Author Archive for Community Word Staff

Unions drive economy

BY DAN SILVERTHORN Retired executive director West Central Illinois Building and Construction Trades Council Labor unions and the workers they represent helped secure the largest middle class in American history. It’s no coincidence that union membership is declining at the…

CW & BU host anti-hate speaker

An upswing in hate and extremism is sweeping America, targeting immigrants, African Americans, Muslims and LGBT groups, but another significant victim is the American democratic ideal of social decency. Southern Poverty Law Center has been fighting hate since its formation…

LaHood

ILLINOIS HAS A BUDGET; IT IS ABOUT TIME Finally Illinois has a budget. Two years without a budget has made Illinois look incompetent to deal with fiscal issues. Certainly, the passage of this budget is long overdue, and there is…

Monroe

QUICK THOUGHTS The editor has requested a short column this month, so I’m going to share some thoughts about my morning show, “Breakfast with Roger and Friends,” that started in 2002 as “Breakfast with Royce and Roger.”  We lost Royce…

Knight

As the Black Lives Matter organization prepares to receive an international peace prize this fall, the issue of how police treat some people differently than others seems as unsolvable as ever, so that can lead to history’s foundation for policing.…