For more than a decade, Joe Richey has been a force to be reckoned with in the arts in Peoria. Most readers know him as the co-director of the Prairie Center of the Arts along with his wife Michele Richey.…
MUSIC March 3: Preston Jackson & Friends “Live at the Five Spot.” 5:30 p.m. Contemporary Art Center. 674-6877. March 3: Nathan Taylor & Friends. 8 p.m. Rhythm Kitchen. 676-9668. March 3: “Get the Led Out” Led Zeppelin tribute. 8 p.m.…
AFSCME tries to restart bargaining. Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner has now given three budget addresses, but he clings to anti-worker demands and refuses to resume negotiating with the state’s largest public employees union, the American Federation of State, County and…
The Art of Channy Lyons Chandler Lyons Wildemuth was every bit as formidable as her name. Like Walt Whitman, she contained contradictory multitudes. She was a writer, an historian, an arts and animal lover. She was both warm and stern,…
Women/Sister Rallies draw thousands
Since the inauguration of Donald Trump, rallies have been held across the country and around the world supporting women’s rights, Planned Parenthood and immigrants. On Jan. 21 outside the Peoria Gateway Building, a crowd of about 1,200 heard from Rep.…
ACLU: Heartland Clinics restrict access to birth control
BY CLARE HOWARD The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois recently released results of an investigation begun in 2015 into Heartland Health Services and found the Peoria clinics limit birth control availability for many low-income residents in the community, creating…
Be “upstander” not “bystander” in fighting hate crimes
BY CLARE HOWARD More than 200 people filled the sanctuary at Temple Sholom in Galesburg recently to hear the outreach director from Southern Poverty Law Center talk about the uptick in hate crime since the presidential election, and she recommended…
Standing Rock: Template for resistance
BY ELIIDA LAKOTA Editor’s note: Donald Trump may try to overturn the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ decision to halt the Dakota Access Pipeline, and Native American Tribal Leaders may demand protesters leave the Standing Rock encampment before spring flooding,…
Protesting factory farms
BY BILL KNIGHT Karen Hudson has had brushes with fame – and the law – but days after the 20th anniversary of her increased involvement with sustainable agriculture, the 61-year-old Peoria County resident stresses that she’s an everyday person and…
Gut health linked to disease, obesity
BY CLARE HOWARD Two medical researchers who arrived at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria in August dream of fighting disease and boosting immunity by restoring balance to the gut microbiome. Long-held assumptions about the human gut…
Time is now for a bold vision for infrastructure plus bold funding To compete on a global scale and provide our citizens with the quality of life we have come to expect, the United States must have first-rate infrastructure. This…
What’s right with Peoria I’m old and growing older. One of the few benefits of old age is we know what life was like years ago and see what it is today. Others can not. Peoria was different in…
Few people reside on their ancestral land; few live where they believe their religious faith originally preferred. If they did, more Mormons would populate Illinois, and a lot more Native Americans would demand a return of property throughout the state…
Open Letter to Peoria Dear Mayor Ardis and Peoria City Council Members: Peoria should become a sanctuary city. There are two compelling factors why we should; the first is moral. Contrary to what some fake news sites indicate, sanctuary cities…
Six Brockman Women Travel to Women’s Rally for Rights On Jan. 21, six women from my family, aged 16 to almost 60, joined with 500,000 others from across the nation to march in Washington, D.C. We marched in solidarity with…
February is Black History Month in a Divided Nation BY ASHLEY M. MILLER Ashley Miller is a graduate of Suffolk University Law School and currently practices law in Peoria. Black History Month 2017 is coming on the heels of a…
The Worth and Dignity of Every Person One of the core teachings of virtually all of our religious traditions and our secular democratic tradition as well is the idea that every person has worth and dignity. Democracy really cannot function…
January 20, 2017, a date that will go down in… you decide! As I write, there is a soon-to-be-inaugurated, new President leaving Blair House and traveling to St John’s Church for a morning church service. The service is closed to…
Valuable Insights Relearned During 12 Difficult Days Even with only the most basic medical knowledge acquired through the years, I often rely on self-diagnosis. If the condition of my hair or house is disconcerting to me, or I’m bothered that…