News | Thursday, May 16,2013

Juvenile Justice shows progress

Fewer youth in prison, but mental health care still lacking

When the Illinois Department of Juvenile Justice was created in 2006, the state’s youth prisons held 1,500 juvenile offenders. Today, there are fewer than 900 kids behind bars in Illinois juveni

News | Thursday, May 16,2013

Betting on bikes

City may adopt bike plan as infrastructure improvements begin

By Patrick Yeagle

Kevin Greene of Springfield still remembers getting his first bicycle as a child. “It took me a long time to figure out how to ride a bike, but once I learned, I never looked back,” Greene

News | Thursday, May 9,2013

Bringing people back downtown

The effort to revive the heart of Springfield

By Patrick Yeagle

When Jasper Madonia started working in downtown Springfield in 1939, the downtown was a different place from today. He describes a bustling place so busy that he had to push his way through the crowds

News | Wednesday, May 1,2013

Courting favor

Court reporters question handling of cases

By Patrick Yeagle

On the night of Dec. 7, 2011, a Southern View police officer saw a vehicle run a stop sign and then belatedly stop in the middle of the road, right in front of his cruiser. The officer pulled th

News | Thursday, April 25,2013

School district seeks to rebuild trust

Board apologizes and accepts two resignations

By Patrick Yeagle

The Springfield School Board took the first steps on Monday night toward rebuilding parents’ trust in the district, following the leak of test data from a besieged middle school. The board unani

News | Thursday, April 25,2013

The manufactured crisis over Illinois pensions

State pension funds have always carried unfunded liability

By Patrick Yeagle

Practically everyone knows that Illinois’ public pension systems are only about 45 percent funded. But not everyone knows that 45 percent is actually an improvement over the 40 percent funding o

News | Thursday, April 18,2013

Citizens’ Efficiency group questions state fire tax

Little oversight of insurance charge

By Patrick Yeagle

If you bought fire insurance from an out-of-state company, you indirectly helped pay for health club dues, parking fees and shoes for the Springfield Fire Department. That’s because an obscure s

News | Thursday, April 11,2013

Seeking a transformation

Young transgender Springfield woman pushes for nationwide change

By Patrick Yeagle

Around age six, Emma Todd of Springfield began to feel like something wasn’t right. Born genetically male, Emma says she wasn’t comfortable growing up with her assigned sex.“I just f

News | Thursday, April 4,2013

Abused wife freed from prison after 26 years

Gov. Quinn commutes Peggy Jo Jackson’ life sentence for her husband’s murder

By Patrick Yeagle

When the Springfield-based Illinois Innocence Project hosts its annual fundraising banquet this weekend, they’ll have a fresh victory to celebrate. Peggy Jo Jackson of Shelbyville was released f

News | Thursday, April 4,2013

Wrongly convicted man wins settlement 26 years later

Randy Steidl won his lawsuit, but he remains unpardoned for murders he didn’t commit

By Patrick Yeagle

After more than 26 years of fighting, Randy Steidl is ready to put the past behind him.The Paris, Ill., man spent 17 years on Illinois’ death row for a double murder he didn’t commit, but