Real Talk | Surviving COVID-19

Last month I wrote this column about how I was managing sheltering in place. Little did I know at the time, that I was also surviving COVID-19. In March and April, I was hospitalized –– both times with chest pain,…

The Watch | Voting and COVID-19

A few months ago, if you said public officials were zooming, it might have been an insult. During a pandemic, some public bodies aren’t meeting at all. Springdale Cemetery Authority Board, for example, cancelled its meetings for March, April and…

Nature Rambles | Treasure hunt

Common Yellowthroat Warbler

May was a month that all birders enjoy. This spring was no different. The peak of songbird migration usually occurs mid-May, and usually lasts only a short time. Many of the species that birders enjoy seeing only spend a couple…

Inland Art | Angela Dieffenbach

Pharma Farma Series: Aunt Dolly

In the recent Central Time Ceramics exhibition at Bradley University Angela Dieffenbach’s entry from her “Pharma Farma Series” deadpanned a bit of veiled theater. “Aunt Dolly” an earthenware lamb’s head secured at eye level was an interloper in the midst…

Art & Justice | Michael Adams

Michael Adams

The power of an image can foment social change. Images can depict reality opposed to stereotypes, can promote understanding and whittle away at entrenched racism. Peoria artist Michael Adams understands that power. He drew on his experiences as an African…

Science Briefs | June 2020

Green economic recovery from COVID-19 Companies worth more than $2.4 trillion are calling for a green economic recovery from the global pandemic, according to Bloomberg Law. Two-thirds of these 150 companies signing a statement calling for a green recovery are…

Serendipity | Day by day

Growing older doesn’t bother me as it happens with or without my approval. Favoring the more positive, romantic approach, I bought into the idea popularized by poet and playwright Robert Browning. In an 1864 published work, he wrote, “Grow old…

West Peoria News | Fourth of July parade canceled

It has been a season of cancellations, and sadly I announce the cancellation of the 50th West Peoria Fourth of July parade, ceremony and festivities. Typically, the event attracts hundreds/thousands to our community and involves the efforts of many West…

Labor Roundup | June 2020

Meatpacking plants must remain open despite COVID-19 sickening workers. The virus forced some plants to close, but they reopened under an order from President Trump using the Defense Production Act. Employers haven’t properly safeguarded workers with the tests, protective gear…

Environmental collapse triggers pandemics

frog census

Nature is shouting out warnings of pandemic tsunamis barreling down upon us, but repeated warnings are repeatedly ignored. Angelo Capparella listens to frogs for warnings. Jen Walling reads warnings in ongoing dismantling of environmental regulations. Elizabeth Maruma Mrema sees loss…

My Truth

BY LESTER B. MASON My eyes have witnessed many changes throughout the nearly 40 years of being incarcerated in the Illinois prison system. My name is Lester Mason inmate #64349 at Pontiac Prison Facility. I have been granted an opportunity…

Food during the COVID-19 pandemic

BY HENRY BROCKMAN We are in completely uncharted waters as this novel coronavirus sweeps across the globe sickening millions and killing thousands. The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations warns that this pandemic has disrupted agriculture and food…

Government overstep

Leaders can use crises to push political agendas, some unrelated to the emergency cited, and executive power can expand substantially. That’s true historically, when unilateral changes might have been somewhat logical but still disturbing, from Lincoln’s suspension of habeas corpus…

10 recent moves leaders claim COVID-19 makes necessary

President Trump refused to reopen enrollment for the Affordable Care Act for the dozens of states where people unemployed because of the pandemic also lost company-provided health insurance. Trump increased anti-drug patrols, saying last month, “This will impact the coronavirus…

Straight Talk | Bel-wood / Heddington Oaks to close

Peoria County’s nursing home, founded in 1848, is closing. County board chairman Andrew Rand and administrator Scott Sorrel made the announcement Friday, April 17. While it was a surprise to most taxpayers, county board members have been quietly evaluating the…

Bill Knight | Trump’s virtual campaign rallies

Sixteen years before Jonathan Swift published “Gulliver’s Travels,” the essayist and clergyman wrote, “Falsehood flies, and the truth comes limping after it.” Now, every afternoon, the world is awash in nonstop nonsense from a mental Lilliputian who sees himself as…