By a whopping 70%, Peoria County voters said the office of County Auditor should be closed. Members of the County Board had overwhelmingly stated there was no need for an elected auditor. Auditor Jessica Thomas was expected to accept the…
Judge Bruce Fehrenbacher on March 15 denied a motion from Peoria County filed in November to dismiss as moot a lawsuit brought Sept. 15 by Karrie Alms and County Auditor Jessica Thomas challenging the 2022 referendum abolishing the Auditor’s office.…
Almost three-fourths of UAW ballots cast OK’d T.A. with Cat. The United Auto Workers on March 13 started working under a new, six-year contract with Caterpillar Inc. after a ratification vote the previous day resulted in 71.5% voting union members…
The Sierra Club, the Illinois Environmental Council, Faith in Place Action Fund and other groups are supporting an Illinois House measure to phase out single-use foam food ware on Jan. 1, 2025. Introduced Feb. 13, House Bill 2376 would amend…
The nonpartisan League of Conservation Voters last month issued its annual 2022 National Environmental Scorecard, and U.S. Rep. Darin LaHood (R-Peoria) was given a 5%. This new scorecard considered 19 House votes and 23 Senate votes, including the clean energy…
After another light-hearted April Fools Day and the cheery promise of April showers’ importance to May flowers, the deadline for filing federal income tax returns (April 18 this year) can be a dark day, rekindling people’s resentment about taxes generally,…
Ten candidates are running for the Peoria City Council’s five at-large seats in the non-partisan election April 4. Under Peoria’s system, voters casting ballots for these races have five votes to cast for the candidates. Voters may choose to cast…
Spring cleaning begins with updated contracts, budgets, reports and ordinance tweaks. Your representatives paved the way for a new hotel in Downtown Peoria and bridge projects in the county. And they heard concerns about a proposed CO2 pipeline that could…
Sharon McBride, a beloved West Peoria figure, has retired from writing this column after three decades. Her contributions to the community through her writing have been invaluable, and her passion for sharing its stories and events was evident in every…
Wolf/ADM (2022) wants to run a CO2 pipeline through Peoria and Tazewell Counties, route a trunk line to Peoria’s BioUrja ethanol plant, and possibly inject CO2 into the Mt. Simon Basin extending beneath your counties. For an antidote to Wolf/ADM…
