Doris Turner

Newly minted State Sen. Doris Turner (D-Springfield) will continue serving as Springfield alderwoman for the next two weeks as the city council prepares to vote on a city budget later this month.

Over the past three years, Springfield’s Police Community Review Commission has considered a single case. But there are differing thoughts on why the board has such a light caseload and if change is needed.

At Tuesday’s Springfield City Council meeting, several officials praised protesters who took the streets in the capital city for being peaceful. A few amplified the message of speakers at the anti-police brutality protests.

This post has been updated with a new statement from Lisa Badger.

Lisa Badger, a member of the Springfield Park District Board, confirmed she tested positive for COVID-19, the disease caused by the novel coronavirus, in a statement released to NPR Illinois Sunday.

She released a separate statement Monday asking for privacy and that people stop contacting her. She said she has received calls, emails, Facebook messages, including threats to sue her and comments aimed at her daughter.

Three women serve on the Springfield City Council, the most in the city’s history. Next Tuesday, Ward 3 Ald. Doris Turner, Ward 6 Ald. Kristin DiCenso and Ward 8 Ald. Erin Conley are inviting mothers and daughters to the Committee of the Whole meeting.

Conley, the newest woman on the ten-member council, said it’s important for young people to see them working together.

“I’d like especially young girls to see what it means to be leader,” she said. “But also what it means in leadership roles to work as a team. It’s not one person. We work as a team, we pull together.”

The City of Springfield has grown. City council members Tuesday approved bringing into the city 51 acres of unincorporated land that is surrounded by city limits on all sides.  

A conservative think tank recommends the City of Springfield switch its employee pension system to a 401K style plan rather than a defined benefit.

"First and foremost you need to make sure the data is pure." -- Budget Director William McCarty

The Illinois Policy Institute presented aldermen data that indicate the city of Springfield has the worst funded pension system among larger cities in the state.