Columns

Labor Roundup

Inadequate offer forced East St. Louis teachers strike. Students in the East St. Louis, Ill., school district stayed home beginning in early October after its 400 union teachers rejected an inadequate settlement offer. Members of Illinois Federation of Teachers voted…

Is Illinois torturing its inmates?

Imagine sitting in your bathroom. Now imagine staying there. For more than a year. That’s how long some 30 percent of Illinois inmates are in solitary confinement, concedes the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC). Another 10 percent suffers such isolation…

Tawny Oaks

One of the first Peoria Park District conservation areas I visited outside of Forest Park Nature Center was a large woodland off of Singing Woods Road. Access was difficult and there wasn’t even a place to park. Since that first…

My mother always insisted I could succeed at whatever I wanted to if I tried hard enough. For a very long time, I believed her because not believing her was unthinkable for me. She was knowledgeable about many subjects, strict…

October is a busy time for the volunteers of the West Peoria Fire Department. They are going door-to-door selling fund raising tickets for their annual Hog Roast scheduled for 2-6 p.m. Oct. 25 at Crusen’s on W. Farmington Road. Tickets…

Welcome to this inaugural message from Richwoods Township and Peoria Heights. The mantra has begun: “In Richwoods Township and Peoria Heights, we are eventful.” Richwoods Township, as a government entity, is building partnerships with community-based organizations including Peoria Heights Village,…

Arts Beat

MUSIC Oct. 2: Dorrann & The Soul Mystics “Live at the Five Spot. 5:30 p.m. Contemporary Art Center. 674-6822. Oct. 3: “Screen Time,” with the Peoria POPS Orchestra. 7 p.m. Five Points Washington. 444-8222. Oct. 8: Bradley University Chorale’s annual…

Eastlight Theatre opened the 1954 musical version of “Peter Pan” in the East Peoria High School auditorium on Sept. 18. The original Broadway cast starred Mary Martin as Peter, the boy who would never grow up, and Cyril Richard as…