LATEST NEWS
Hotel files petition to convert to apartments
The owners of MainStay Suites on South Dirksen Parkway have filed a zoning petition with the city of Springfield for…
Our Region, Our Vision update
A review of Springfield’s regional transportation needs is underway. The Springfield-Sangamon County Regional Planning Commission is currently studying the region’s…
Enrollment open for health insurance marketplace
The state’s health insurance marketplace, Get Covered Illinois, opened enrollment for 2027 plans on Nov. 1. Sangamon County will continue…
SMTD buys land for new bus transfer hub
The Sangamon Mass Transit District has purchased 25 acres of land to construct a new, off-street secondary hub and access…
COVER STORY
High school essay winners write from the heart
This I Believe is an annual essay contest for high school seniors sponsored by NPR Illinois. Modeled after the program started by radio journalist Edward R. Murrow in 1951, students are invited to write an essay sharing their own personal beliefs. This is the 21st year for the contest; 226 students within the NPR Illinois…
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Local community news from around the country
NEWSLETTER
News
Activists call for police accountability at heated city council meeting
A relatively quiet Springfield City Council meeting turned explosive at its conclusion when activists loudly protested their colleague not being…
New hospital planned on west side
A freestanding, 60-bed hospital costing $66.3 million and focused on rehabilitation for people after strokes, brain injuries, fractures and a…
High school essay winners write from the heart
This I Believe is an annual essay contest for high school seniors sponsored by NPR Illinois. Modeled after the program…
Democrats sweep statewide races, expand already-historic supermajorities
Democrats once again cruised to an easy sweep of statewide offices Tuesday night as the party gained ground across the…
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Previous Issues
opinion
School’s Out
As our Scott Reeder reported in April, the Sangamon County State’s Attorney’s Office and the state Regional Office of Education are working together on…
Letters to the Editor
GOOD MEMORIES We lived a block over on David Street in the early 1970s and we would walk over to this location for groceries…
Major issues vie for legislature’s attention
A few weeks ago, Gov. JB Pritzker told reporters that negotiators are closer than they’d ever been to a deal with the Chicago Bears…
Small town elections are important
For weeks, candidate ads have dominated television viewing. Text messages and phone calls are nonstop. Yard signs are popping up like my late season…
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Food and drink
Aligot is a favorite in France
Last autumn, my wife, four family members and I had the good fortune of staying in a restored 16th-century farmhouse…
Great Halloween recipes with minimal fuss
Halloween cookery can range from playfully autumnal to murderously macabre. From festive pumpkin crostini to bloodied witches’ fingers and ghoulish…
The secret to tender meat
With soaring grocery prices, I’ve been passing up the expensive, well-marbled T-bone steaks for more affordable proteins. Top-notch ingredients will…
> More Food and Drink
Music
November music-making
Here we are, as promised, back with a Now Playing for the first full weekend of November…
Ricki Marvel to play Hobgoblinspookadelic concert Saturday
This Halloween night, your best rock ‘n’ roll entertainment value might just be the return of NIL8’s…
A spooky start to ISO’s new season
The Illinois Symphony Orchestra will kick off its 2026-2027 season on Halloween eve (Friday, Oct. 30), with…
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ARTS AND CULTURE
Learning from communities making homelessness rare and brief
In October, seven members of the Heartland HOUSED team and Strategy Board traveled to Seattle, Washington, to participate in the 2026 Built for Zero Learning…
Godzilla highlights human resilience, musical interludes undo Drummer Boy
Zero puts mayhem and heart centerstage Much as he did with Godzilla Minus One, writer, director and visual effects artist Takashi Yamazaki focuses on the…
Drama charts path from grief to love and hope
UIS Theatre presents David Lindsay-Abaire’s Pulitzer Prize-winning play about a happy suburban couple, Becca and David Corbett, whose lives are changed forever when their young…
> More Arts and Culture
Best of Springfield®
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Best Of Springfield 2026 Intro
LINK TO ARTICLES 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. This year, more people voted…
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