December Programs at Dunlap Public Library Thursday, December 5, 12, 19 – 10:00 – 11:00 a.m. – “Downton Abbey” – Get ready for Season 4! Bring a friend (or two) to enjoy watching Season 3* of the British drama series.…
Food security forum: Is GE food the solution to global hunger?
Advocates of genetically-engineered food often suggest “feeding the world” is the moral justification for embracing GE seed, but scientist Herman Brockman contends “feeding the world” is more marketing gimmick than science. Brockman, a distinguished emeritus professor of genetics at Illinois…
Remember when giving thanks
Business as usual as General Assembly returns
From the gay marriage debate to the state’s ongoing pension problem, Illinois lawmakers have their plates full as they return to Springfield. October 22 was the first day of fall session in Springfield, signaling the start of another legislative year…
I was hungry and you fed me
CUTLINE: Claire Crone stirs the soup being served that particular day at Sophia’s Kitchen. Patrons receiving food number in the hundreds. The kitchen is located at 103 S. Richard Pryor Place and provides nourishment and encouragement to those in need.…
Lance Armstrong movie connects with Peoria
They’re making a movie about Lance Armstrong. You know the amazing cyclist who won the grueling Tour de France a record seven times and then was disqualified for allegedly using chemicals, or doping as it’s called. The movie will star…
50 Years Ago This Month, Innocence Was Lost
The week before Thanksgiving in 1963, the Friday-morning weather had some fog and a little drizzle; afternoon temperatures reached the 60s. “It’s true,” I heard from a trembling freshman schoolmate in Latin class, seconds after laughing and saying how I’d…
Closed until further notice
There’s a date I won’t soon forget. Tuesday, October 1, 2013. On that day, first thing in the morning, my wife and I entered a restaurant / gift shop in Jacob Lake, Arizona (just a stone’s throw from the north…
White flight doesn’t work
Three weeks. Three home invasions in Peoria. Well, actually there have been three home invasions in North Peoria. I’m trying to not chortle, because it really isn’t funny. Whether you live on the South Side or the East Bluff, or…
Guest editorials for November 2013
Have They No Shame? By Ed Klein, Peoria, IL As we watched Ted Cruz in his outlandish demagoguery, we were certainly not alone in comparing him to the late Joe McCarthy. As with Cruz, his fellow congressmen foolishly let him…
Doors and Windows: Missing Julie
It rained all afternoon. It was Saturday, September 28, 2013, and I was dining with friends at Sazani’s in Peoria, a river-side Italian restaurant on Route 29. A few miles down that same road, another friend of mine, Julie Peters,…
Serendipity: Thanksgiving Day wasn’t designed for shopping!
On November 27, 1986, writer and humorist Erma Bombeck wrote: “Thanksgiving is honest and simple and warm and natural…an opportunity to reflect and to be thankful that all of you were…and still are.” Sadly Erma Bombeck no longer is, at…
West Peoria News for November 2013
Scout Troop 11 is selling fresh holiday wreaths again this year starting October 28th with a delivery date starting November 16th. Call Scoutmaster Bob DeSutter at 674-6668 with your order in that time frame. Cub Scout Pack 11 is selling…
Traveling Around the Internet
I have a really cool job that allows me to travel to national conventions and speak about social media. Who can complain about a free trip to Miami Beach in January? I love that part of my company and am…
Musings for November 2013
I have been thinking quite a lot about technology and I really have come to the conclusion that it brings as many problems as it does helpful issues. I read in the paper the following: “Four Russian nationals and a…
Happenings for November 2013
Nov 1 – Central IL Arts Organization First Friday – 5:00 – 9:00 p.m. Admission: Free. Get an intimate look at studios, galleries & arts organizations. Meet artists, musicians, neighbors & collectors. Tour includes 11 locations & spans a breadth…
Newsbriefs for November 2013
UnityPoint Health- Service League Gift Show November 2nd The UnityPoint Health-Methodist Service League will hold its 63rd annual Gift Show Sat., November 2nd in the lobby of the UnityPoint Health-Methodist Atrium, 900 Main Street, 9:00 a.m. – 2:00 p.m. Admission…
Help fight breast cancer
Peoria’s Red-Baiter: ‘Throwing victims to the lions of defamation’
Caption: This editorial cartoon from 1953 showed how public opinion began to turn against HUAC when Velde targeted churches. Some sixty years ago, Peoria’s Congressman led coast-to-coast hearings on unAmerican activities, including some targeting Hollywood. Before U.S. Rep. Harold Velde…
Illinois River algal bloom largest in at least quarter century – Consequences: Dire
After years of unheeded warnings and spotty regulation, an environmental calamity streaked down the Illinois River in verdant shades of green this summer pushed by currents past the Illinois Valley Yacht and Canoe Club south to the Bob Michel Bridge…
Aaron Schock Works for 18th Congressional District
Congressman Aaron Schock shuttles between Peoria and Washington DC on a nearly weekly basis. Whether he is traveling his 18th Congressional District of nearly 200 towns and 750,000 constituents or finding legislative solutions on Capitol Hill, he is actively working…
Peoria Residents Ready Themselves for New Health Care Law
Supporters and opponents weigh in on the nation’s new health care changes. State insurance markets designed to offer coverage for individuals and separate markets for small businesses with up to 100 workers are a central part of Barack Obama’s new…