SHOULD I USE ASPARTAME? Most people like sweet foods. Artificial sweeteners like aspartame can sweeten foods without the extra calories and glucose-raising sugar. Is aspartame safe? Can it help you lose weight? Could it help you control your diabetes? Aspartame…
Pleasure boats speed past the Murray Baker Bridge and jet skis zigzag back and forth across the channel through an area of the Illinois River near downtown Peoria where untreated sewage enters the river during heavy rain. The city would…
Gov. Bruce Rauner’s turnaround agenda could seriously hurt everyday people. And it wouldn’t be a double-whammy. It would be more like a quadruple-whammy. Squared. The Republican’s proposed cuts to human services in particular could weaken everything from health care and…
One of the most widely used pesticides in the Peoria area and around the world, applied plentifully by both homeowners and farmers, was labeled a probable human carcinogen by the World Health Organization recently. Glyphosate, the main ingredient in Roundup,…
By Herman Brockman OpEd Two Arctic apple varieties have been in the news recently because of their “approval” by the USDA and FDA. “Approval” is commonly used in the media, but the reality is that the USDA “deregulated” these Arctic…
Inequality is poisoning the American dream. As economic inequality grows, expanding geographic areas of this country lose hope. Hopelessness destroys democracy and poisons faith in the judicial system. Right now, faith in the American judicial system is paper thin: Trayvon…
Anyone with a brain knows the board and administration of School District 150 is dysfunctional. Too many of their decisions are so ridiculous one has to laugh. I’m still laughing after listening to a jingle produced for the school district…
Hedy Elliott Gardner OpEd All across the country people struggle to find affordable housing. People who are low income or on a fixed income find it especially challenging. The demand is driving the cost up so high that there is…
By Bonnie Cox The monarch butterfly, state of Illinois insect, is in danger of extinction. Their population is down by 90 percent in the overwintering grounds of Mexico. Some believe the monarch will share the history of the passenger pigeon.…
As an American Jew–particularly as one who wears a kippah [a Jewish ritual head-covering]–I have a complicated relationship to white privilege. Like many Jews, at some level I don’t feel white; for 2,000 years or so Jews have been living…
On a summer collecting trip in Northern Illinois, a botanist made “a most remarkable find” near Lake Calumet in Cook County. No, it wasn’t gold or platinum . . . . It was something far more rare. A diminutive flower…
Fatherhood is a wonderful reality. Its rewards are many and designed to last a lifetime. Challenges are also included as children’s behaviors and attitudes can change dramatically causing concerns about parenting joys. Not every man aspires to being a father…
The West Peoria Residents’ Association is sponsoring the 18th Annual Jamboree Run Saturday, June 6 at the corner of Heading and Sterling avenues. The 4-mile run, 1-mile fitness walk, also features Children’s Fun after the race ends for children 5…
MUSIC May 31-June 7: Peoria Bach Festival. [times vary.] Trinity Lutheran Church. 676-4609. June 2: Kid Ink. 7 p.m. Limelight Eventplex. 693-1234. June 3: John Mellencamp. 7:30 p.m. Peoria Civic Center Theater. 673-8900. June 5: Rob Juice and the Bad…
Reprinted courtesy of The Labor Paper The 2nd annual Flying Fish Festival and Bowfishing Tournament has been scheduled for Saturday July 11 at Bass Pro Shops in East Peoria. The event will include a bow-fishing tournament from 5 a.m.…
Peoria Players closed its season with the 1955 TONY award winner “Damn Yankees.” The musical is a fable involving the hapless Washington Senators ball club who are, it seems, a worse club than the hapless “Cubbies.” The action begins with…
In November 2009, a pebble was tossed into the art pool of Central Illinois. That’s when Rocco Landesman, chairman of the National Endowment for the Arts, visited Peoria and challenged us to work together as a community to see how…
