When I started in radio as a part-time announcer, there were only a handful of stations in Peoria. They included WMBD, 1470, the first to go on the air; the “Mighty 1290, WIRL; WAAP, 1350, which later became WXCL; Clear…
Columns
The Lion’s Den | Juneteenth, but one step on lonely road to freedom
by Daniel McCloud • • 1 Comment
June 19, 1865 — now commonly known as Juneteenth — is when enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas, were made aware that the Civil War was over and that they were free, a full two months following the surrender of…
Bill Knight | Is there an elephant in the room for GOP?
by Bill Knight • • 0 Comments
Many Illinoisans aren’t that aware of the positions of most of the Republicans competing in the June 28 primary to unseat Gov. JB Pritzker in November’s general election. There seem to be few public appearances, much less press conferences, and…
Nature Rambles | Live rust: Folk song of Cedar Waxwing
by Mike Miller • • 1 Comment
The high-pitched whistle-trill of the Cedar Waxwing comes from the top branches of a tall Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana). The blue-colored berries of the Red Cedar are what the namesake bird is after. A plentiful food that can easily…
Real Talk | All-American sweat is the new cotton
by Community Word Staff • • 0 Comments
Just the other day, I was watching ESPN when a sports news story came on about one of the most prominent NCAA football coaches in NCAA history, Nick Saban, who had accused another high-profile coach, Jimbo Fisher, of “buying every…
Art Alerts | June 2022
by Bill Knight • • 0 Comments
The title of the history of a generation of creators subverting comic books says it all: “Dirty Pictures: How an Underground Network of Nerds, Feminists, Misfits, Geniuses, Bikers, Potheads, Printers, Intellectuals, and Art School Rebels Revolutionized Art and Invented Comix,”…
The Watch | Politicians can run, but they can’t hide from the League of Women Voters
by Terry Bibo • • 0 Comments
Summer kicks off with classic good news/bad news. The good news is the League of Women Voters of Greater Peoria was able to add coverage to include Peoria Public Schools District 150. With professional reporters ever-scarcer, volunteers who attend government…
Heat Waves — In Red and Black | Emergency Management hiding behind wall of voodoo statistics
by William Rau • • 0 Comments
My last column finds the Illinois Emergency Management Agency whitewashing heatwave risk by aggregating a misleading measure into just one score for a county. Thus, Cook County’s 136 diverse municipalities, and strikingly diverse 1,332 census tracts, are all labeled as…
Serendipity | Thanks, Dad, for making me, and everyone, smile
by Sandra Dempsey Post • • 0 Comments
Some sixty years ago, I remember walking home from grade school with friends, which was a daily adventure. My memory of anything that happened so long ago could not be used as evidence in a court of law, but I…
West Peoria News | Remember our veterans, celebrate our nation
by Sharon McBride • • 0 Comments
This June issue of The Community Word will be available yet in May and will share information of our ongoing Memorial Day celebration that is planned for 10 a.m. Saturday, May 28th at Franciscan Park. This time slot allows those…