Posts Tagged ‘springfield’
Saturday, August 9th, 2008
Anyone catch the report in the Springfield Journal-Register about how Paul McCartney was spotted in Springfield at a Circle K gas station, driving a 1989 Ford Bronco.
Hell, he posed for photographs. But I thought it was a lookalike, and the newspaper the victim of a pretty good prank.
Apparently not:
Former Beatle Paul McCartney and girlfriend Nancy Shevell made Oklahoma City one of their stops on a cross-country tour along famous old U.S. Route 66. They’re driving a 1989 Ford Bronco.
They spent the night Tuesday at the downtown Skirvin Hilton Hotel and dined at Nonna’s Euro-American Ristorante and Bar in the Bricktown entertainment district, restaurant employees told the Oklahoman for a story on the paper’s Web site.
And:
McCartney and Shevell began their journey from his holiday home in the Hamptons, N.Y., on July 31, picking up the old Route 66 in Illinois on a vacation trip that will take them to Santa Monica, Calif.
I knew it was him all along.
I mean, how cool is this! The world’s greatest living rock star is traveling across the United States in a 20-year-old car, buying Big Gulps at the Circle K and eating at local joints he and his girlfriend find along the way. You just know there’s gonna be a song or two out of this.
Damn! Paul McCartney! At the Circle K!
The biggest celebrity I ever met was the guy who plays Roman Brady on “Days of our Lives.” Yeah, I can’t think of his name either, even though he was also on “The Hogan Family.”
Tags: Paul McCartney, springfield
Posted in Local | 7 Comments »
Sunday, May 11th, 2008
 While I have yet to see an announcement on the Journal Star’s Website (perhaps I missed it), the Springfield’s GateHouse Media newspaper is keeping its readers informedof the coming changes, with a nice long story detailng what is coming:
The State Journal-Register’s Web site will look different when you log on Tuesday night. Sj-r.com will change from using a homegrown computer program for managing stories to one used by newspapers nationwide. Called Zope, the program will result in a cleaner, more up-to-date look for the Web site and allow reporters and editors to post from anywhere they have Internet access.
And:
- The site will be able to handle large numbers of visits at one time. In the past, big breaking news has led to traffic bottlenecks that slowed visitors’ access to the site.
- The site will better present the many video and photo galleries the site offers daily.
- The new system will allow easier story updating and will better present some of the features we have.
Thanks for the transparency, Springfielders. No doubt the new sites in Springfield and Peoria will resemble what’s used in Galesburg.
I still recommend that newspapers start planning for the permanent transition from dead tree journalism to online-only, and stop using their free Web sites simply to scare away online-only start-ups.
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Tags: galesburg, GateHouse, springfield, zope
Posted in Watchdog | 1 Comment »
Thursday, December 6th, 2007
State Journal-Register political columnist Bernie Schoenburg puts Aaron Schock’s campaign ad claim of “passing” 18 pieces of legislation during his two terms in the Illinois House of Representatives. Schoenburg points out that Schock’s definition of “passing” is somewhat generous. But the article as a whole is kind to Schock’s ’cause. I’m thinking the average reader will nod his or her head in agreement with Schock’s positions on these bills. None of them are particularly controversial. Despite this generally favorable coverage, Schock’s supporters nevertheless jumped to his defense in the comments section, accusing Schoenburg of turning his column into the “Aaron Schock Smear Page.”
Tags: 18th District, Aaron Schock, Bernie Schoenburg, springfield
Posted in Statehouse & Capitol | 6 Comments »
Saturday, December 1st, 2007
A regular commenter noticed the following:
This is the last graf of the SJ-R story on their new publisher. I wonder if Jack Brimeyer got the same deal. It makes the three Springfield departures seem less ominous, too:
A revised version of the paragraph:
Scott Champion, co-president and chief operating officer for GateHouse Media Inc., revealed during the newsroom meeting that Schmitt, Locher and Pope, along with several other SJ-R executives, are taking advantage of separation packages they were offered by Copley Newspapers Inc., the former owner of The State Journal-Register, as part of the newspaper’s sale to GateHouse last spring. The employees were barred from discussing the packages by a confidentiality agreement with Copley. Those packages would have expired at the end of the year, he said.
I’m sorry, but I have a hard time believing the resignations were JUST about getting a juicy separation package. The publisher was a new hire. I’ve got to think at least part of the reason was to get off a sinking ship before it’s too late.
Tags: GateHouse Media, springfield, State Journal-Register
Posted in Watchdog | 4 Comments »
Saturday, December 1st, 2007
Via a press release:
Springfield, IL- Jim McConoughey, candidate for the Republican nomination to succeed Congressman Ray LaHood in the 18th Congressional District, announced today that, if elected, he will keep open the District Offices LaHood currently utilizes to deliver constituent services to the public.
