This spring Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan demanded that Peabody Energy prove it has the funds necessary to reclaim coal mines if it shuts down, rekindling public concern over abandoned mines and the responsibility for cleaning them up. In her…
News
Fighting a health crisis with real (verified) food
by Clare Howard • • 0 Comments
LINCOLN – When two-thirds of the residents of Logan County are overweight or obese, it’s apparent a health crisis tsunami is crashing into the local hospital. Abraham Lincoln Memorial Hospital CEO Dolan Dalpoas clearly saw conventional treatments were not…
“The Great Agnostic” removed for restoration
by contributor • • 1 Comment
A crew from Otto Baum hoists the statue of Robert Ingersoll from its base at Glen Oak Park and loads it in a van for shipment to Philadelphia were it will be cleaned and restored. Peorian Ken Hofbauer learned about…
Eureka College students change town ordinance Native plants OKed to replace turf lawn
by Clare Howard • • 1 Comment
When a law stands in the way of good public policy, change the law. That’s just what a group of Eureka College students did to allow deep-rooted native plants where only turf once was allowed. If that sounds simple, it’s…
Power in a small package
by Bill Knight • • 0 Comments
UPS driver Carol Steffen for decades has cultivated her downtown and Main Street customers like the rhubarb she’s grown in her garden: perennial favorites. Chatting on a rainy day between deliveries at Campustown, she adjusts her glasses, fidgets with an…
Coming: Almost organic
by Community Word Staff • • 1 Comment
This label may start appearing in grocery stores soon to indicate food was grown on farmland transitioning from chemical to organic. Clarkson Grain, located about two hours southeast of Peoria, is using this ECOCERT label until the U.S. Department of…
by Bill Knight • • 0 Comments
It’s past time for political prioritization. At a time when the state of Illinois has been unable or unwilling to meet its financial obligations to social-service providers because of the lack of a state budget for 10 months, the state…
Hypertension Part 2: Sodium and Hypertension
by Community Word Staff • • 2 Comments
Many of the 70 million adults with hypertension would like to avoid taking medication. One common recommendation to lower blood pressure without medication is to reduce the amount of sodium in your diet. Most of the sodium in the American…
Student learns systemic racism is tough to identify, harder to remediate
by Clare Howard • • 2 Comments
News of police violence in Ferguson, Chicago and Cincinnati hits people in Peoria with emotional force. It makes everyone wonder, what happens here on the streets of this community. Britta Johnson wanted to know. Growing up in Peoria, she did…
Peace for Peoria counters Islamophobia
by Community Word Staff • • 2 Comments
Community leaders including Caterpillar CEO Doug Oberhelman, UnityPoint-Methodist president Debbie Simon, OSF Saint Francis Medical Center president Michael Cruz and Bradley University president Gary Roberts will make opening remarks at a Peace for Peoria town hall event 7 p.m. to…