The debate around medical marijuana should move away from the lack of scientific studies and focus on experience. I admit to formerly being a pot smoker. Some time back I quit smoking weed to focus on family and career. Unfortunately,…
Opinion
Honk for peace
by Community Word Staff • • 0 Comments
BY JACK RYAN If you have driven through the new bottleneck intersection of West Main and University between noon and 1 p.m. on any Saturday, you’ve undoubtedly noticed people on the Starbucks corner holding signs protesting war. Usually, one sign…
Health benefits of a plant-based diet
by Community Word Staff • • 0 Comments
BY DR. BOB EASTON AND NANCY LONG Most Midwesterners don’t worship sacred cows–or do we? If we count the varieties of meat and dairy products that fill the shelves of our grocery stores and compare the percentage of food budgets spent on…
Arctic Apples: What Would Granny Smith Do?
by Community Word Staff • • 3 Comments
By Herman Brockman OpEd Two Arctic apple varieties have been in the news recently because of their “approval” by the USDA and FDA. “Approval” is commonly used in the media, but the reality is that the USDA “deregulated” these Arctic…
Racism and Inequality in America
by Clare Howard • • 1 Comment
Inequality is poisoning the American dream. As economic inequality grows, expanding geographic areas of this country lose hope. Hopelessness destroys democracy and poisons faith in the judicial system. Right now, faith in the American judicial system is paper thin: Trayvon…
Lift the ban on public housing for people with non-violent criminal convictions
by Community Word Staff • • 0 Comments
Hedy Elliott Gardner OpEd All across the country people struggle to find affordable housing. People who are low income or on a fixed income find it especially challenging. The demand is driving the cost up so high that there is…
Save the Monarchs
by Community Word Staff • • 1 Comment
By Bonnie Cox The monarch butterfly, state of Illinois insect, is in danger of extinction. Their population is down by 90 percent in the overwintering grounds of Mexico. Some believe the monarch will share the history of the passenger pigeon.…
My Freedom to Grow Food
by Community Word Staff • • 1 Comment
By Anne Patterson This spring, I will walk out my door and become even more vigilant about what is happening on my small bio-diverse farm. I’m a little nervous about this upcoming growing year. Normally, I am not. Why can’t…
Illinois women & access to abortion: Determined by federal law, personal bank account or someone else’s religion?
by Clare Howard • • 0 Comments
Gov. Bruce Rauner has not definitively confirmed or denied he is prochoice. His first state-of-the-state address focused on lots of choices but not choice to have an abortion. Rauner is a millionaire pragmatist. Money has meaning to him. The “burdensome”…
Garbage: A mirror reflecting who we are
by Clare Howard • • 0 Comments
There was a lot of enthusiasm several years ago about a music video produced by the Young Professionals Organization of Greater Peoria that tried to secure Peoria’s bid for 2013 All American City by organizing hundreds of 20- and 30-year…