“We have an amazing tradition of service in the 18th, dating back to Everett Dirksen, Bob Michel and currently with Congressman LaHood,” McConoughey said. “That tradition includes the constituent services Ray provides through his district offices in Springfield, Jacksonville and Peoria. The old saying, “…if it ain’t broke, don’t fix it…” seems fitting here, and I cannot think of a better way to honor Ray’s service to the 18th District than to do my best to carry on that tradition of excellent constituent services to the people across our part of Central Illinois.”
In addition to LaHood’ Capitol Hill Office, he currently has offices located on Montvale Drive in Springfield, in downtown Jacksonville and at the Federal Building in Peoria.
“Access to their congressman is one of the most important issues to residents of the 18th District,” McConoughey continued. “As I’ve traveled all twenty counties in the 18th, what many people tell me is that they want their next congressman to be as accessible and helpful as Ray has been over the years. By committing to carrying on that great tradition of constituent service, I’m speaking directly to them today. In addition to my full-time offices, I will establish a program offering regular Mobile Office Hours in other communities throughout the District.”
Some other tools McConoughey will use to best serve the public include an accessible, informative Congressional web program, Telephone Town Hall meetings with constituents and a staff person dedicated to fill the role of Economic Development Coordinator.
“As a businessman and economic development advocate with 26 years of experience, I know the importance of creating and sustaining jobs in all our communities – including small towns and rural areas,” McConoughey added. “For that reason, I intend to have an Economic Development Coordinator on my staff dedicated to nothing but working with individual communities to foster economic development and assist in anyway I can as a Congressman.”
“I also see the growing role of cyberspace in delivering constituent services,” McConoughey said. “I’m one of only two candidates in this race with an active, working website, and, I will take full advantage of today’s technology to most efficiently serve the residents of the 18th . “
McConoughey concluded by saying that highlighting exactly how you’re going to serve the public is important.
“I am committing to the people that, if they send me to Congress, they will continue to get the high quality of constituent service they have come to expect,” said McConoughey. “Voters in the 18th can be certain that if they elect me, the access they are accustomed to in Peoria, Springfield and Jacksonville will remain, I will assign staff to focus on economic development in their community, and I will offer the most up-to-date technology possible to deliver constituent services. To this point, I am the only candidate that has made this commitment to the people of the 18th District.”
Jim McConoughey is a Peoria Republican seeking the nomination on February 5th of 2008. The nominee will face a Democrat in November to determine who succeeds Congressman Ray LaHood. McConoughey was born and raised on a farm and has spent a 26-year career in business, economic development and public service. He is currently President of the Peoria-based Heartland Partnership. He and his wife, Gina, have two children, Elizabeth and Spencer, and reside in Dunlap.
Tags: 18th District, Jacksonville, Jim McConoughey, springfield
Posted in Overset | 6 Comments »
Tuesday, November 20th, 2007
The State Journal Register is losing its top three bosses:
Publisher Sue Schmitt, editor Barry Locher and managing editor Robert Pope each cited personal and professional reasons in notices to the newspaper staff today. Each also said the decisions were voluntary and were reached independently.
“We know our positions on the newspaper’s masthead give us more visibility in the community than many employees, but we hope that not too much emphasis is placed on the choice to leave,†Schmitt said. “We did not make this call because of an insider’s view of something catastrophic just over the horizon.â€
*snip*
The announcement comes about a month after the newspaper offered a voluntary severance program to nearly 150 employees. The newspaper has not set a target for how many employees managers hope participate, and no specific employees have been targeted.
The top three bosses leave at the each same time. This happens a month after the try to get 150 employees to quit voluntarily. And they ask readers to not come to the conclusion that “something catastrophic” is going to happen. Hey, guys! The daily newspaper just lost its top three bosses. THAT is the catastrophe. Of course, that’s not equal to the catastrophe facing the SJ-R, the Peoria Journal Star and other GateHouse media newspapers if GateHouse continues to hemorrhage cash while trying to keep the stockholders happy with dividends that seem to be out of proportion to earnings.
Hat tip to Marie and C.J.
UPDATE: The headline on the Editor & Publisher site: Shocker at Springfield Paper: Publisher, Editor, M.E. All Quit. If the industry mouthpiece thinks it’s out of of the ordinary …
And note that it came right before the Thanksgiving holiday.
Tags: GateHouse, Journal-Register, Newspapers, springfield
Posted in Local, Watchdog | 10 Comments »
Sunday, November 18th, 2007
Journal Star readers hungry for coverage of the issues in the 18th District might want to start reading the State Journal Register. Political columnist Bernard Schoenberg tried to get Aaron Schock to name even one of the ‘knowledgeable people” who advised Schock that it was a good idea to advocate selling nuclear weapons to Taiwan. Schoenburg, I gather, strongly suspects that Schock’s only adviser on the matter was his campaign manager, Steve Shearer, who recently worked for 11th District Congressman Jerry Weller. You might recall that Weller was noted for marrying the daughter of genocidal Guatemalan dictator, who also is the leader of a vicious right-wing political party in her own right.
