BY GEORGE HOPKINS In the year 120 BCE, the Roman Senate banned actors from holding elective office, according to Mary Beard, in her magisterial book S.P.Q.R: The History of Ancient Rome (2015). So why this odd footnote to history? It…
Articles
C. diff infection rates persistent and pernicious
by Clare Howard • • 2 Comments
Peggy Hurt and Peg Phillips share an experience each wishes they didn’t. The women, both from Pekin, worked together for years, and then years apart they each fought a potentially deadly form of highly contagious diarrhea. They were both diagnosed…
Free specialty clinic in Peoria is fulfillment of 20-year dream
by Clare Howard • • 2 Comments
When Lutfun Nessa pushed her walker slowly through the doors of the Cordoba Healthcare clinic in Peoria, she had no idea she represented the goal of an idea born 20 years ago in the mind of a young medical student…
Nuclear Accident: Is an accidental apocalypse inevitable?
by Bill Knight • • 0 Comments
Since the 1950s Cold War era, when “duck and cover” drills were common in schools, nuclear weaponry has become abstract, if not ignored outright by most Americans. But with belligerent rhetoric – whether Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump or North…
First-hand account: Car buyers beware
by contributor • • 1 Comment
BY ELAINE HOPKINS If you bought a new vehicle recently, here’s a word of advice: check to see whether it has a spare tire. Many new car models now lack a spare tire, and some don’t even offer one as…
by Roger Monroe • • 0 Comments
NO COMPETITION Mayor Jim Ardis has announced he will seek another term. He made it official, by the way, on our morning radio show, “Breakfast with Roger and Friends,” on WAZU-FM 90.7. His announcement included a list of Democrat and…
Elder Care Concerns: Loneliness
by contributor • • 3 Comments
BY DAVE WEINAN In March, I wrote a column about the three plagues that could potentially affect the well-being of elders: boredom, loneliness and helplessness. I want to revisit one of those, loneliness, with information from a Sept. 6 New…
Two separate shootings linked to Heidelberg case
by Clare Howard • • 2 Comments
New evidence now indicates retaliation was a possible motive behind the shooting death that landed Cleve Heidelberg in prison for the past 45 years. Heidelberg’s attorneys have conducted interviews that seem to confirm the case may actually involve two separate…
Dangerously high levels of EDCs in Central Illinois
by Clare Howard • • 0 Comments
Residents of Illinois and especially the Peoria area are exposed to high levels of pesticides and other endocrine disrupting chemicals (EDCs), said Gail Prins, PhD, lecturing recently at the Jump Simulation center. Prins, professor of physiology and urology at the…
FBI: Breakfast Program Threatened Nation
by Clare Howard • • 2 Comments
Hungry people start walking toward Ward Chapel AME Church before dawn on Saturday mornings. They walk to receive a hearty breakfast. They walk for the acceptance and respect they receive at the church. For some, it’s their only meal of…