* Suicides are trending upward, with annual rates above the national rate in four of the last 10 years. * Drug-related deaths overtook alcohol-related deaths over the last decade. Drug-induced deaths went from 48.3% to 63.9% while alcohol-induced deaths fell…
Author Archive for Bill Knight
Predicting holiday shopping is a cynical ‘game’
by Bill Knight • • 0 Comments
When the Peoria County Board in mid-November unanimously passed a resolution supporting Small Business Saturday on Nov. 30, it rekindled an appreciation for independent retailers with local owners and workers – and the merchants who refrain from making forecasts of…
50 Years Ago This Month, Innocence Was Lost
by Bill Knight • • 0 Comments
The week before Thanksgiving in 1963, the Friday-morning weather had some fog and a little drizzle; afternoon temperatures reached the 60s. “It’s true,” I heard from a trembling freshman schoolmate in Latin class, seconds after laughing and saying how I’d…
Peoria’s Red-Baiter: ‘Throwing victims to the lions of defamation’
by Bill Knight • • 0 Comments
Caption: This editorial cartoon from 1953 showed how public opinion began to turn against HUAC when Velde targeted churches. Some sixty years ago, Peoria’s Congressman led coast-to-coast hearings on unAmerican activities, including some targeting Hollywood. Before U.S. Rep. Harold Velde…
11th Annual Peoria Film Noir Festival features ‘commie sympathizer’ Humphrey Bogart
by Bill Knight • • 0 Comments
CAPTION: Humphrey Bogart and Lauren Bacall lead demonstrators protesting the House UnAmerican Activities Committee’s October 1947 probe of Hollywood. Also pictured are actors Paul Henreid (“Casablanca,” “Of Human Bondage”) and Richard Conte (“The Godfather,””Call Northside 777″) The 11th annual Peoria…
Pragmatic progressive, bipartisan leader
by Bill Knight • • 0 Comments
Hours before a fund raiser at a White Sox game in U.S. Cellular Field in Chicago, busy State Sen. Dave Koehler took time to chat with the Community Word about the award he’s receiving on Sept. 21, when the Peoria…
The Country Needs a Better Minimum Wage
by Bill Knight • • 0 Comments
Whether slinging hash at a fast-food franchise in Peoria Heights or clocking in day labor booked out of a downtown office, minimum-wage workers need better pay. The country needs a better minimum wage – and one that includes everyone who…
LaHood calls for service, civility, compromise
by Bill Knight • • 0 Comments
After more than four years as U.S. Secretary of Transportation during the Obama administration and 35 years in government, Republican Ray LaHood is taking time to consider various options and opportunities and plans to decide his future in the next…
The full story on Peoria’s Betty Friedan
by Bill Knight • • 2 Comments
This Labor Day during the 50th anniversary year of the publication of the landmark “Feminine Mystique” by Peoria native Betty Friedan, one wonders, “What if?” What if more people knew of Friedan’s background – especially her years as a labor…
Art from jobs program could still inspire
by Bill Knight • • 0 Comments
I grew up in Carthage, IL, where even in childhood visits to the Post Office were made more meaningful by a moving mural by Karl Kelp: “Pioneers – Tilling the Soil and Building Log Cabin.” The 1938 art – showing…