Same-day and next-day deliveries of pet food, diapers, makeup, hair gel, breakfast cereals and other common household items will be available in the Springfield area by late-October or early November with the recent opening of Amazon’s new distribution hub, a company official says. The 71,000-square-foot warehouse, so far employing 75 part-time, entry-level workers and about […]
Dean Olsen
Dean Olsen is a senior staff writer for Illinois Times. He can be reached at:
dolsen@illinoistimes.com, 217-679-7810 or @DeanOlsenIT.
Posted inNews
City Council expresses surprise at TIF agreement
Springfield City Council members who said in September they were unaware of a previous mayor’s promise to send $100,000 a year to School District 186 from funds collected for two of the city’s tax-increment financing districts have no reason to plead ignorance, former mayor Jim Langfelder told Illinois Times. Langfelder, who lost his bid for […]
Posted inMedical News
Losing health care coverage
Dr. Janet Albers is sad that thousands of Springfield-area patients could lose Medicaid coverage and delay care because of Republican President Donald Trump’s “One Big, Beautiful Bill.” Albers, a family physician, told Illinois Times that she saw many previously uninsured patients get screened for cancer and chronic health conditions, then obtain lifesaving treatment, after the […]
Posted inMedical News
Dr. Jerry Kruse announces retirement from SIU School of Medicine
Dr. Jerry Kruse, dean and provost of Springfield-based Southern Illinois University School of Medicine for the past nine years, plans to retire in summer 2026. Kruse, 72, a family physician and member of the medical school’s faculty for more than 40 years, announced his retirement to the SIU Board of Trustees at its meeting Sept. […]
Posted inComings & Goings
Springfield Clinic seeks new west-side location
Springfield Clinic wants to use the former site of Ashley Furniture Outlet and Barney’s Furniture on Springfield’s west side for storage and eventually for retail sales of medical equipment and devices. The multispecialty physician group’s request for zoning to allow for those plans at 1987 Wabash Ave. will be considered Sept. 17 by the Springfield […]
Posted inNews
Insurance company alleges Wyndham owner caused damage
The owner of the Wyndham Springfield City Centre conspired to cause the extensive water damage that rendered the 369-room hotel inoperable on March 27, an insurance company alleged in documents filed Aug. 25 in federal court. Tower Capital Group general manager Al Rajabi attempted to fool Affiliated FM Insurance Co. to get the company to […]
Posted inArticles
Community health workers help address disparities
An apartment fire put Willie Taylor out of his home two years ago on Springfield’s east side and threw his life into chaos. A survivor of two strokes who deals with high blood pressure and other health problems, Taylor, 71, is on more stable footing these days. He attributes the improvement to Derek Rimelspach, a […]
Posted inArticles
City Council approves third round of cannabis grants
Former Ward 2 Ald. Frank McNeil, lead plaintiff in a federal court case that resulted in Springfield switching to the aldermanic form of government in 1987 and electing its first Black members of the City Council, wants to restore the city’s first Black-owned doctor’s office. “I look at this as a community enrichment project,” McNeil, […]
Posted inArticles
Innovate Springfield moving to Horace Mann building
University of Illinois Springfield has pivoted from plans to open its new “Innovation Center” in a three-story building downtown and now will rent space for the center three blocks east, on half of the third floor inside Horace Mann Educators Corp.’s headquarters. A rental contract, finalized between UIS and Horace Mann in recent days, will […]
Posted inArticles
Jerome plans to create TIF district
An average of 25,000 to 27,000 cars drive on Wabash Avenue through Jerome each day, making that stretch of road one of the busiest in the Springfield area. The commercial and retail corridor appears bustling. But side roads and underground utility lines that are undersized and deteriorating, as well an almost total lack of sidewalks […]
Posted inArticles
A plan to save downtown
Four development groups have told Sangamon County officials they may be interested in building a 200- to 300-bed hotel on a county-owned parking lot along South Ninth Street and collaborating with the county to double the size of the BOS Center. County officials declined to reveal names of the groups that expressed interest through responses […]
Posted inColumns
Future of Wyndham is uncertain
It may be many months before the Wyndham Springfield City Centre Hotel can reopen. The 370-room, 30-story hotel at 700 E. Adams St. in downtown Springfield was damaged by internal flooding on March 27 and has been closed since then. An initial estimate from the Wyndham’s owner that the hotel would be closed for up […]