Certain University of Illinois employees together received $9.7 million in raises this fiscal year, according to an Illinois Times analysis of UI salary data. Meanwhile, the state’s largest publ...

Minorities are poorly represented in the City of Springfield’s work force, according to an Illinois Times analysis of city employment data, which shows that white workers make up more than 92 pe...

Reform is the theme in the race for mayor, as the candidates begin outlining their plans to change how the city operates. At a public forum on March 3, three of the four candidates for Springfield may...

For reporters, the Illinois Freedom of Information Act is both a helpful tool and a stumbling block. It grants access to governmental records and allows the public to hold accountable those who run ou...

A group of traveling gold buyers visited Springfield last week, raising questions about their business practices and associations with a convicted fraudster.A group calling themselves “Estate Bu...

If Romeo were alive today, he would be a sex offender.That’s the situation with Illinois sex offender laws, say reformers calling for changes to laws they say unfairly stigmatize low-risk teenag...

Every candidate has ideas for what they will do when they are elected mayor. Spend more wisely, they say. Encourage business growth, develop the medical district and bring in more tourists. Get rid of...

Parking in Springfield is cheap. Visitors from Chicago sometimes joke that it’s cheaper to get a parking ticket here than to simply pay the meter in their city. But that could change with a prop...

Illinois is moving ahead with health care reform, despite a Republican-led movement in Congress to repeal the federal law.The state continues to implement provisions of the federal Patient Protection ...