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Jim Moll may not be the smartest man in Springfield, but the Hanson Professional Services engineer sounded like it during a public meeting held last week to discuss progress on a rail line under construction along 10th Street. The new line will replace tracks along Third Street. Moll s been in charge of the $353 million project for more than a decade, and he says it s on time and on budget. The feds gave the green light in 2012 and have paid millions of dollars since then to make it happen – there remains a $60 million gap, Moll says, but he s confident that the money will come. He seems to know every detail, from construction costs to whether charging stations for electric vehicles will be included in a planned transportation center adjacent to the Sangamon County courthouse on Ninth Street. ....
Mark Autism Awareness Day by asking how you can help April 2 is World Autism Awareness Day. While awareness is great, there continue to be misconceptions about what autism is and how people with autism function in our society. Springfield has a wide range of support services for children with autism, but this support is quite lacking for adults. There is no pathway to diagnosis for adults, and no support services. There is only one support group – The Adult Autism Group. While many hear the message by Autism Speaks to light it up blue and to wear a puzzle piece to raise awareness, the vast majority of the autism community considers this offensive. Blue was originally chosen because autism was previously seen as something that affected primarily boys. However, especially in the last decade, research has shown that autism can be expressed in a multitude of ways, and there are often gender differences in expression due to the pressures of socialization. G ....
The Illinois Senate has added to the call for the U.S. Department of Education (DOE) to waive spring assessments, such as the Scholastic Assessment Test (SAT), for students, as it did in 2020. State Sen. Cristina Pacione-Zayas, D-Chicago, spearheaded a resolution, approved March 17, calling for testing waivers. She said many students have been learning remotely or in a hybrid system for the past year, and expecting them to return to school for in-person testing is unrealistic. We all know this is not a typical year, Pacione-Zayas said in a statement. Let s have some compassion for our students and teachers and allow them to use their limited time in the classroom to learn and recover from the trauma of the pandemic, rather than to take stressful tests. ....
Since 2006, federal law has capped annual interest rates on payday loans to active-duty military members at 36%. The interest rate cap was broadened in 2015 to include several more types of personal, unsecured loans. In Illinois, meanwhile, payday loan borrowers have been subjected to average annual interest rates of close to 300% Illinois lawmakers tried to tackle this issue in 2005, and passed a rate cap that was widely heralded. But the industry took advantage of a gaping loophole and then kept right on with their business. That legislation was painstakingly negotiated over many months. Under the old regime of House Speaker Michael Madigan, most every interest was given a seat at the table and then they were told to hammer out their best deals. Madigan often said he was a big fan of President Franklin Delano Roosevelt s use of that same method to pass much of his own legislation. ....
The streamers on the Governor s Mansion lawn, blowing in the night, are a somber memorial to the COVID dead who have flown away. In the spring sunshine those same fluttering streamers signal new life, fresh energy, reimagining, liberation and resurrection. In the season of Passover and Easter, we grieve the past and celebrate possibilities. –Fletcher Farrar, editor and CEO Illinois Times has provided readers with independent journalism for more than 40 years, from news and politics to arts and culture. Now more than ever, we’re asking for your support to continue providing our community with real news that everyone can access, free of charge. ....