City Beat

I loathe payday loan joints. The people who own them are the scum of the Earth. They prey on those in need. And I am sick of looking at them. I am sick of seeing them pop up, like malignant warts, all over Peoria, especially in the older sections of town, populated often where the most...
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You know, for a moment there last month, I had hope. The administrators who run Peoria School District 150 wanted to cut 45 minutes out of the schedule at all of Peoria’s primary schools. They also wanted to fire part-time teachers of music and art. The savings is about $650,000. They rushed to get the...
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According to an article that was carried by the Associated Press, Moody’s Investors Services doesn’t think much of the future of GateHouse Media stock. The agency cut GateHouse’s corporate family rating to “B2” from “B1.” Moody’s also “reduced its probability of default rating one notch” (whatever that means) to “B3” from...
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I listened to a hour or so of Sean Hannity on 1470 WMBD this afternoon as I ran errands before work. And as usual, I had to scratch my head at the man’s ability to pass off pure race-baiting as investigate political reporting. Good Lord. Were it not for the fact that I knew better, I...
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Try to contain your grief, Community Word readers. Red Zin, the upscale eatery in the Twin Tower’s building in downtown Peoria, is going to close. I know. I was stunned too. I think I’ve eaten there, oh, I dunno, three times in my life. The last time was some sort of political function. I...
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Much like baseball managers, city managers are hired to be fired. But unlike baseball managers, who often lose their jobs when expensive free agents hired by the owners, city managers are dismissed for reasons that often are not apparent. If the team’s losing and their play is stinking up the place, there’s no hiding...
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With the start of the new year, I thought it appropriate to take a look back as some of the news that caught my eye during 2007: The race to replace Congressman Ray: First, U.S. Representative Ray LaHood’s decision to retire caught everyone by surprise. He was one of the first GOP members of the...
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I wouldn’t want to be a mainstream reporter these days. It was tough enough of a job back when I was doing it. These days, I sometimes wonder if it’s ethical to even offer college journalism programs, considering that newspapers are laying off reporters as profits drop. The newspaper industry blames the Internet for...
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”A tale told by an idiot, full of sound and fury, signifying nothing.” Macbeth, 5. 5 That’s it? That’s all there is to this? It was quite a let down at Peoria Police HQ last week. I was looking forward to months of increasingly bitter acrimony and accusations of racism as the city...
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After the Sept. 18 “summit” meeting of the Peoria School District 150 board and the Peoria City Council, I spent a few minutes chatting with board members Mary Spangler and Debbie Wolfmeyer. I’m glad I did. Spangler brought up one of the issues that makes her and other board members and school administrators so...
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