This is Schoenberg’s third column on the Schock/Taiwan story. Springfield isn’t even in the 18th District, although parts of the paper’s circulation are.
Here in Peoria — the largest city in the 18th District and the city in which Schock lives — the Journal Star’s coverage of the issue is meager. The PJS’s lead reporter in the 18th District race is Karen McDonald. To date, her byline has appeared above one single article dealing with the controversy, the one in which Schock admitted to a mistake. McDonald attended the announcement in which he detailed Schock’s Taiwan proposal, but her article didn’t even mention it. She did no reporting on the uproar that followed Schoenberg’s column about it and has done no follow up reporting on what has been the single biggest story coming out of the 18th District race so far. She attended a candidate’s forum at which Schock and his two primary foes appeared, and her only mention of the controversy is that no one brought it up.
Tags: 18th District, Aaron Schock, Bernie Schoenburg, Journal Star, Karen McDonald, springfield
Posted in Statehouse & Capitol, Watchdog | 17 Comments »
Friday, November 16th, 2007
 Kudos to Marie Carnes for linking to a group of media-central articles in the the Illinois Times, Springfield’s intelligent alternative weekly newspaper. I enjoyed the piece on the State Journal Register under GateHouse Media and on how low salaries affect area television stations. For years, I’ve hated the fact that Springfield has a decent alternative weekly (especially one that serves as a watchdog on the media as well as government) while Peoria does not. Don’t even get me started about the late and unlamented River City Times. Now that newspapers in general are dying, that’s a mistake that may never be corrected.
With DeWayne Bartels writing for the Peoria Times-Observer, the weekly is capable is some good journalism. But it’s no alternative weekly. The Community Word is the closest we have, but it’s monthly.
Tags: illinois times, Newspapers, River City Times, springfield
Posted in Overset | Comments Off
Monday, November 12th, 2007
I am stunned to read this report in the Springfield Journal-Register:
“Tough.†That was Springfield Mayor Tim Davlin’s response Sunday when pressed about why it took officials two hours Saturday to release information to the public about the power plant explosions and possible dangers to the community.
Tough? “It’s the best we could do. Tough,†Davlin reiterated.
Davlin and other officials had little information themselves early in the incident, they said, and their top priorities were quelling the power plant fire and making sure City Water, Light and Power workers and firefighters were safe.
” … their top priorities were quelling the power plant fire … “
Turns out that the mayor was on a plane to London when the blast happened. It’s one thing to explain that there just wasn’t any information to officer the night the explosion happened, it’s quite another to just dismiss with semi-macho rhetoric. “Tough.” I predict that voters might have a similar response when Davlin asks voters when they turn him out of office in the next election.
We are talking about a city where residents thought a cloud of toxic gas was wafting through the city. How close did the city come to panic? No one died in this explosion, but what would have happened if people decided that they needed to get themselves and their families out of the city, no matter what.
And the stupid thing is that there was a similar lack of communication back when they held a mock disaster drill in 2005. In the post 9/11 world, there is no excuse for cities to NOT have working emergency plans, part of which is to keep the public informed about how to protect themselves, and to give them the information they need to NOT come to conclusions and panic.
Tags: CWLP, springfield, Tim Davlin
Posted in Overset | 1 Comment »
Sunday, November 11th, 2007
There was a huge explosion in Springfield yesterday, and long-time blog-buddy Marie Carnes liveblogged it. It’s a miss of personal observations, posting data as it comes in from broadcast media. At least one commenter from San Diego was using her blog to keep track of updated information.
Tags: CWLP explosion, disarranging mine, liveblogging, marie carnes, springfield
Posted in Overset | 2 Comments »
Wednesday, November 7th, 2007
Are we to assume that because the list of people who filed petitions to run for for local office is strikingly similar to earlier election years ballots that people are happy with their government and aren’t outraged enough to run? Many of the Statehouse candidates — including Peoria’s Rep. David Leitch (R-73rd District) will be unopposed.
I think it’s another reason.
I was chatting with a Peoria office holder the other day who said he now understands why so many people turn down opportunities to run for office. It isn’t just the strain it puts on families. It’s the harsh treatment that the politicians and their families get in the press, from the public and from opponents.
I don’t think that politics is necessarily any meaner or dirtier (read some of the things newspapers said about the Founding Fathers, if you get some time). I think it’s compounded by the electronic 24-hour news cycle that doesn’t exactly encourage the media to compete with dueling coverage of economic policies.
