At every government level — from Washington D.C. to Springfield to Peoria — COVID-19 is changing the subject, the format and the outcome of public meetings. When the Peoria County Board held its March 12 meeting, for example, Chairman Andrew…
Nature Rambles | Solace in nature
During this unprecedented time, when everything we seem to know is turned upside down, there are still many steadfast harbingers of reality in the natural world. The chorus of Robins and Cardinals still begin at daybreak even if we are…
Inland Art | John Phillips
John Phillips began painting in earnest about the time that the medium was relinquishing its preeminent avant-garde station, leaving painters with the task of buttressing and re-defining the practice. Its formal contours had been turned inside out or neglected in…
Art: What is it Good For? | Healing joy
As we write this column, we are in our fourth week of shelter-in-place, and the news headlines are filled with the death toll, the failing economy and the total disarray of life as we knew it. A steady diet of…
Heat Waves — In Red and Black | The Partially Effective and Safe COVID-19 Drug
There is a safe, long-standing drug that is showing success with septic shock, a serious infection that causes our immune systems to go haywire. This is timely because sepsis can be complicated by acute respiratory distress syndrome (ARDS), the same…
Real Talk | How I’m managing “sheltering in place”
The experience of sheltering in place for someone living alone is different than it is for those who live with a spouse, significant other and/or children. Without distractions you do one of two things; you worry excessively or you pray…
Reflections From A Hindu Perspective | True nature of things (Swabhava)
During adversity, a person’s true nature (Swa- self, bhaava- essence) gets exposed. In normalcy, many of us take on covering to fool others and sometimes ourselves. We take on roles to fit into what we believe is expected from us…
Serendipity | Appreciation Through Challenges
Countless examples exist of inspiration, kindness and generosity among people learning about improvising and compromising as circumstances surrounding them suddenly changed. Pandemic was an unfamiliar word to many, and even those knowing the meaning, found its presence difficult to accept.…
West Peoria News | Cancellations
Cancellations due to the “stay at home” mandate include Neighborhood Watch, May 13; West Peoria Book Club no May meeting; West Peoria Township Clean Up Day will be rescheduled. Boy Scout Troop 11 members are selling 30-gallon trash bags. To…
Labor Roundup | May 2020
NY Mayor Bill de Blasio orders probe of Amazon firing protesting worker Christian Smalls, who organized a walkout to demand greater protections against coronavirus for warehouse workers. About 15 workers participated in the walkout at Amazon’s Staten Island warehouse after…
UnityPoint calls for public’s help making & donating face masks
MEDIA RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Alyson McKean Regional Marketing Manager (309) 409-5775 Alyson.McKean@unitypoint.org UnityPoint Health calls for community help with COVID-19 Peoria, IL- March 27, 2020- UnityPoint Health (UPH) joins health systems across Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin in…
Limiting protective garb for healthcare workers sparks conflict at OSF
BY CLARE HOWARD OSF Saint Francis Medical Center issued a policy Tuesday prohibiting employees from buying, borrowing or making their own personal protective equipment like face masks. At a time COVID-19 is sweeping across America taking a devastating toll, healthcare…
Bill Knight | Coronavirus
Donald Trump shouldn’t be blamed for the coronavirus outbreak any more than the asteroid moving past Earth April 29. However, he is responsible for his response to the escalating emergency, and he’s downplayed danger while almost 140,000 in more than…
Full court press for Census 2020
Voting in jails
Detainees at the Peoria County Jail cast absentee ballots for the statewide primary in March. They will vote again in the upcoming presidential elections. Peoria County Jail Superintendent Ronda Guyton coordinated with Peoria County Board of Elections director Tom Bride…
Geriatric prisoners and “three strikes” — it’s taxpayers who strike out
Research and nearly half a century of precedent have widely disproven the value of three-strikes-and-you’re-out, but change may be too slow in coming for Lester Mason. The three-strikes legislation was supposed to act as a deterrent to violent crime. Instead,…
Straight Talk | Exclusive news
We’ve been doing our morning radio show for almost 18 years, give and take a year here and there when we made a few transitions, through no fault of our own. It started as “Breakfast with Royce and Roger” and…
The Lion’s Den | To Play Ball, or Not to Play Ball: That is the Question
As I write this article, I am reminded of a conversation I once had with my wife. The question that I posed to her was this: “Can you imagine a world without sports?” She laughed and said, “No.” Well, here…
Editorial | The press
We are living in dangerous times for democracy when the press is blamed, pilloried, discredited and barred from public meetings. The national press pool is corralled in at Trump rallies as the crowd chants “Lock them up.” That animosity has…
OpEd | Inconsistencies in anti-abortion reasoning
In January, the Trump administration threatened to withhold federal money from the state of California if it does not drop its requirement that private insurers cover abortions. It declared that California was in violation of the federal Weldon Amendment, which…
COVID-19 Briefs
As the world hunkers down under quarantines and business closings, here are some facts on this latest “novel” virus. COVID-19 is a new coronavirus that was initially identified in Wuhan, China, and linked to a seafood and live animal “wet…
Reflections From The Clergy | Interfaith endeavors build bridges and make communities thrive
When Imam Ahmad ibn Hanbal (a great Islamic figure) was on his death bed, a Christian pastor of his community visited Imam Ahmad and said, “O Imam, your life was not only a blessing for Muslims, it was a blessing…