COVER STORY
Spring Home & Garden 2026
This year’s Spring Home & Garden issue has 10 easy projects you can tackle to freshen up your home, tips on container gardening, new options to recycle paint and batteries and more. Plus, find a special calendar of upcoming home and…
LATEST NEWS
Logan County to consider data center regulations
Logan County officials could take action in May to change local zoning requirements to both accommodate developers of large-scale data…
Faculty at UIS reach tentative agreement to end strike
Faculty at the University of Illinois Springfield ended a more than two-week strike on Monday after reaching an agreement with…
New leadership for Sangamon County Democrats
A Chatham resident and union activist will head the Sangamon County Democratic Party for the next two years, succeeding longtime…
Sangamon Auditorium to reopen in October with major upgrades
After more than a year without performances, there’s finally a date to circle on the calendar: Sangamon Auditorium is set…
‘Credit card chaos’? Financial institutions bet big on repeal of first-of-its-kind Illinois law
“Credit cards may not work for sales tax or tips starting July 1.” By now, you’ve heard that claim, but…
A welcoming place
By 2024, Greg Kanter had been out as a gay, ordained rabbi for nearly three decades, a pioneer of sorts,…
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NEWSLETTER
News
A heated city council meeting
What former Springfield police chief Michael Walton said after speaking to the City Council on April 7 remains in dispute,…
Springfield slated to lose ambulance provider
Editor’s note: This story has been updated to reflect comments from Springfield Fire Chief Nicholas Zummo. LifeStar Ambulance Service Inc.,…
Will this be the year the state legislature approves a cellphone ban in schools?
After the Latin School of Chicago passed a cellphone ban, students, who typically would be glued to their phones on…
“A good step forward”
A three-building apartment complex with 22 affordable housing units for people exiting homelessness is opening where the Sportsman’s Lounge once…
opinion
Poll finds support for data center regulation
In a mid-March poll, 68 percent of likely Illinois voters said they would support legislation to “regulate data centers to minimize their impact on…
Collaboration needed
Illinois Times published an article April 2 entitled “A collaborative effort for downtown,” referring to the push to create a new taxing body to…
Something for nothin’
Anyone versed in the basics of economics knows that there is no such thing as a free lunch – unless you are shopping for…
Letters to the editor 4/16/26
We welcome letters. Please include your full name, address and telephone number. We edit all letters. Send them to editor@illinoistimes.com. PROGRESS I’m glad to…
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We are dedicated to giving our readers a source of news and opinions on local politics, communities, culture and the arts. We have the Springfield area’s most comprehensive calendar of events – coverage of movies, dining, music, visual arts and the printed word. We offer stories you won’t find anywhere else on topics ranging from city and state government to marijuana to prison reform to education.
Food and drink
Ooey gooey goodness
Now in my third year at Champaign’s Prairie Fruits Farm and Creamery, I stay busy working at Caprae, our farm-to-table…
Strawberry season
Many may be surprised to learn that strawberries are not technically a fruit or even a berry. Botanically, strawberries are…
The French Connection
One of the most rewarding aspects of travel is discovering local culinary traditions – those storied techniques and heritage dishes…
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Music
Get Free Music Series: The art of the squirrel call
Now beginning its third year, the Get Free Music Series is a local showcase for free jazz…
Music blooms in April
With this warmer than usual weather, we’re seeing early bloomers of outdoor shows ever so slightly. It…
Bring on April music
For some reason things feel like they’re moving rapidly right now as we are set up to…
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ARTS AND CULTURE
Bar and bat mitzvah – marking the passage to adulthood
Next month I will be marking my 83rd birthday and the 70th anniversary of my bar mitzvah, the ceremony in Judaism marking a young person’s…
The face of downtown
A man who holds a Springfield bowling record is on track for a milestone in his professional career. O.J. Crowder set a city high-series bowling…
OJ Crowder interview
For three decades, OJ Crowder has been a familiar and friendly face in downtown Springfield. As a dedicated letter carrier for the U.S. Postal Service,…
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Best of Springfield®
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Best Of Springfield 2025
See the results Every year, we ask our opinionated readers to tell us about their favorite people, places and things in the Springfield area. Over the decades we’ve been doing this, we’ve continued to tweak both the process and the results issue to try to keep things fresh and interesting. While anything food-related typically dominates…
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