Columns

West Peoria News

Members of Seniors on the Go donated food items for the Stuff-a-Bus food drive during their December meeting. Stuff-a-Bus collected more than 10 tons of food during the 30th annual food drive for Peoria Friendship House. Peoria Friendship House then…

Serendipity

Family holiday celebrations always included a birthday cake for my paternal grandmother who was born on Dec. 25. She often seemed somewhat surprised that we remembered. I wondered if maybe her birthday as a child was overlooked. I hope not.…

Labor Roundup

Lawmakers hit secret VA scheme to partially privatize health care. Five congressional Democrats, all military veterans, have warned the Department of Veterans Affairs against its reported scheme to partially privatize VA health care by merging part of its system with…

Kamara Taylor

Blacks as Amnesia Victims My grandmother has begun to age, and it is the norm that her memory is beginning to phase out. Maybe the stress of losing her daughter at the young age of 50 or burying two sisters…

Bricks & Mortar

Memorialized on postcards and souvenir vases after opening in 1910, the Jefferson Building (Fulton and Jefferson streets) towered over the Peoria skyline symbolizing the city’s move into the modern age. Shortly before, local civic leaders William Hull and Edward Leisy…

LaHood

December is for Reflection and Celebrating the Season of Joy As I write my last column of 2017, I reflect on the extraordinary public service careers of three outstanding Central Illinois citizens. My mentor and friend, former Congressman Bob Michel, passed…

Knight

Just before Christmas 1946, Dorothy Day permanently left Maryfarm in Pennsylvania, one of dozens of Houses of Hospitality her group, Catholic Worker, started setting up in the 1930s. This Christmastime, Day remains an impressive figure. Her granddaughter Kate Hennessy has…

Monroe

Setting the Record Straight A story in the sports section of the Peoria Journal sent me scrambling to research Bradley basketball because I felt the writer had made several errors. He wrote that current basketball fortunes could lead to a…

Reflections From A Secular Humanist

BY HARRY ELGER When the Hubble telescope was positioned outside the distortion of Earth’s atmosphere, an extrapolated estimate of 2 trillion galaxies became visible. The universe is 13.82 billion years old. Earth is only 4.52 billion years old. Humans are…

West Peoria News

Santa is taking the time to stop by and enjoy breakfast with West Peoria kids 10 a.m. to noon Saturday, Dec. 2. He has checked with the Franciscan Complex and booked a time for breakfast there for him and Mrs.…