West Peoria News

West Peoria had a very successful Clean Up Day on a very nasty, wet last Saturday in April. Twenty-two volunteers received 170 loads of junk and 29 pallets of electronics recycling at a cost of approximately $1,350 to the township.…

Bricks & Mortar

In 1916, the Board of the National Duroc-Jersey Association made the decision to construct an office building at the corner of Monroe and Fayette streets. A nationwide design search was started in early 1916 for a 40-by-100-foot project with nationwide…

Kamara Taylor

I too am America As I ponder what it is to be an American, in a country that has been honorable as a melting pot but also discriminative in its practices, I have often realized that ismism also has been…

Inland Art

Chloe McEldowney is a young artist who has been living in Peoria for just two years. During that time she’s made an impression on the art community, receiving a residency at the Prairie Center of the Arts and contributing a…

Arts Beat

MUSIC June 1: Ratt at 8 p.m. Limelight Eventplex. 693-1234. June 2: “Broadway Jazz Night” featuring Stephanie Aaron, 8 p.m. at the Waterhouse. 494-9100. June 2: Chicken Shack Blues. 8 p.m. Rhythm Kitchen. 676-9668. June 2: Cousin Eddie “Live at…

Labor Roundup

Retired miners win health benefits extension. Scrambling to ensure that more than 22,000 aging, ailing retired miners didn’t lose their health care, Congress approved extending the benefits, run by two government-funded plans that were running out of money due to…

Ridin’ the storm out?

BY BILL KNIGHT Flooding is more frequent and more costly, and destruction like what Peoria County endured four years ago this spring might be considered bad luck. Homeowners, developers and government couldn’t foresee such dangers. Except: Maybe they could. Storms…

Hate crime: Guilty 

BY BILL KNIGHT The last of the three family members arrested in connection with a fight in Canton Memorial Day weekend last year pleaded guilty on March 13. In a complicated agreement with prosecutors, Shane Weller, 19, pleaded guilty: •…

LaHood

It’s time to raise the nation’s D+ infrastructure grade In his address to Congress, President Trump described a future in which “crumbling infrastructure will be replaced with new roads, bridges, tunnels, airports and railways gleaming across our beautiful land,” and…

Monroe

Caterpillar rumor It’s only a rumor. These days everyone repeats rumors especially if it’s about President Trump, someone in his family, or someone in his administration. However, this rumor is about Caterpillar and its announced plan to move some 200…

No less an authority than The Forager Press has pronounced the morel mushroom “May’s wild food of the month,” noting that “The true morels – morchella esculenta, elata and semilibera – are not only some of the most delicious wild…

Editorial

E.R.A. sorely needed: Men discussing cuts to contraception, pregnancy coverage If ever there was an image to make women cringe, it’s this one. If ever there was an image to convince women in America that we need the Equal Rights…

Letter

Highest value: society based on tolerance Thank you for your coverage of the event “Build Bridges: Rally for Immigrant and Refugee Rights” (http://thecommunityword.com/online/cwnotes/2017/04/02/attorney-no-human-being-is-illegal/) We thought it was important to invite members of the Peoria community to respond to the Trump…

Op-Ed

Put Healthy Food within Reach for All Peorians BY SUSAN LEVIN, M.S., R.D. Putting healthy food into reach: That’s the tagline for the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), formerly food stamps. But the reality is that healthful foods are out…

Last month, Rev. Hightower wrote about the Civil Rights Act signed in 1964 and the Voting Rights Act signed in 1965. In 2008, Barack Obama was elected president, and Sen. Mitch McConnell said, “We are going to do all we…

Nature Rambles

Planning for Pollinators Bumblebees buzzing amongst the white clover on the front lawn is a childhood memory that many of us share. Today, children have another memory that will follow them into adulthood. They hear the scientific data that warn…

Serendipity

People of certain age, confident I qualify, are advised to engage in health promoting tasks and behaviors for body and brain. These encompass a wide variety, including interaction with others; volunteering; healthy eating; learning new skills; spirituality; walking and other…