News

By Greg Speck Have you ever heard of the Riverfront Visitors Center? Sure you have. But, what do you know about it? Well, for starters, it’s located in the oldest commercial building standing in Peoria. It was originally built in 1852 and is the only pre-Civil War commercial structure still standing in Peoria. It is...
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On the brink of failing to extend a payroll tax cut into the New Year, Congress sends the average worker an early Christmas present. Just days before Christmas, House Speaker John Boehner announced a Republican decision to accept a short-term extension of the payroll tax cut, preventing roughly 160 million working Americans from having to...
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Ten new short stories by Illinois and Midwestern writers, illustrated with original art, are featured in the 2011 edition of Downstate Story, Peoria’s only literary magazine. The downstate Illinois writers in this issue are: Pepper Bauer of Mapleton; Ray Pierce and Cindy Baker of Peoria; Derek Kohlhagen of Morton;  Janice Croom of Bloomington; Jim Courter of...
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Methodist Provides Free Community Health Screenings The Methodist Wellmobile will be bringing free health screenings to the following community locations during January. Screenings include blood pressure, blood sugar, cholesterol and lung functions. A 12-hour fast is required for cholesterol and blood sugar testing. Free heel scans to measure risk of osteoporosis are available at some...
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The Christmastime Gospelfest concert continues to grow in popularity every year with additional concert dates and even more people enjoying this traditional, inspirational music as an integral part of their annual holiday celebrations. On Friday, December 9, a concert will be held in the Caterpillar Performing Arts Center at Five Points Washington for folks...
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Illinois’s General Assembly takes swift action to mitigate the state’s loss of insurance to the unemployed. Illinois’ unemployment insurance fund has been on hiatus. Although the state added 30,000 jobs last month, officials say as more of Illinois’ jobless re-entered the workforce to apply for seasonal jobs, the influx of new searchers caused the jobless...
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Peoria Public Library will offer two films with discussions on Saturday, December 3rd at Peoria Public Library Main Library Auditorium in honor of the 70th Anniversary of the Attack on Pearl Harbor. At 10:30 a.m. watch the new documentary L-Bird- The Little Plane That Did and have your questions answered by moderator Kenny Crawford. At 1:30...
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In November of 1951, the Peoria Park District’s Luthy Botanical Garden opened in its current facility in Glen Oak Park. On November 18, the Garden’s 2011 Poinsettia Show began, and as always, hundreds of beautiful poinsettias and decorated trees  adorn the Conservatory and transformed it into a spectacular wonderland. Over the years, a visit...
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Zero Degrees of Separation Movie Group has moved its showing of “The Muppet Movie” to December 10th at 10:30 a.m. -1:00 p.m. in the Pekin Library Conference Room. Anyone interested in joining in the movie can contact the Pekin Public Library via Kim Dvorak by calling  309-346-7111. This showing starts the beginning of the movie...
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Tired of crashing after drinking lots of caffeinated coffee to keep alert? According to Raven Trapp, founding member and network distributor of SereniGy, there is an alternate that helps you feel better. According to Trapp, “80% of the population of the United States and Canada, which is 255 million plus people, drink around 3-5 cups...
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