Columns

Evangelicals haven’t really rallied around Trump In the next few weeks, many Americans will give thanks, and the fact that the election will be over will be a blessing to most of us – few more so than Evangelical Christians,…

Climate Change and the Church In the beginning, God created the Heavens and the Earth (Genesis 1:1) Climate change, also called global warming, is the rise in surface temperatures on earth. This warming is caused by humans’ use of fossil…

The sun pokes through a misty October sky on Saturday, Oct. 16. We have 8 miles of roadway pretty much to ourselves as we drive along the levee that surrounds a 2,200 acre body of water known as the South…

Singing or thinking about “Over the river and through the woods to Grandmother’s house we go,” creates nostalgic feelings and good will regardless of some or no river or woods on the way to Grandma. Interesting to consider if decades…

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…

Arts Beat

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…