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.…
Think ice skating today and the Owens Center or the rebirth of outdoor skating with the addition of PNC Winterfest come to mind. But Peorians have had a long love with ice skating, first starting on the frozen Illinois River.…
Unconventional, thought provoking and experimental art forms exist everywhere, and Peoria is no exception. Most of Peoria’s cultural offerings, however, aren’t rigorous investigations of the current state of contemporary art, art history or theory. Unfortunately Central Illinois is risk averse…
“Glass Menagerie” opens Corn Stock’s winter season
By BILL KNIGHT When Corn Stock Theatre launches its Winter Season Oct. 27 with “The Glass Menagerie,” it will be 73 years since the premiere in Chicago of Tennessee Williams’ first successful play. Directed in Peoria by Amy Glass, the…
Heartland showcasing Bernstein “West Side Story” themes
By BILL KNIGHT Six decades after the Broadway production of Leonard Bernstein’s “West Side Story,” the Heartland Festival Orchestra this month pays musical homage to the work and to Bernstein with a musical program titled “Class Rumble” featuring accomplished timpani…
Building Middle Class
Sheriff Asbell: Despite beliefs, no crime wave
BY BILL KNIGHT Many people worry about crime; they assume there’s cause. But much of that concern is an example of belief versus reality. That disconnect faces 44-year-old Brian Asbell as he starts his position as Peoria County’s new sheriff…