Page 3 - Julia Frevert News Today

The Springfield Office of Corporation Counsel responded to an ACLU inquiry, saying that a pair of solicitation ordinances follow court rulings.

Victims remembered year after Springfield mass shooting STEVEN SPEARIE, State Journal-Register FacebookTwitterEmail Pastor Dave Johnson of the South Fork Church of Christ in Rochester, Ill., and also the Chaplain of the Springfield Police Dept., served in support of the families at the reunification center at Magros Meats & Produce following the shooting last year at the Bunn-O-Matic facility on Stevenson Drive in Springfield, Ill., poses on June 24, 2021. (Justin L. Fowler/The State Journal-R...

Plans take shape for new business hub in South Town

Kirby teaches Organizational Development and Organizational Behavior at Millikin. The discussions will be used to gather feedback on projects for each ward along with the city overall. Julia Frevert, a spokeswoman for the city, said Mayor Jim Langfelder planned to attend all of the ward meetings with the directors of the city departments, including Police Chief Kenny Winslow and Fire Chief Brandon Blough. Residents are invited to attend any of the forums, Frevert said. The meeting for Wards 9 ...

Gov. JB Pritzker plans to relax his statewide mask mandate after federal health officials said Thursday mask-wearing is not necessary in most places for people who have been fully vaccinated against COVID-19. That announcement on Friday from the Illinois Department of Public Health didn’t say when or how the governor’s executive orders would be changed after new guidance issued Thursday by the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Springfield officials said they would stop enforc...

A newly proposed date for the Springfield St. Patricks Day parade is on the books, a spokeswoman for the city said. Mayernick said a parade committee meeting is "pending." A post from the parade committees Jan. 12 noted the March 13 parade was being postponed "due to the continued unprecedented circumstances caused by COVID-19." City spokeswoman Julia Frevert confirmed the Oct. 16 date from the Office of Public Works. The 2020 parade was postponed after a nudge from Gov. JB Pritzker, who calle...

George Reisch admitted that his dads birthday is always an emotional time for him. Reischs father was Edward L. Reisch, the last brewmaster of Springfield Reisch Brewing Co., who died in July 2019. George Reisch, who now lives in Wildwood, Missouri, was to be in Springfield Tuesday night to accept a Springfield City Council proclamation declaring March 1 "Edward L. Reisch Day."  The day marks what would have been his 102nd birthday. "To have this proclamation means a lot to the family," said...

The county reported 112 new cases of COVID-19 on Thursday, the highest since Dec. 17. As of Monday, the seven-day-rolling positivity rate was 7%.

The city of Springfield is again accused of discriminating against LGBTQ employees. Former city library employee Kate Holt, a transgender woman, claims the city violated state law by refusing to cover her medical expenses related to gender transition. Transgender people have a variety of ways to go about transitioning. Some, like Holt, regularly take hormonal treatments via shots or pills. Holt started a job at the city library in February 2020. "My prescriptions were excluded from insuranc...

Brandon Blough confirmed as Springfield fire chief Brandon Blough is officially Springfield’s new fire chief.  The Springfield City Council unanimously approved Blough’s appointment Tuesday evening, elevating the deputy division chief of operations to the top job vacated by Chief Allen Reyne two weeks ago. Blough has served as acting chief since Nov. 30.  Springfield Mayor Jim Langfelder chose Blough after interviewing three candidates from within the department for the position. A fairly...