Renée Mullen is science savvy, and she was totally caught off guard by some totally unscientific public policy. Mullen has a PhD and taught in the science department at Eureka College for years. She has conducted scientific research around the…
Articles
Wage theft: Are you being robbed?
by Bill Knight • • 0 Comments
Maybe you’ve realized: You’re being robbed. But it’s no burglar; it’s not at gunpoint. Your tips are stolen by your boss, or you regularly work 50 hours a week with no overtime pay, or you’re handed cash at the job…
Science Briefs | June 2021
by Community Word Staff • • 0 Comments
Environmental Racism: “Toward the Fossil-Free Future: Food, Farming, Fracking, Climate & Justice” was the topic of a recent zoom lecture by scientist and writer Sandra Steingraber. Fossil fuel extraction is a form of environmental racism, Steingraber said. Factories, refineries and…
Chinquapin Oak: “The spirit of our region”
by Clare Howard • • 0 Comments
To know the Chinquapin Oak is to know something about our region’s ecological history and our own ecological geneology. Chinquapins are hallmark trees of the Central Illinois River Bluff. Slow growing with dense wood and a gray-brown bark, the tree…
Peoria Park District: Solar works in Peoria and saves money
by Clare Howard • • 1 Comment
The Peoria Park District is loudly proclaiming its values in a series of solar roof panels on the Bonnie Noble Center, Lakeview Recreation Center, Owens Center and RiverPlex Recreation & Wellness Center. The panels testify: We are fiscally responsible and…
He went from waiting to die to feeling empowered
by Clare Howard • • 0 Comments
Autumn 2020 was exceptionally beautiful, but what Bill Conger remembers from that time is exceptionally terrifying with significant gaps in his memory. Conger, 53, is curator of collections and exhibitions at Peoria Riverfront Museum. He and his wife Michelle were…
Gas stoves pose health risks
by Clare Howard • • 0 Comments
For years, the E.D. Edwards coal-fired power plant in Bartonville was linked to high asthma rates in Peoria’s Southside neighborhoods, but equally liable could be poor indoor air quality polluted with nitrogen dioxide from gas stoves, water heaters and furnaces.…
Saved from the wrecking ball
by Community Word Staff • • 0 Comments
Insect “apocalypse”?
by Bill Knight • • 0 Comments
An “insect apocalypse” could jeopardize plant life. Farming in the 1990s increased use of neonicotinoid insecticides, the neurotoxins that collect in pollen and nectar –– causing paralysis and death for bugs, including bees. However, there’s doubt about bees’ current state,…
New senior housing in rural areas
by Community Word Staff • • 0 Comments
The Housing Authority of Champaign County is reaching out 100 miles to develop an affordable senior living facility in Henry, a small community just 34 miles north of Peoria. Called Oak Field Place, the new 30-unit, affordable senior housing facility…