Coleman Hawkins has repeatedly expressed he has no bad feelings toward the Illinois basketball program or fans.

Even though he transferred to Kansas State this offseason, Hawkins will always hold a special place in his heart for the Illini. He spoke of it during a recent appearance on the Sleepers podcast.

“I like the fact that I stayed at Illinois for four years,” Hawkins said. “People can hate and be like there’s no loyalty. But like, bro, I graduated from the school. I graduated from Illinois. I’m still going to be ride-or-die Illinois.” 

Hawkins entertained the idea of entering the NBA draft after completing his senior season at Illinois. After withdrawing, he became one of the most highly-coveted players in the transfer portal. He was eligible for an extra year because of the NCAA’s Covid-19 waiver.

While returning for to play another year with the Illini was never an option, he said it was just time to move on. Regardless, Hawkins was one of the most loved players in program history. Last year he helped the Illini reach the Elite Eight.

“At the end of the day, it was a business decision,” Hawkins said. “If I was a college coach, I bet you no one would be [criticizing him]. College coaches do it all the time. It just came to a point where I kind of outgrew it.” 

Shandel Richardson is the publisher of Illinois Fighting Illini On SI. He can be reached at shandelrich@gmail.com

Follow our coverage and updates on Facebook

X: @IlliniNowOnSI

Two Springfield area elderly assistance locations have been listed for sale according to their parent company, Christian Horizons.

The St. Louis-based senior housing company, which operates and owns Lewis Memorial Christian Village in Springfield and The Christian Village on South Seventh Street in Lincoln, filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy on July 16, according to Senior Housing News.

The nonprofit company served 12 communities of independent living, assisted living and long-term health services for seniors across Illinois, Indiana, Iowa and Missouri. The Christian Horizons website lists all of their locations currently operating.

More: A cockroach, flies, mold, expired food all found in Springfield-area kitchens in June

Ten of those communities are listed for sale, including all of Illinois, as part of a restructuring according to Dora Silvia, senior vice president of sales and marketing of Christian Horizons. 

“The only thing we foresee is that we are showing the location to interested buyers,” Silvia said. “At this time we do not anticipate any changes at all.”

Silvia said around 200 people were between rehab and assisted living at the Lewis Memorial Christian Village, with over 50 positions filled by skilled nursing staff.

The day-to-day life shouldn’t change anytime soon for seniors at the village or employees, until the building is sold to a new senior living company. 

The company is in around $75 million in outstanding debt, according to a court document associated with its bankruptcy filing.

Silvia says part of the restructuring is the assessment of debt and how much each location was pulling in post-COVID.

Healthcare Management Partners is participating in the restructuring, and the company is working with legal advisors Dentons U.S. and Summers Compton Wells.

“The restructuring is really just when we came out of covid like so many places it was taking a look at expenses, realigning and restructuring is just that,” Silvia said. “Filing for bankruptcy we are restructuring just to ensure the day-to-day operation people are paid and we’re following those bankruptcy laws.”

The organizations cited the bankruptcy is related to COVID-19. Shelter-in-place policies and new member retention following the pandemic lost almost a quarter of new residents for the organization in the past four years; and worker shortages led to higher operation costs for the same provided care.

Claire Grant writes about business, growth and development and other news topics for The State Journal-Register. She can be reached at CLGrant@gannett.com; and on X (Formerly known as Twitter): @Claire_Granted

Palatine’s Aaron Del Mar was appointed as an Illinois Republican Party co-chair.
Courtesy of Aaron Del Mar

A northwest suburbanite is taking a leadership role with the Illinois GOP as the party works to rebuild and end what its leader calls the “blue funk.”

State Central Committee member Aaron Del Mar of Palatine has been chosen by Chair Kathy Salvi as an Illinois Republican Party co-chair, along with state Sen. Jason Plummer of Edwardsville and State Central Committee member Judy Diekelman of Thornton.

Salvi also picked Joan McCarthy Lasonde of Wilmette as vice chair.

“Co-Chairs Aaron Del Mar, Sen. Jason Plummer, and Judy Diekelman as well as Vice Chair Joan McCarthy Lasonde and all of our leaders across the state represent the diverse opinions of our party and our state,” Salvi said Wednesday.

“This group will broaden our coalition, expand our footprint, and will beat the machine that Democrats like (former Speaker) Mike Madigan and (Gov.) J.B. Pritzker have built.”

Salvi took office in July vowing to “make Illinois red again,” and end the party’s “blue funk.”

With a woman at the helm of the state GOP and his background as a Filipino- American, “this is a very historic time,” said Del Mar. “This will be the first time the Illinois Republican Party has had a person of color in leadership.

“I’m very excited. Kathy has a different personality than I do, she brings different strengths so I think we very much complement each other.”

Del Mar, a businessman who ran for lieutenant governor in 2022, was a Republican National Convention delegate in July, and has served as Cook County Republican chairman and Palatine village councilman.

The Illinois GOP faces challenges in a heavily Democratic state and recently lost Chair Don Tracy, who blamed party infighting for his resignation.

One key to success is to make sure “grass-roots organizations and grass-roots members of the Republican Party have a voice,” Del Mar said. “They’re the people who show up at the monthly meetings, the people that put lawn signs into the ground, that march in the parades. I think for far too long, they’ve been ignored and they’ve been taken for granted.”

Del Mar, who campaigned statewide in 2022, hopes to bridge divisions between rural conservative and urban moderate Republicans

“If we can create a relationship where there’s a conversation and people have a better understanding — that adds a lot of value,” Del Mar said, adding he’s visiting downstate Illinois soon. “If you want buy-in from those (rural) counties you have to show up.”

Del Mar’s father, a mechanical engineer, immigrated from the Philippines. His mother is a retired nurse of German/Swedish descent who grew up on Chicago’s South Side.

“When they start talking about issues like immigration, those things hit home and I can give a personal story,” Del Mar said.