COVER STORY
Saving lives one pint at a time
Springfield resident David Butt has donated enough blood to completely fill 33 human beings. “After I retired, I made it my personal goal to be a maximum blood donor to the extent that my health would allow me to do that,”…
LATEST NEWS
“Three Hot Days in August”
Springfield is the home of Abraham Lincoln, known as the Great Emancipator. We should be proud of that. Yet, we…
Identifying brownfield sites for redevelopment
The Springfield-Sangamon County Regional Planning Commission is seeking public input as it begins assessing contaminated brownfields in areas that are…
Police transparency
Editor’s note: This story has been updated with a link to the Springfield Police Department’s live online data dashboards. A…
Pritzker signs new laws requiring businesses to accept cash, pay employees for jury duty, among others
Most Illinois retailers will be required to accept cash payments beginning in 2028 under a bill Gov. JB Pritzker signed…
Judge denies Trump administration access to Illinois voter data
A federal judge ruled late Friday that Illinois is not required to hand over its complete, unredacted voter registration data,…
No medical release for Sean Grayson
Former Sangamon County Deputy and convicted murderer Sean Grayson will remain in prison after a panel from the Illinois Prisoner…
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NEWSLETTER
News
Wyndham hotel up for sale
The 30-story Wyndham Springfield City Centre, closed since March 2025 by water damage that local police and the FBI were…
Powered by private equity
A Chatham solar project approved by the Sangamon County Board in late 2021, on the same evening the Board approved…
Another league of their own
For the last 34 years, women’s baseball has been known primarily for one thing: A movie. The 1992 hit film,…
Baseball-related history and art display
Two baseball-related exhibits are now on display on the second floor of the Sangamon County Building. These coincide with the…
opinion
Welch discusses Benton investigation
House Speaker Chris Welch sat down for interviews with some selected reporters last week. He told most of them that his office had conducted…
Looking to the skies
No one who’s seen it is likely to forget it. I refer to the ending to Steven Spielberg’s Close Encounters of the Third Kind…
Letters to the editor
GREAT PROGRAM This sounds like a terrific program to offer non-traditional skills and emotional/spiritual support to those who struggle with addiction (“Creating a recovery…
Thinking is part of the learning journey
Earlier this month, the Illinois State Board of Education released guidance on artificial intelligence for Illinois schools. The guidelines are needlessly complicated, repetitive and…
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Food and drink
Slurping through a heat wave
Buckwheat has been on my mind quite a bit this summer. For a recent cheese-themed dinner at Prairie Fruits Farm…
An unsung hero of the kitchen
You might be underestimating the humble little brick of cream cheese that’s hanging out in your fridge. An often-unsung hero…
The alchemy of the anchovy
Because everything in a restaurant kitchen requires labeling with masking tape and a black marker, a Sharpie is a permanent…
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Music
Robust August music-making
As we gear up for the first full weekend of August, the live music scene is in…
Music moving into August
Just as July flew by, August arrives in a hurry with a heap of heat on hand…
July music flying by
Believe it or not (and I prefer to not) we’ve reached the last full weekend of July…
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ARTS AND CULTURE
Night lacks chemistry, Man is a vile piece of work
Narrative pieces lack chemistry in Night Your ability to compartmentalize will determine whether you like Will Gluck’s odd new rom-com One Night Only. If you…
Persistence pays for local writer
A new jukebox musical, featuring the music of the iconic artist Cher, is on a hopeful trajectory for possible off-Broadway or better yet, Broadway fame.…
Tizzathee
Radio introduction to Jackie’s writing show for kids: My co-teacher and friend said he long thought “Tizzathee” was the name of our country, for he…
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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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