Mike Contratto is a former military man. He’s from a military family and grew up on a military base. He’s a West Point graduate, and he’ll admonish anyone who calls him an environmental activist. He says he’s “not an activist,…
As Congress returns from the August break to Washington, there is an urgency to seriously protect innocent, law-abiding citizens from those who are mentally ill or just simply intent on killing fellow citizens. New laws that significantly fund mental health…
As the various county departments are busy preparing budgets for 2020, there are other challenges in the Courthouse. The County Board appropriately approved the recommendations of chairman Andrew Rand to fill the vacancies created with the deaths of State’s Attorney…
Three years ago, I went to an interfaith meeting at Peoria’s Islamic Foundation, where an evangelical pastor, a Presbyterian minister and elected officials all spoke on Americans’ freedom to worship, and apart from all of their insightful words, the turnout…
Support for universal basic human rights should be an easy position to defend and promote. Support for Palestinian basic human rights apparently is not. Palestinian human rights cannot honestly be conflated with anti-Semitism, but that’s precisely what’s happening. The Boycott,…
Having been a daily newspaper reader for life; growing up with the St. Louis Globe-Democrat in southern Illinois and a subscriber to the Peoria Journal Star upon moving to Peoria in 1970 has prompted me to write this comment in…
DR. DAVID M. PRIVER, MD, FACOG From the years 1971 through 1974, I had the privilege to serve as a resident in the specialty of obstetrics and gynecology at the prestigious Sinai Hospital, Detroit, Mich. As any resident knows only…
It doesn’t seem possible. Despite a hot job market elsewhere, news came mid-summer that even more journalists are unemployed. “The news business is on pace for its worst job losses in a decade as about 3,000 people have been laid…
The topic over the last two weeks has focused on racial tensions that have long been woven in the fabric of America. Many are not surprised while some cannot recognize this America. Many believe that we live in a colorblind…
Big Picture Peoria 2019 Street Festival will be held Oct. 12. We felt you would enjoy hearing about it from some of those who are working hard again this year to hold the most unique and surprising annual arts event…
Founded in 1967, the Kohler Arts Center in Sheboygan, Wis., is one of the most innovative and uncoventionally curated museums in the country. Many modestly sized museums such as the Kohler that have a contemporary art agenda and/or research mission…
Sept. 1-2: Vinyl Tap, 7:30 p.m. Sunday and 11:30 a.m. Monday. Delavan Fall Festival. Delavan. 840-0838. Sept. 3, 10 and 17: John Miller and Preston Jackson. 7 p.m. Broken Tree Café. 648-1439. Sept. 4, 11 and 18: : John Miller.…
Living in the same house for 42 years offers perspectives not so evident to people who move regularly. It certainly offers challenges concerning the need to sort and send rather than keep and stack possessions. But life’s a trade off…
Herbariums are repositories for plant specimens that botanists have collected, dried, pressed and preserved on archival paper. They contain information on the location where the specimens were collected, the date, the habitat present and any other details the collector thinks…
I recently watched the documentary “True Justice” which tells the story of Bryan Stevenson, the attorney who started the Equal Justice Initiative in Montgomery, Ala. Not unlike his book “Just Mercy,” it was a difficult watch and took me five…
The second annual Taste of West Peoria and West Peoria Fire Department Family Day are both planned for 11 a.m. to 3 p.m. Sept. 15th on Waverly Ave. Redevelop grant applications are still available in City Hall. Home owners are…
Across Illinois, people of faith are responding to the climate crisis, connecting with one another and taking action through a unique interfaith organization called Faith in Place. Faith in Place empowers people, from many diverse religious traditions, to become champions…
Miners block train to demand stolen wages. For days last month, Kentucky miners and their families occupied a railroad track, blocking a train that’s loaded with coal the workers dug out of the earth and never got paid for. Mine…
Dr. Greg Adamson died June 11 at age 58, but his presence is still palpable at Cordoba Healthcare Clinic in Peoria where he volunteered providing orthopedic…
Last month, President Trump defended his administration’s role in protecting the environment, remarks observers say were needed after a year of controversies concerning the Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) and climate change – and recent moves sparking even more criticism. “President…
Sharon Deweerth looks out the west windows of her rural Marshall County home to see the sun set on corn fields stretching to the horizon. Those fields hold generations of her family’s history of work, values and memories of rural…
“Robert H. Michel: Leading the Republican House Minority” was just published through the auspices of Frank Mackaman who directs the work of The Dirksen Congressional Center. The book includes a number of authors who researched and wrote about the extraordinary…
