Many young adults piled up huge student debt to get college degrees enabling them to pay off loans but face a slowly recovering job market. On the other side of the career spectrum, retirees worry that fixed incomes won’t be…
Articles
by Roger Monroe • • 1 Comment
ON THE AIR AGAIN! It’s exciting, and the timing is perfect since I love the sounds of Christmas. “Breakfast with Royce and Roger” is returning on Internet Radio as “Breakfast with Roger and Friends,” starting 6 a.m. Tuesday, Dec. 1.…
by Bill Knight • • 0 Comments
If it’s a tag-team match between Hitler, Stalin and the Boogeyman on one side, and Santa, Jesus and Bernie Sanders on the other, I stand with the latter trio. “Ho! Ho! Huh?” you say? The connection is socialism. I don’t…
Leitch to conclude 27-year career in Legislature
by Clare Howard • • 0 Comments
When State Rep. David Leitch, former Journal Star reporter, Commercial National Bank vice president and strongly pro-business Republican, announced recently he would not run again, expressions of admiration came from Democrats. Rep. Jehan Gordon-Booth, D-Peoria, and Sen. Dave Koehler, D-Peoria,…
From jail architects to jail teachers in the era of mass incarcerations
by Clare Howard • • 0 Comments
The presidential debates confirmed that reducing America’s burgeoning incarceration rate is a bipartisan goal. “Three-strikes-and-you’re-out,” tougher drug sentencing even for non-violent drug crimes and mandatory sentencing guidelines have all added to the problem. Today, as presidential candidates from both parties…
Strengthening Peoria’s economy will take ‘horse sense’
by Bill Knight • • 0 Comments
It’s jarring when reality thumps wishful thinking. But “if wishes were horses, beggars would ride,” as it’s said. (Maybe the central Illinois equivalent is, “If wishes were caterpillars, butterflies would come.”) Anyway, the Peoria economy seems to be crying, “My…
The Myths of Immigration
by Community Word Staff • • 0 Comments
Robert Reich, Secretary of Labor under Bill Clinton and professor at University of California, Berkeley, has tackled “The 4 Big Lies about Immigrants – and the Truth” in a recent piece on his blog. Debunking these myths gives an important…
DIRTY POLITICS?
by Community Word Staff • • 2 Comments
Steve Shearer is well-known by folks who follow politics. He’s been a part of Aaron Schock’s political life almost from day one. At one time he was Schock’s chief of staff. Like Schock, Shearer has been questioned by the F.B.I.…
Clergy, laity pray for justice for Cassidy
by Community Word Staff • • 1 Comment
Hundreds of Central Illinoisans for years watched Father Terry Cassidy mimic a fish that’s unaware it’s surrounded by water. It’s been his light-hearted effort to show how people often don’t realize they’re surrounded – by grace. But Cassidy, 64, now…
by Community Word Staff • • 0 Comments
Due to an error, the West Peoria News column was inadvertently duplicated under Heights News by Roger Larson in the October issue. Please go to our online edition at www.thecommunityword.com or go directly to http://thecommunityword.com/online/blog/2015/09/30/heights-news/ to read the October Heights…