You might forgive the average consumer of government propaganda for assuming the City of Peoria’s “Don’t Shoot” campaign is, well, so much hooey. You’ve seen the ads. They are plastered in coffee house bulletin boards, the sides of buses that…
Author Archive for Billy Dennis
Signs of the times
by Billy Dennis • • Comments Off on Signs of the times
I notice things. Sometimes. I mean, I was shocked, I tell you SHOCKED when I read on Wikipedia that Paul Lynde and Charles Nelson Reilly were gay. Really? I could not tell that by watching “Hollywood Squares” and “Match Game”…
City’s tepid response to Snowpocalypse light
by Billy Dennis • • Comments Off on City’s tepid response to Snowpocalypse light
I’ve spent most of the snowstorm in the city’s chronically neglected South Side, so maybe I don’t have a good grasp of the work done elsewhere in the city yet. I know that Western is pretty well covered in snow.…
City Beat: Poor Aaron Schock
by Billy Dennis • • Comments Off on City Beat: Poor Aaron Schock
He seems to be doing a good job in Congress … as long as he is working behind the scenes with as little direct contact with the public — and the media — as possible. But as soon as he…
Silly season on gun control
by Billy Dennis • • Comments Off on Silly season on gun control
Imagine a United Stated where it is illegal to own or buy a gun. Paradise, right? Well, you would have to set aside the premise that one of the things that keep our government honest is that so many of…
Schock: Hypocrisy or Opportunity?
by Billy Dennis • • Comments Off on Schock: Hypocrisy or Opportunity?
U.S. Rep. Aaron Schock shouldn’t have it both ways. Peoria’s two-term Republican Congressman has been mentioned as a possible GOP candidate for governor in 2014, and the 31 year old has been quoted as saying his party should move toward…
You’ve gotta wonder what Steve Settingsgaard is thinking
by Billy Dennis • • Comments Off on You’ve gotta wonder what Steve Settingsgaard is thinking
Whatever it is, it’s not about the public’s right to know city business. The chief of Peoria’s Police Department got quoted in the Journal Star saying that he is going to use city resources to track down the identity of…
City Beat
by Billy Dennis • • Comments Off on City Beat
Umm … exactly how did Peoria’s ‘Don’t Shoot’ PR campaign have anything as all to do with federal indictments of Bomb Squad members? So, 12 members of a rather ordinary street gang that most Peorians have never heard of get…
Peoria’s Rain Garden Demonstrates How to Easily Improve our Groundwater Supply and our Community Water Source!
by Billy Dennis • • Comments Off on Peoria’s Rain Garden Demonstrates How to Easily Improve our Groundwater Supply and our Community Water Source!
They didn’t look like much. But they pack a powerful environmental punch. They straddled a walkway that diagonally dissected the lawn of the Valeska Hinton Early Childhood Education Center at the corner of MacArthur Highway and Richard Allen Drive. Two rough…
Mayor Ardis ran on an anti crime platform in 2005
by Billy Dennis • • Comments Off on Mayor Ardis ran on an anti crime platform in 2005
I was deeply involved in covering the 2005 city council/mayoral elections. At the time, I strongly opposed Dave Ransburg, and I did back Jim Ardis. I liked his strong anti-crime message. I was critical of the Journal Star for accusing Mayor Ardis of…