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…
Peorians will take part in the Citizen Police Academy starting this month, when residents will meet from 6-8 p.m. Wednesday from June 3-July 29 to get a better understanding of police operations and to provide a forum for police officers…
Union leaders, lawmakers, mayors unveil progressive agenda. Saying “We need to reward work, not wealth,” a group of labor leaders, legislators and big-city mayors unveiled a massive grass-roots campaign for “A Progressive Agenda” to attack income inequality and allied issues.…
Mother Jones: Bird flu is slamming factory farms but sparing backyard flocks. Why? Avian flu is spreading among commercial egg and turkey farms and has killed 36 million birds mostly in Iowa and surrounding states. Scientists can’t explain why this…
Smoke billows from a coal fired power plant. Does this pose a danger to your health? The evidence is yes. A terawatt of power generated by burning coal is estimated to produce 24.5 deaths, 225 serious illnesses and 13,288 minor…
TV news audiences understandably could conclude mayhem rules, but that’s a flawed impression. Broadcasters can decide “if it bleeds, it leads” newscasts because people care, or it’s usually cheap and easy (officials comment; there aren’t “pro-crime” lobbyists or advertisers to…
The Illinois EPA was not notified about a crash on Route 29 north of Peoria that resulted in coal fly ash spilling over the highway. Two southbound lanes of the road were closed for hours during a cleanup operation involving…
Life is more than mere existence. It’s survival and growth – as individuals, as a species, and as inhabitants of a planet teeming with life. But living has historically trod two paths: faith and reason, or religion and science.…
Demographics are destiny, it’s been said. Not necessarily, of course, but a new book by Paul Taylor – scheduled to speak at the Peoria Area Labor Management Council (PALM) at 11:15 a.m. May 19 at the Par-A-Dice Hotel – offers…
FORCED OUT? Lori Curtis Luther is leaving Peoria as county administrator officially on May 31. We reported exclusively about her interest in leaving weeks ago on our morning show. We even gave details about the public open house held in…
So now the verdict is in: On April 14, only three members of the Peoria City Council voted to stop the sale of nearly six acres of Riverfront Park for a private apartment development. The rest voted to proceed…
By George Hopkins OK, we’re kidding. But such thoughts do cross our minds as my wife and I hike the two miles daily that’s supposed to be good for us. Over the years we’ve found some amazing stuff: of course…
WHAT’S THE COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS OF MORALITY? Words that obfuscate: Cut the Illinois income tax surcharge: This really means a tax savings bonanza for high-income earners and a miniscule savings for middle- and low-income earners. Right to work: This really means…
Community Word’s editorial office is in the Peoria Labor Temple. The building, at 400 NE Jefferson St., is one of the few remaining cooperative labor headquarters remaining in the country. Construction began in 1925 at a cost of $110,000 financed…
A Prairie Ghost I’ll never forget the day when an old self-proclaimed “river–rat” came by to show me some bones he had found in the Illinois River when the water was particularly low. Hollow eye sockets stared back at me…
THE PRICE OF FREEDOM Sharia law … the hair on the back of Nancy Kelleher’s neck bristles on edge at even the thought of it. Although she can’t fully explain what it is, Nancy knows from tuning into her favorite…
Catalogs were often part of our daily mail when I was growing up. My mother was not fond of shopping downtown, the only choice in the ‘50’s and ‘60’s, but she wouldn’t have enjoyed a mall either, had that been an…
The West Peoria Residents’ Association is sponsoring a community-wide yard sale 7 a.m. to 3 p.m. Saturday, May 16. If you are interested in participating, contact either wpnewsadvertisements@westpeoriaresidents.org or Maggie Moore at 673-0535. At the time of this writing, residents…
MUSIC May 1: Cousin Eddie. “Live at the Five Spot.” 5:30 p.m. Contemporary Art Center. 674-6822. May 1: Bradley Jazz Ensemble and Jazz Lab Band. 7:30 p.m. BU Michel Student Center. 677-2595. May 2-3: “A Few of Our Favorite Things.”…
Why Wondering Matters What if there were a place for children to discover the world around them unlike anything they have seen before? What if kids could use real tools to build something? What if children could play and learn at…
