HBO wrapped up its controversial “Winning Time: The Rise of the Lakers Dynasty” on May 8. Basketball fanatic Oliver Mack has not seen the 10-part miniseries. He doesn’t have to, though. He was there. “Winning Time” takes some serious artistic…
A legal case involving high-profile figures but receiving little coverage in six-plus years may have closed, depending on the outcome of a likely appeal. A motion for a summary judgment in the lawsuit alleging that the area’s current and former…
When I started in radio as a part-time announcer, there were only a handful of stations in Peoria. They included WMBD, 1470, the first to go on the air; the “Mighty 1290, WIRL; WAAP, 1350, which later became WXCL; Clear…
June 19, 1865 — now commonly known as Juneteenth — is when enslaved African Americans in Galveston, Texas, were made aware that the Civil War was over and that they were free, a full two months following the surrender of…
Many Illinoisans aren’t that aware of the positions of most of the Republicans competing in the June 28 primary to unseat Gov. JB Pritzker in November’s general election. There seem to be few public appearances, much less press conferences, and…
Jefferson, Washington, Hoover, Roosevelt, Wilson and Lindbergh — slaveholders, racists, white supremacists, anti-semites are part of their legacies that led to their removal from our school names. And I get it. Recognizing that Peoria has changed over the past 100…
Chicago City Clerk Anna Valencia brought her campaign for Illinois Secretary of State in Illinois’ June 28 Democratic primary to Peoria’s Labor Temple in April, when she was introduced and endorsed by retiring secretary Jesse White. If elected, Valencia will…
Ensuring workers rights was a key topic April 25, when Litesa Wallace, Democratic candidate for the 17th Congressional District, visited the West Central Illinois Labor Council. In particular, it’s vital that Congress passes the PRO Act — the Protecting the…
The high-pitched whistle-trill of the Cedar Waxwing comes from the top branches of a tall Eastern Red Cedar (Juniperus virginiana). The blue-colored berries of the Red Cedar are what the namesake bird is after. A plentiful food that can easily…
Just the other day, I was watching ESPN when a sports news story came on about one of the most prominent NCAA football coaches in NCAA history, Nick Saban, who had accused another high-profile coach, Jimbo Fisher, of “buying every…
Peoria is buzzing with an expansive arts community. However, many are questioning if the art that is being widely displayed, performed, published, and viewed is representative of the city’s rich diversity — or if barriers have been preventing those artists…
The title of the history of a generation of creators subverting comic books says it all: “Dirty Pictures: How an Underground Network of Nerds, Feminists, Misfits, Geniuses, Bikers, Potheads, Printers, Intellectuals, and Art School Rebels Revolutionized Art and Invented Comix,”…
Summer kicks off with classic good news/bad news. The good news is the League of Women Voters of Greater Peoria was able to add coverage to include Peoria Public Schools District 150. With professional reporters ever-scarcer, volunteers who attend government…
My last column finds the Illinois Emergency Management Agency whitewashing heatwave risk by aggregating a misleading measure into just one score for a county. Thus, Cook County’s 136 diverse municipalities, and strikingly diverse 1,332 census tracts, are all labeled as…
Some sixty years ago, I remember walking home from grade school with friends, which was a daily adventure. My memory of anything that happened so long ago could not be used as evidence in a court of law, but I…
The National Labor Relations Board on April 26 announced the results of Peoria’s Campustown Starbucks workers’ vote to unionize, and the results were 9-2 in favor of the union, with 1 voided ballot and no challenged ballots – one of…
This June issue of The Community Word will be available yet in May and will share information of our ongoing Memorial Day celebration that is planned for 10 a.m. Saturday, May 28th at Franciscan Park. This time slot allows those…
Recycling is a great — and easy — way to help improve our planet. It feels good to “Go Green,” knowing that separating stuff from our garbage and throwing it into a bin so it can be used again instead…
Tens of thousands of rural residents could benefit from new initiatives in Washington and Peoria, and improvements may start small, such as a proposal to offer waste and recycling pickup to areas not served by curbside programs. • The White…
Alex Lamprecht feels the need for speed with the wind in her hair. The financial advisor at Thrivent is gearing up for her seventh Bike MS ride this summer. “The gameplan is I’m going to try to do 100 miles…
When I turned on the kitchen radio, I was startled: Opposite Day? Bizarro world? A Russian hack? Expecting reliable WIRL-AM 1290’s enjoyable, pleasantly distracting classic tunes, I heard Sean Hannity. Days before, the oldies station had quietly become another conservative…
