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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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…
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,…
Three years ago, I went to an interfaith meeting at Peoria’s Islamic Foundation, where an evangelical pastor, a Presbyterian minister and elected officials all spoke on Americans’ freedom to worship, and apart from all of their insightful words, the turnout…
