The word poverty can conjure thoughts of Appalachia, Ethiopia or inner-city neighborhoods, but often the reality of the less fortunate isn’t “them.” It’s “us.” The poor are used to being ignored. Poverty increased in almost one-third of U.S. counties since…
Author Archive for Bill Knight
PeoriaCon March 7 offers cosplay and comics
by Bill Knight • • 0 Comments
Hours before heading to Chicago and days ahead of the second PeoriaCon, Jason Johnston leads onlookers through a display of comic and other artwork on display at Studios on Sheridan. The 41-year-old Peorian, who formerly worked trade shows with Events…
Bill Knight | Trump and Iran
by Bill Knight • • 0 Comments
A local monthly commenting on acts of war from weeks earlier may seem no longer timely, much less local, but war is always local since family and friends are used, and war is tragically timeless. Plus, many reckless, feckless developments…
Radon “old news,” but threat current
by Bill Knight • • 0 Comments
January is National Radon Action Month designated to increase awareness of the dangers of radon, which is especially relevant to Central Illinois where residents live with high levels of the carcinogenic gas, according to the U.S. Surgeon General and Environmental…
Bill Knight | The late Bob Liter
by Bill Knight • • 0 Comments
If still waters run deep, the late Bob Liter’s quiet, pensive demeanor smoking a pipe while editing news stories for the Peoria Journal Star for decades hid a mind roaring with adventure, violence, fun and sex. Liter, who lived in…
Bill Knight | Health-care costs
by Bill Knight • • 0 Comments
Decades ago, I edited a weekly newspaper owned by a record chain whose owner was mulling over providing health-insurance coverage to full-time workers when in a matter of weeks I had to go to emergency rooms. I’d seriously injured my…
Artist uses light, space, sky and landscape
by Bill Knight • • 0 Comments
When Craig Adcock lectures at the Riverfront Museum Nov. 14, he’ll not only present artist James Turrell to a Peoria-area audience probably unfamiliar with him. The program, presented by the Peoria Fine Arts Society, also will in some ways revisit…
Bill Knight | Humans aren’t hopeless on climate change
by Bill Knight • • 0 Comments
Earth is at a “doom and bloom” point. While news almost daily reports dangers such as ozone threats to corn crops (University of Illinois reported last month), positives occur like the Pasta Straw (produced from bucatini by the U.K.’s Stroodles…
Bill Knight | Market forces, climate change, lawsuits drive closure of coal fired power plants
by Bill Knight • • 0 Comments
It was a slap in the face but no shock when Texas-based Vistra Energy announced its closing of somewhat modernized coal-burning power plants near Canton, Coffeen, Havana and Hennepin, Ill., to meet terms of a deal negotiated with the state,…
New fungus a global threat
by Bill Knight • • 0 Comments
People already in various medical facilities and the health professionals helping them have a new threat: a fungus named Candida auris (C. auris) that’s developed resistance to multiple drugs and is killing tens of thousands in the United States and…