BY ERIC LARSON Senior Manager of Operations and Production, Western Division, Illinois American Water Co. American Water appreciates President Biden’s and his administration’s recognition of the need to invest in our country’s water and wastewater systems. Water and wastewater infrastructure…
The Watch | May 2021
Government business slogged forward in March as a fourth corona-wave appeared imminent. On March 9, after several delays, Peoria City Council updated the city code for short-term rental uses. Before this action, short-term rentals such as Airbnb and VRBO were…
Real Talk | Protected Terror
What we thought was 8 minutes and 46 seconds of terror and torture was actually, 9 minutes and 29 seconds. We know now that was how long former police officer Derek Chauvin had his knee on the neck of George…
Nature Rambles | On Summer Tanagers
May is known for its colorful flowers. Trees also are in bloom and insects are becoming more numerous. With all of this activity, the stage is set for the peak of songbird migration. Many of these birds are migrating north…
Inland Art | Welcome, Nichole Gronvold Roller
Editor’s note: After more than four years writing Inland Art for Community Word, Paul Krainak is focusing on other projects, notably a blog “Bad at Sports” accessed at http://badatsports.com/2021/sub-rural/. He recommended Nichole Gronvold Roller as his replacement. Her column will…
Art: What is it Good For? | Mural making workshop for kids
How do you spell art? On April 17, more than 15 young children would have answered F-U-N. That’s the day Big Picture Initiative and The Peoria Playhouse Children’s Museum co-hosted a mural making workshop. Artists Megan Couri and Jaci Musec…
Art Alerts | May 2021
Fine Arts Society of Peoria presents lecture by Dr. Robert McCarter “The Architecture of Carlo Scarpa: Recomposing Place, Intertwining Time, Transforming Reality,” 10 a.m. May 13 via Zoom. Register at FineArtsSociety.net. “Seen but not Felt” will be virtually exhibited all…
Reflections from an Existential Lens | Religion, Secularism, and the Meaning of Life, Part IV
What is the meaning of life? Last time I suggested that we instead ask whether life is lived meaningfully. This phrasing doesn’t assume meaning must come from somewhere outside, written in words of fire. As Viktor Frankl says, “Questions about…
Heat Waves — In Red and Black | Is Large-Scale Ecological Restoration Possible? The Loess Plateau Experiment, Part 1
We are the last generation that can stabilize the earth’s deteriorating climate. That outcome requires a 50% reduction of greenhouse gas emissions by the early 2030s. Then, we must reduce remaining emission to zero by 2050. Finally, we must go…
West Peoria News | Community yard sale is May 15
Returning Saturday May 15 is the West Peoria Residents Association annual communitywide yard sale. West Peoria residents interested in having their address shared in the Community Yard Sale need to contact coordinator Maggie at maggiemo@mtco.com or 673-0535. Information will be…
Serendipity | Parents Still Missed
Perhaps it’s continuing effects from isolation caused by COVID or maybe turning another year older. Whatever the cause, I’m missing my parents very much. The sadness is deep even though my Dad passed away in 1992 and my Mom in…
Labor Roundup | May 2021
Regardless of union outcome, Amazon effort inspiring. Ballots from voting at Amazon’s Bessemer, Ala., facility are being counted at press time, but labor leader Sara Nelson of the Association of Flight Attendants/CWA said it’s a win-win no matter the results.…
Gas stoves pose health risks
For years, the E.D. Edwards coal-fired power plant in Bartonville was linked to high asthma rates in Peoria’s Southside neighborhoods, but equally liable could be poor indoor air quality polluted with nitrogen dioxide from gas stoves, water heaters and furnaces.…
Saved from the wrecking ball
Insect “apocalypse”?
An “insect apocalypse” could jeopardize plant life. Farming in the 1990s increased use of neonicotinoid insecticides, the neurotoxins that collect in pollen and nectar –– causing paralysis and death for bugs, including bees. However, there’s doubt about bees’ current state,…
Bill Knight | Voting rights
Most people seem relieved that April’s consolidated local election is going smoothly, and that November’s election is over (one that longtime Republican Christopher Krebs, U.S. Cybersecurity chief, said was “the most secure in American history”). Despite that – some say…
Straight Talk | Never was, never will
Conservative talk show host Rush Limbaugh has died at the young age of 70. As someone who has spent a large part of his life in radio, I can tell you there was never anyone who was as popular as…
Editorial | What Tom Vilsack fails to say about hunger
Tom Vilsack is returning to his post as U.S. Secretary of Agriculture. He served in that capacity under President Obama for eight years. Vilsack hails from Iowa, a leading agricultural state with a major focus on industrial corn, soybeans, hogs,…
Letter to the Editor | Vaccination and cell line from aborted fetuses
With the approval of the Johnson and Johnson vaccine against the COVID-19 virus, concerns have been raised by some religious leaders that it was developed using cell lines from fetuses aborted decades ago. The Catholic Bishops’ Conference has recommended that…
The Watch | Council helps fund new fire station
Local governments grapple with Pandemic Year Two . . . alongside their regular business. Peoria City Council started the Jan. 26 meeting wearing their Peoria Township hats by approving township expenses for January and February. A public hearing on the…
Real Talk | Miseducation about the vaccination –– why people of color mistrust medicine
As I write this article, I have spent the last year as most of us have –– isolated, socially distanced and careful often times in fear or thinking about the unknown such as where did this virus come dfrom? Why…
Inland Art | Carmon Colangelo
Carmon Colangelo intervenes on the modern. Gestural abstraction, informal geometries, diaristic ephemera, surrealist afterimages, and architectonic montage all inform his practice. He fills work with happenstance, surfing through printmaking, drawing, painting and digital media to reconsider a principal birthright of…