angeles and Atlanta but the short film she’s p

News | Wednesday, April 29,2009

Inner city blues

Citizens question city’s commitment to central city

By R. L. Nave

For anyone who thought that the federal stimulus plan would be manna for the needs of city and state governments, think again. Jim Moll, project manager for Hanson Professional Serv

News | Wednesday, April 29,2009

Orange juice

Springfield rapper defends title this week on BET’s Freestyle Friday

By R. L. Nave

If you saw Zach McCoy without his baggy jeans, oversized T-shirt and baseball cap, you would assume he’s more interested in Lord Voldemort’s latest plot against Harry Potter th

Feature | Wednesday, April 22,2009

Roland Burris returns to his roots

The junior senator returns to Centralia and reminisces about growing up in southern Illinois

By R. L. Nave

After about an hour of drinking, making small talk about local political races, and prognosticating on the outcome of the following day’s election, the crowd in the banquet room of t