Author: joeward7

Bruce Rushton
The Illinois Times

Not long after an epic drought, good news arrived.

“After what Springfield went through in 1954, it is heartening to know that the city’s water supply will be wholly adequate for the next 20 years,” the Illinois State Journal proclaimed in a 1958 editorial that trumpeted the results of a just-published water study.

The forecast by the engineering firm of Crawford, Murphy and Tilly was based on worst-case scenarios

Mary Hansen
The State Journal-Register

Construction workers who are Springfield residents could have more opportunities to work on repairing the city’s roads and sidewalks because of a new local labor ordinance. The Springfield City Council on Tuesday approved requirements for local labor on city construction. For public works projects that cost the city more than $100,000, contractors must make an effort to have city residents complete 50 percent of the hours.

Mayor Jim Langfelder introduced changes to the proposal from when it was originally

Mary Hansen
The State Journal-Register

By a 9-1 vote Tuesday night, the Springfield City Council annexed more than 230 parcels of city-owned land surrounding Lake Springfield. Mayor Jim Langfelder, who proposed the annexation, and a majority of the aldermen contend that the land is city-owned and therefore should be a part of the city.

“The intent and the driving factor is that the city owns the property,” said Langfelder,

Mary Hansen
The State Journal-Register

In discussing Mayor Jim Langfelder’s proposal to annex more than 250 city-owned properties on Lake Springfield Tuesday night, Ward 7 Ald. Joe McMenamin said the city is in a tough position between displeasing the townships involved, Woodside, Ball and Rochester, or the affected homeowners.

The annexed properties would automatically transfer to Capital Township, which means the other townships would lose out on that tax money. Langfelder has proposed an agreement between

Mary Hansen
The State Journal-Register

Though Springfield has improved its finances over the last six years, budget director Bill McCarty has concerns about the first quarter of fiscal 2017 that he reported to the city council at Wednesday’s meeting. The city took in $330,000 less than expected from March through May of this year, McCarty said.

The city got less than it was expecting for its share of income tax and property tax replacement funds from the Illinois Department of Revenue. Plus, the state previously overpaid on

Mary Hansen
The State Journal-Register

In a strange twist, construction on Interstate 55 could cause a slight bump in utility costs for City Water, Light and Power customers next month.

Doug Brown, chief engineer for the utility, told the Springfield City Council Tuesday night that CWLP needs an estimated $400,000 to cover higher-than-normal transportation costs for coal from the Viper Mine near Elkhart. Brown estimated that customers would see a one-time, 50-cent increase to the fuel adjustment cost on their bills for

Tim Landis
The State Journal-Register

There are at least a dozen ways to gamble on video terminals along Wabash Avenue, from a service station-convenience store to a soon-to-open Asian food market.

An informal survey by The State Journal-Register and Illinois Gaming Board records show the busy thoroughfare between MacArthur Boulevard and Interstate 72 has become one of the hottest corridors for video gaming in a market that continues to lead the state in

The State Journal-Register

Recent actions by the Springfield City Council on the issue of trash hauling and recycling represent a necessary step toward the realities of keeping our community clean — and reducing the amount of trash hauled off to landfills. As this editorial board has noted before, no one likes fee increases. But when the four waste haulers’ fee caps hadn’t been adjusted since 2003, it was fair to say that they hadn’t kept up with

Mary Hansen
The State Journal-Register

The Springfield City Council on Tuesday advanced a proposal that would prohibit the flight of unmanned aircraft over city-owned property, including the City Water, Light and Power plant, and active police and fire investigation sites.

“(The ordinance covers) areas where if a drone were to have a mechanical malfunction and crash, it could cause damage to city property or cause a public safety issue,”

Mary Hansen
The State Journal-Register

Springfield residents will be able to bring tin and aluminum cans, cardboard boxes and other items to new recycling drop-off sites starting Sept. 1.

Aldermen considered for months whether to raise the city-imposed cap on garbage-collection rates and what to ask from the haulers in return before reaching a compromise last Tuesday. They increased the cap by about 30 percent and required all four of the haulers that serve Springfield to provide