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Executive director, Downtown Springfield, Inc. By Shannon O’Brien As a senior at the University of Illinois Urbana-Champaign, Lisa Clemmons Stott co-wrote a documentary called “Whatever Happened to Saturday Night,” about the demise of downtowns when malls became more popular.  As the new executive director of Downtown Springfield Inc. (DSI), the documentary seems prescient. “I’m trying […]

Springfield Business Journal and United Community Bank are pleased to sponsor this year’s “Best Places to Work,” recognizing outstanding businesses in central Illinois. The program is open to any business in Sangamon or Morgan county with 35 or more employees. Many of the nominations were submitted by the employees themselves, in other cases someone who […]

Connecting through music By Ann Farrar When you enter Music Therapy Connections, you can’t help but feel the cheery energy and enthusiasm for music. Light yellow walls are dotted with signs that proclaim, “Welcome!” “Music is my life,” and “Keep calm and strum on.” Mothers carrying babies and chasing toddlers swarmed into an early childhood […]

Springfield Business Journal presents LEGACY AWARDS 2015 To benefit the Historic Preservation Fund, Community Foundation for the Land of Lincoln The Legacy Awards is the most recent annual award program from the Springfield Business Journal. Awards are presented to businesses for longevity and community service along with a lifetime achievement award for Preservation Advocate of […]

Southtown Construction Training Program lays a foundation for further success By Gabe House Calvin Pitts clearly remembers losing his nephew nearly 20 years ago. The young man, nicknamed Bone, was killed in 1997 during a drug deal when he was just 22 years old. Pitts said it was a dark time for him personally, but […]

High-speed rail development continues in Springfield By Gabe House The Illinois Department of Transportation (IDOT) held a series of informal meetings from late April through late May throughout the state. This “listening tour” was all about infrastructure: its current state, the ever-present need to improve it and what the future may hold. Springfield, in the […]

The Corporate Review 2015 On Monday, May 11, the Springfield Business Journal invited a small group to a business luncheon for the purpose of discussing the state of the tourism industry in Springfield. It was held at the Inn at 835 from noon until 2 p.m. The panelists included Justin Blandford, superintendent of state historic […]

Illinois’ inmates make everything from grills to boxer shorts in a program designed to train offenders for post-release work By Zach Baliva If you received glasses in Illinois through Medicaid, a prison inmate fabricated your eyewear at the Dixon Correctional Facility. And that’s not all. More than 900 offenders, managed by 120 state employees in […]

Edwards Place gets ready to welcome visitors By Ann Strahle As visitors open the front door to Edwards Place in Springfield, they immediately find themselves transported to a mid-19th century home. Erika Holst, the curator of collections, takes visitors on tours and keeps up an informative patter. “We are standing now on the back porch […]

Paul Palazzolo and Jim Langfelder get down to business By Scott Faingold On April 7, Springfield voters will have a choice between Democratic city treasurer Jim Langfelder and Republican Sangamon County auditor Paul Palazzolo in a mayoral race which found the two leaving longtime Mayor Mike Houston in the dust of the primary. We sat […]