Soon after the first hard frost of the fall season, the West Peoria Beautification Committee will be clearing flowers from community planters and businesses. Then they will be hanging the garlands and lights for the holiday season. The West Peoria…
What the heck do we have to lose? Trying to wrap my brain around the audacity of Donald Trump is more than a notion; it’s the visceral reaction I had in regard to his alleged outreach for the African-American vote.…
Jeff Sloter, who directed the hit production “The Foreigner” for Cornstock with Peoria native now Broadway actor, Steve Vinovich, has turned his sights on a musical. Mr. Sloter said he first met the playwright/composer Derek Childs 30 years ago during…
MUSIC Nov. 1: Reel Big Fish, with Masked Intruder, Stacked Like Pancakes. 7 p.m. Limelight Eventplex. 693-1234. Nov. 4: Dexter O’Neal & Funk Yard Live at the Five Spot, 5:30 p.m. Contemporary Art Center. 674-6877. Nov. 4: Derel Monteith. 8…
A Midwestern Mecca When Rocco Landesman, chairman of the National Endowment of the Arts (NEA), came to Peoria in 2009 to kick off his national campaign “Art Works,” he was giving the citizens of central Illinois the possibility of becoming…
AFL-CIO adds opposition to xenophobia to campaign issues. Racist xenophobia isn’t exactly a workplace issue, but the country’s top labor federation has added it to campaign issues this election. AFL-CIO Executive Vice President Tefere Gebre (himself a political refugee, at…
How well do EpiPens work? Last month’s column discussed Heather Bresch, CEO of Mylan Pharmaceuticals, and her plan to maximize corporate profits with a 620 percent EpiPen price increase over nine years to $610 for two pens. This month’s column…
NO COMPETITION Mayor Jim Ardis has announced he will seek another term. He made it official, by the way, on our morning radio show, “Breakfast with Roger and Friends,” on WAZU-FM 90.7. His announcement included a list of Democrat and…
The popularity of “Sesame Street” isn’t debatable. Still, when Bradley University’s former debate coach writes about the long-running program, one might expect persuasion, syllogistic reasoning, and rhetoric. Instead, Gary Dreibelbis in the new “Gospel According to Sesame Street” focuses on…
170 Years of Service: Ward Chapel AME Church The African Methodist Episcopal Church grew out of the Free African Society, an organization started by Absalom Jones, Richard Allen, and others in Philadelphia in 1787. The Free African Society formed after…
