A world of wounds September has gone down in history for its record-breaking warmth. Locally, it has turned out to be one of the driest as well. Each month we hear we broke a record, and collectively each year seems…
Thirty years ago, I walked across Bradley University’s campus with intention and nervous haste. Having graduated from Illinois Central College (ICC) three months earlier, I was going to Bradley Hall for my first university class. At age 39, I was…
Kneeling for equality I’m often asked by eager learners who, out of respect, would like to know my intellectual stance on players kneeling during the national anthem. Growing up as a young inner city youth in Chicago and now being…
BlueGreen Alliance, Service Employees hit Trump dump of Clean Power Plan. The BlueGreen Alliance and the Service Employees are blasting Republican President Donald Trump for dumping the Obama administration’s Clean Power Plan, the comprehensive cleanup of the nation’s coal-fired electric…
Current Events Echo Historical Racism
BY CLARE HOWARD Wendel White’s photography painfully deepens our understanding of racism in America. His images speak softly but the message screams at full volume. Racial discrimination in America has surely evolved over the past century forged by legislation, litigation…
Following tax dispute, Bielfeldt Foundation open for business
Greater Peoria has more than 630 nonprofit enterprises, according to Nonprofit Explorer data from the investigative journalism site ProPublica.org – from the Caterpillar Foundation and the Creve Coeur Club to Forest Park Foundation and the Tri-County Urban League. However, few…
Police training for hate rallies
BY CLARE HOWARD Hate rallies and hate crime are on the rise nationwide. Southern Poverty Law Center outreach director Lecia Brooks gave police training materials to local law enforcement officers during her recent visit to Peoria. She said hate groups…
CONGRESS MUST PASS DREAM ACT TO REINSTATE DACA (DEFERRED ACTION FOR CHILDHOOD ARRIVALS) In early September, President Trump ordered an end to the Obama-era program that shields young undocumented immigrants from deportation, calling it an “amnesty-first approach” and urging Congress…
Assumptions v. realities; common assumptions aren’t always common sense; or factual Even hard numbers aren’t always accurate or complete, whether it’s our hunches about crime or what many of us believe Americans actually think: real public opinion. Respected and nonpartisan…
WOODRUFF’S 80TH CELEBRATION They held a birthday celebration at Woodruff High School Saturday, Sept. 9 and more than 550 people packed the Commons area to sing Happy Birthday to their alma mater. Sing and talk they did about old days…
Critical thinking, fake news & HATE People laughed at the preposterous notion Hillary Clinton was running a child pedophilia operation out of the back of a Washington, D.C., pizza parlor. Lots of us just groan when someone spouted off about…
Right-to-work wrong It is incorrect to state economies in right-to-work states grow at a faster rate than union states. That was the assertion made without any research citation in an editorial that ran in a local paper recently. That false…
Judicial Integrity Unit Needed Here BY SHERRY CANNON I completely agree with the premise in the September Community Word’s editorial by Clare Howard. In it Clare stated that a democratic nation cannot exist without a fair and functioning judiciary. Trump’s…
Reflections From a Secular Humanist
BY HARRY ELGER As a former Christian, I can remember the comforts of believing in a God, an afterlife, reuniting with deceased loved ones and the benefits of being in a religious community. Religious beliefs have unified people with shared…
The Big Sit! It’s the world’s most sedentary birding event — The Big Sit! This worldwide event is hosted by Bird Watcher’s Digest and founded by the New Haven (Conn.) Birder’s Club. It takes place all over the world the…
Disney songs continue playing in my head long after the music has stopped. Hours of such selections on Pandora will do that. I’m not the enthusiastic fan, although I do have some favorite selections, but my 5-year-old granddaughter loves the…
The shadow of a bullet Mother’s Day weekend in May 2000, my life drastically changed. My 20-year-old brother Michael Taylor was shot one time in the abdomen by a rookie Chicago police officer, Nail Majid. I often wonder if terrorism…
Trick-or-treat hours in West Peoria are 5-8 p.m. All trick-or-treating children should be back in their homes by 8 p.m. Kids should carry flashlights and go only to houses with porch lights turned on and not enter strange homes or…
2018 politics starts as Fight for 15, SEIU start voter engagement drive. Next year’s politics started Labor Day, as political hopefuls joined a mass walkout of fast-food and hospital workers on Sept. 4, Fight for 15 & a Union said.…
MUSIC Oct. 1: “Music in the McKenzie” with Pint & A Half. 2 p.m. Peoria Public Library North Branch. 497-2100. Oct. 1: Pierce The Veil. 7:30 p.m. Limelight Eventplex. 693-1234. Oct. 1: Faculty recital with Sarah Hansen and Mickey Chien.…