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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 […]

By Gabe House Dr. Josh Renken is a busy man. In addition to the dental practice he founded in 2003 – aptly named Renken Dentistry – he owns Schön Dental, Renken Properties and Practice Water, which seeks to help dental practices develop without the need for a corporate takeover. As if all this were not […]

By David Blanchette The Abraham Lincoln Presidential Museum “redefines what is possible in a history museum,” said BRC Imagination Arts founder and CEO Bob Rogers, the museum’s designer. “There really is something different going on here. Instead of visitors touching it, it touches them.” Rogers was in Springfield recently as part of the Presidential Museum’s […]

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 […]

By Ginny Lee A couple of years ago, I test drove a Chevy Volt downtown at a special event at the state capital. I was impressed at how smoothly it handled but really hadn’t thought much about electric cars since then. Then I noticed a charging station at Springfield Electric recently and another at the […]

By Colin Patrick Brady A recent major innovation in the business of commercial pharmacy got its start right here in Springfield. HD Smith’s Controlled Substance Ordering System (CSOS) will greatly simplify a pharmacist’s process for ordering schedule II and III drugs (controlled substances). This technology, which is proprietary to HD Smith, will free pharmacists from […]