Nature Rambles | Low bird counts

low bird count

The Audubon Christmas Bird Count season is over and volunteer compilers are busy uploading data. This is the 120th year for the Christmas Bird Counts, and local count circles in our region include Peoria, Chillicothe and Chautauqua National Wildlife Refuge.…

Inland Art | African American art in Chicago

Objects of Desire Party Favors

Although Chicago’s art schools and museums attract thousands of students and visitors annually, emerging and even mid-career artists have always struggled to capture an appropriate degree of that attention. There wasn’t always a deep reservoir of writers, venturesome collectors, or…

“Remember Her, Peoria!”

“Remember Her, Peoria!” is a new art installation designed to bring attention to the number of women and girls murdered and missing in Peoria County. One estimate puts the number at 88 over the past two decades. Opening on Valentine’s…

Art and Justice | Ryan Rashad Reed

Ryan Rashad Reed

Peoria artist Ryan Rashad Reed uses his art to convey justice, beauty, triumph and struggle. Many people consider Reed, 40, to be one of Peoria’s most accomplished young artists. He is quick to say he strides for mastery but hasn’t…

Arts Beat | February 2020

Feb. 6: Nick Sizemore. 9 p.m. Tartan Inn. 966-2444. Feb. 6: “Winter Jam 2020,” featuring Christian recording artists crowder, Hillsong Young & Free, Andy Mineo, Building 429, Red, and more. 7 p.m. Civic Center Arena. 673-3200. Feb. 7-8: New Cats…

West Peoria News | Meet a K9 deputy

Peoria County Sheriff’s Deputy JR Kester will bring Quincy, his K9 partner, to the Neighborhood Watch meeting at 6 p.m. Feb. 12 at City Hall. Deputy Kester will speak about experiences with a canine partner. The West Peoria Book Club…

Serendipity | Mom memories

Something about winter makes me exceedingly sentimental and rather emotionally fragile. It begins around Thanksgiving, escalates through February then starts tapering off, especially if March’s weather is sunny. During those contemplative times, I love going through treasured papers and keepsakes,…

Labor Roundup | February 2020

Some 400 bills, many important to workers remain stalled in the GOP-majority Senate, where right-wing Majority Leader Mitch McConnell won’t schedule them to be heard. Besides the blockade of legislation approved by the House of Representatives or passed out of…

Workforce diversity No. 1 tool for economic growth

Ernestine Jackson has worked for more than four decades in equal employment opportunity; today she is frustrated, even heartbroken, when she looks at the racial composition of Peoria and the racial composition of the city hall workforce and contractors with…

EPA gives OK for more toxic chemical cocktails

Glyphosate

The Trump administration continues to lift restrictions on toxic pesticides despite years of research by independent scientists. The fallout in Central Illinois is especially acute. With a location in the middle of the farm belt, Central Illinois is the bull’s…

Radon “old news,” but threat current

Radon

January is National Radon Action Month designated to increase awareness of the dangers of radon, which is especially relevant to Central Illinois where residents live with high levels of the carcinogenic gas, according to the U.S. Surgeon General and Environmental…

Straight Talk | Goodbye, Louie!

Another year has come and gone. Unfortunately, end of the year means the end of Sterling Family Restaurant. Owner Louie Trilikas announced he was going out of business effective Dec. 30, after more than 30 years serving breakfast, lunch and…

Bill Knight | The late Bob Liter

If still waters run deep, the late Bob Liter’s quiet, pensive demeanor smoking a pipe while editing news stories for the Peoria Journal Star for decades hid a mind roaring with adventure, violence, fun and sex. Liter, who lived in…

Editorial | “Eating the planet to death”

S.A. Shepler (c) 2020 Community Word

The most effective way to slow global climate change is with dietary changes, according to Dr. John McDougall. Changes in our diet can be more effective immediately than driving a Prius, turning off the lights, lowering the thermostat and viable…

Arts Beat | January 2020

Jan. 1 and each Tuesday: John Miller and Preston Jackson. 7 p.m. Broken Tree Coffee. 648-1439. Jan. 4: Jeremy David Baker and Nick Sizemore Take Over Sullivan’s. 8:30 p.m. W. E. Sullivan’s. 839-8097. Jan. 10: Daniel Watkins and Brett Conlin…