Internet-based news and citizen-journalists can be part of the problem, especially if they practice the politics of destruction. But ideally, sites can also serve to bring the process back to the real world by focusing on real issues. I tried to do that in the council races by sending questionnaires to the candidates. I’m going to have to do the same with the 18th District Congressional candidates and the 92nd District Statehouse races.
So I’m asking my readers: What do YOU want me to ask these men and women?
UPDATE: I’m pumping this to the top because I’ve only received one response.
Tags: 92nd District, Aaron Schock, Allen Mayers, Jehan Gordon, springfield
Posted in Statehouse & Capitol | 3 Comments »
Monday, November 5th, 2007
I chatted briefly with Jehan Gordan a few minutes ago. She’s the Illinois Central College administrator who (along with Allen Mayer) ’s running for the Democratic nomination for the state legislature seat now held by Aaron Schock.
She made the mistake of calling at the exact same moment I was having some database issues following a site upgrade. So I was a little distracted (sorry, Jehan).
I did manage to ask her a few hopefully lucid questions. One of which was how much the Springfield Soap Opera mattered to the voters she was meeting as she runs for office.
She said most people she talks to don’t seem to know or care much about it. They are much more concerned about their children’s education, health care and their work.
I suggested that because the news media tends to report politics as a clash or personalities, and not a debate over policies, many voters aren’t fully aware of the underlying issues behind the gridlock. She agreed. And there’s not a ton of state political news in Peoria media to begin with.
She’s going to be sending me information about upcoming events, which I will post as they become available. That offer is open to everyone, by the way.
NOTE: The indispensable Rich Miller addresses some of the policy issues behind the behind the scenes battles here.
Tags: 92nd District, Aaron Schock, Allen Mayers, Jehan Gordon, springfield
Posted in Overset | Comments Off
Tuesday, October 23rd, 2007
A “news advisory” from the Jim McConoughey for Congress campaign:
Jim McConoughey, a candidate for the Republican nomination in the 18th Congressional District, will be holding a series of News Conferences on Wednesday (October 24, 2007). McConoughey will be discussing his Rural Initiatives on which he will focus if he is elected to fill the seat that Congressman Ray LaHood is vacating. McConoughey’s visit on Rural Initiatives is called the ‘Good Harvest Tour.’ The scheduled of visits is as follows:
8:45 a.m. Sangamon County Republican Party Headquarters
1132 East Sangamon
Springfield, IL 62702
11:00 a.m. Bunte Truck Service
523 Highway 96 South (1 mile outside Payson)
Payson, IL 62360
(217) 656 3835
*News Conference in Bunte parking lot
3:00 p.m. Pekin Riverfront Park
At the foot of Court Street and the Illinois River (near intersection of Front and Court)
Pekin, Illinois
I won’t be able to attend any of them, unfortunately, thanks to my “real” job. It would be nice to write about issues, rather than the horse race, for a change. Perhaps there will be a press release coming out that I could print and comment upon.
Tags: 18th District, Congress, Jim McConoughey, Ray LaHood, springfield
Posted in Statehouse & Capitol | Comments Off
Tuesday, October 16th, 2007
Wow. Just this morning, I left a comment at Rich Miller’s site about how I was worried that by not replacing workers who leave, GateHouse Media was making it harder to practice newspaper journalism at the Peoria Journal Star.
Now comes this news at one of the Journal Star’s sister papers:
SPRINGFIELD, Ill. (AP) – Springfield’s daily newspaper is offering a voluntary severance program to nearly half its staff. The State Journal-Register cites the need for flexibility as it adjusts to rapid changes in the newspaper industry.
The company says it sent letters at the end of last week to 149 full-time employees who are not in the union and have been with the newspaper for at least a year. It’s also negotiating with its collective bargaining units to be able to make the same offer to 47 union employees.
Publisher Sue Schmitt says the program gives the paper flexibility to meet its 2008 budget.
By “47 union employees,” I’m guess that means mostly reporters who are members of The Newspaper Guild, the pressmen, mailers, composition room, drivers or perhaps advertising staff.
They wouldn’t be offering early retirement to people they plan to replace. So this means more beats won’t be covered (or will be covered poorly as workloads increase). It probably means earlier deadlines because fewer people will need more time to get their jobs done.
Tags: GateHouse Media, Journal Star, journalism, Rich Miller, springfield
Posted in Watchdog | 20 Comments »
Thursday, August 3rd, 2006
So says this excellent blogger from Springfield (check out the sidebar).
Springfield,Jewish Republicans
Tags: Jewish Republicans, springfield
Posted in Citizen Journalism | 1 Comment »
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Billy Dennis is a former reporter and editor at small daily and weekly newspapers in Illinois and Missouri. He comments on media, news and politics. He also owns and operates