City Beat

       Last week, Illinois legislators approved a hike in the statewide minimum wage from $8.25 to $15.00 an hour when the full plan takes effect — far more than our neighboring states. Democrat Governor J. B. Pritzker made passing the minimum wage hike one of his campaign promises.      My thanks to Rep. Dan Caulkins, a…

     • ISN’T THAT GREAT? We all waited for so long for the Nelson Park Amphitheater to become a reality. During a news conference on Friday the good news was announced that Nelson Park Amphitheater will open Memorial Day weekend, May 24-26, 2019. (Details in another post on this site.) The Decatur Park District also announced…

       • THE DECATUR City Council has approved the appointment of Wendy Morthland, the City of Decatur’s Corporation Counsel, and head of the legal department, to be the interim city manager until the new city manager, Scot Wrighton, starts work on March 19th. The choice is an obvious one. Usually, the “interim city manager” position…

       • Thanks to all the efforts of my Decatur Tribune staff, and others, under extremely cold conditions with wind chill temperatures lower than most of us have ever seen, the print edition of the Decatur Tribune hit the newsstands and were also mailed out at the Decatur Post Office at the usual time today (Wednesday).  …

     I COULDN’T help but notice in glancing over newly-hired City Manager Scot Wrighton’s contract with the City of Decatur one of the reasons listed for termination of his job —DEATH!     Like a lot of other “contract language” I’m sure there is a legal reason for that being listed as one of the reasons for “termination” —…

       Scot Wrighton was “officially” approved as Decatur’s new city manager during Monday evening’s city council meeting. Wrighton is presently the city manager in Streator, Illinois, a community much smaller than Decatur but with a lot of similarities. I didn’t have an opportunity (because of our press deadline) to talk with Wrighton before last week’s…

       Mayor Julie Moore Wolfe has announced that Scot Wrighton, has been selected as the new city manager for Decatur. (See article elsewhere on this page.)       The new city manager announcement came on the heels of another announcement earlier this week that Decatur Interim City Manager Billy Tyus is leaving to become deputy city…

            I’ve written about local politics and elected boards and commissions for decades, but I don’t think I’ve ever witnessed as many twists and turns on those subjects than what happened in Decatur and Macon County during 2018. Even though we are a couple of days into 2019 some of those twists and turns have…

         IT DOESN’T seem possible that 2018 is coming to an end and a fresh new year is ready to begin — whether or not we are ready for it. It seems like the older I get the faster the years go by. My friend, Brian Byers, believes that’s because the older we get…

         I GET up early each morning and usually pick up something for breakfast on my way to the office so I can eat at my desk while I’m reading the overnight news and get a jump on that day’s work on the Tribune before staff members start to arrive. I’m usually in a…