Polly Barton and Carlotta Bielfeldt, co-chairs of the Power of Play Campaign, announced today that the Campaign will NOT host a Special Event Fundraiser on Friday, February 10, 2012, and that you’re NOT invited! This non-event event will NOT include cocktails, dinner, or entertainment. Further, invitees are encouraged NOT to spend money on a tuxedo,...
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Illinois American Water announced today that the application process is now open for its 2012 Environmental Grant Program to support innovative, community-based environmental projects that improve, restore or protect the watersheds, surface water and/or groundwater supplies through partnerships. The company will award grants of up to $10,000. The program is designed to support diverse types...
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Gordon Announces Networking Event for Small Businesses & Lenders State Rep. Jehan Gordon will co-host an event for small businesses with the Illinois Department of Financial Regulation and the Peoria Area Chamber of Commerce. The “How to Access Capital for Your Business” Workshop will be held on Friday, February 10 from 7:30 – 9:30 a.m....
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By Greg Speck Have you ever heard of the Riverfront Visitors Center? Sure you have. But, what do you know about it? Well, for starters, it’s located in the oldest commercial building standing in Peoria. It was originally built in 1852 and is the only pre-Civil War commercial structure still standing in Peoria. It is...
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On the brink of failing to extend a payroll tax cut into the New Year, Congress sends the average worker an early Christmas present. Just days before Christmas, House Speaker John Boehner announced a Republican decision to accept a short-term extension of the payroll tax cut, preventing roughly 160 million working Americans from having to...
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Ten new short stories by Illinois and Midwestern writers, illustrated with original art, are featured in the 2011 edition of Downstate Story, Peoria’s only literary magazine. The downstate Illinois writers in this issue are: Pepper Bauer of Mapleton; Ray Pierce and Cindy Baker of Peoria; Derek Kohlhagen of Morton;  Janice Croom of Bloomington; Jim Courter of...
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Royce Elliott and I would like to thank everyone for their many acts of kindness during the Christmas season, especially the food. Actually, the food, period. Cookies and cakes were abundant as were the phone calls. We love what we do each morning on WOAM. Having fun, laughing and talking about old times and...
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The heavy hands of out-of-state attorneys and a dominating national headquarters seem to be getting in the way of a settlement in the long-delayed unionization of Peoria’s Heart of America Red Cross Blood Services division. Local Red Cross administrators and civic leaders should reassert control of Peoria operations, negotiate a win-win package, and once...
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The news, as most of us know it, can seem to be a study in redundancy, a repetitive procession of murders, wars, bombings, deaths, thefts, floods and fires, with a few tornadoes and earthquakes thrown in. But when you review what’s new in the world of science, invariably something jumps right out at you. ...
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And if by “labor problem,” you mean a “management-is-trying-to-screw-workers-around” problem, you’re right. WMBD 31 electrical workers recently put out an informational picket describing how WMBD 31 management — actually Nexstar — has them working without a contract. So, WMBD 31 joins WEEK/WHOI in the not-treating-their-workers-right camp. And then you have the Journal Star, which is...
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by Sherry Matulis, Peoria, IL With the exception of Ron Paul, who I’m convinced is still a political Libertarian, I’ve found myself pondering whether the Republican candidates for President in their zeal to appeal to the Righteous Right have displayed more their arrogance or their ignorance. Both of which I find flabbergasting, to say...
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