It’s a relief to return to the reopened Peoria Riverfront Museum and to roam its galleries –– especially to revel in world-class art, some with local ties. Installed during the months-long pandemic shutdown, new exhibits presented through Sept. 5 are…
Bill Knight
Bill Knight | Protesters and infiltrators
by Bill Knight • • 0 Comments
The country’s protests about police brutality persist despite distractions and infiltrations. The distractions stemmed from social-media hoaxes such as the June 4 warning that “antifa operatives are organizing a plan to bus large numbers of antifa terrorists to the vicinity…
Bill Knight | Being coroner during COVID-19
by Community Word Staff • • 0 Comments
It’s common to praise first responders, especially in the pandemic. What of “last responders”? Coroners. On Illinois’ deadliest day in the global coronavirus outbreak, Peoria County Coroner Jamie Harwood reflected on first realizing the potential challenges ahead. Months ago, the…
Bill Knight | Trump’s virtual campaign rallies
by Bill Knight • • 0 Comments
Sixteen years before Jonathan Swift published “Gulliver’s Travels,” the essayist and clergyman wrote, “Falsehood flies, and the truth comes limping after it.” Now, every afternoon, the world is awash in nonstop nonsense from a mental Lilliputian who sees himself as…
Bill Knight | Coronavirus
by Bill Knight • • 1 Comment
Donald Trump shouldn’t be blamed for the coronavirus outbreak any more than the asteroid moving past Earth April 29. However, he is responsible for his response to the escalating emergency, and he’s downplayed danger while almost 140,000 in more than…
Bill Knight | Poverty
by Bill Knight • • 0 Comments
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…
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…
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…
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…