As Americans get excited or annoyed by the latest Oval Office tweets or other outrages from President Trump, a dozen troublesome issues bubble through Capitol Hill like an attack of irritable bowel syndrome. Maybe we need a “National Narrator” to…
There are always trade-offs, it seems. In “Inherit the Wind,” the Henry Drummond character (Spencer Tracy in the film version) sums it up: “Progress has never been a bargain; you have to pay for it. Sometimes I think there’s a…
Just before Christmas 1946, Dorothy Day permanently left Maryfarm in Pennsylvania, one of dozens of Houses of Hospitality her group, Catholic Worker, started setting up in the 1930s. This Christmastime, Day remains an impressive figure. Her granddaughter Kate Hennessy has…
The prospect of a right-wing media conglomerate expanding might cause some to think, “It can’t happen here,” but there’s a local connection between Sinclair Broadcast Group’s proposed purchase of Tribune Media. Plus, legitimate concerns are similar to worrying about a…
Greater Peoria has more than 630 nonprofit enterprises, according to Nonprofit Explorer data from the investigative journalism site ProPublica.org – from the Caterpillar Foundation and the Creve Coeur Club to Forest Park Foundation and the Tri-County Urban League. However, few…
Assumptions v. realities; common assumptions aren’t always common sense; or factual Even hard numbers aren’t always accurate or complete, whether it’s our hunches about crime or what many of us believe Americans actually think: real public opinion. Respected and nonpartisan…
BY BILL KNIGHT Many people worry about crime; they assume there’s cause. But much of that concern is an example of belief versus reality. That disconnect faces 44-year-old Brian Asbell as he starts his position as Peoria County’s new sheriff…
Happy re-birthday Three years ago, some 20 Peoria-area journalists and activists came together to buy the Community Word to ensure its future as an independent, locally owned newspaper. Initially launched in 1977, the free monthly now reaches about 19,000 readers…
The slender, soft-spoken man with salt-and-pepper hair somehow seems taller than his 6-foot, 1-inch frame, and while often serious as he points to problems in state government, he occasionally slips into a smile that seems so genuine you suspect it’s…
BY BILL KNIGHT Flooding is more frequent and more costly, and destruction like what Peoria County endured four years ago this spring might be considered bad luck. Homeowners, developers and government couldn’t foresee such dangers. Except: Maybe they could. Storms…
