Commentary

By Steve Rensberry, Editor This past week the Times-Tribune posted a poll on its website,  asking the question: “Do you favor bringing a Splash Pad Park to Troy? With more or less simultaneous proposals before both the Troy City Council and the Tri-Township Park Board, plus being a general topic of conversation around town, we…

By Steve Rensberry, Editor According to FBI crime reports, upwards of 5,000 bank robberies occur in the U.S. on an average year. Fortunately, estimates on the capture rate are also relatively high, with some saying it is close to 98 percent. In 2018 there were 3,033 incidents of robbery involving a bank or similar institution.…

The Times-Tribune, as some of you may have noticed, has begun enlarging its coverage area these past few months. The addition of full-time staff reporter Emily Klein this week represents another step in that direction, with the city of Collinsville being part of her beat, and Madison County in general being the other part. We…

Tourism is a funny thing in some communities, with some embracing it, some just “going with the flow,” and some downright shunning it. Varying degrees exist in about every town, I suppose. This is not to slight in any way the communities in our neck of the woods, which all-in-all I think have a pretty…

A house fire this week on Avalon Street in Troy sadly took the lives of two people, Thomas and Deborah Major. A runaway fire is the thing we all fear, but when casualties result the tragedy is exponentially worse. It has just not been a good year so far when it comes to Metro East…

By Steve Rensberry, Editor If you’re either a habitual or periodic user of a cell phone while driving, this would be a good month to make yourself kick the habit.  As most of us know in this fair state, it is not only a dangerous habit but an illegal one — as easy and as…

By Steve Rensberry, Editor Elections are as American as apple pie, but the percentage of people who partake in each respectively is, well, heavily skewed toward apple pie. It doesn’t help when people who volunteer to watch the polls get called names like “fascist,” which happened to a close friend of mine last year at…

By Steve Rensberry, Editor Spring is in the air! According to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources, there’s also something else that’s about to make an entrance — Wildlife Breeding Season. I seriously had no idea that human interference in animal mating behavior this time of year was a problem, but apparently it can be.…

Area residents learned this past week just how dangerous the job of being a firefighter can be, after the unfortunate death of Captain Jacob “Jake” Ringering of the Godfrey Fire Department. Firefighters from this area and around the county paid their respects this week at his funeral. Ringering died as the  result of injuries suffered…

Congratulations are in order for Triad Assistant Superintendent Jason Henderson who was selected this past week to become superintendent of the school district in Edwardsville. For anyone who has known or worked with Mr. Henderson, I think you will agree their gain is our loss. Since I began covering Triad district in 2010, there has…