WHAT’S THE COST-BENEFIT ANALYSIS OF MORALITY? Words that obfuscate: Cut the Illinois income tax surcharge: This really means a tax savings bonanza for high-income earners and a miniscule savings for middle- and low-income earners. Right to work: This really means…
Author Archive for Clare Howard
Clare Howard is the editor of the Community Word. She can be reached at communityword@yahoo.com
Growing Coalition Fights to Save Public Schools in Peoria
by Clare Howard • • Comments Off on Growing Coalition Fights to Save Public Schools in Peoria
Going door-to-door on the campaign trail, the first question people ask Ryan Spain is “What are you going to do about the schools?” Spain, a 7-year, at-large city council member up for reelection, said the wrong answer would be “I…
Freight Volume Up In Peoria More Growth Projected: Noise and Safety Issues Raised
by Clare Howard • • Comments Off on Freight Volume Up In Peoria More Growth Projected: Noise and Safety Issues Raised
Pictures rattle on the walls and plates shake in the cabinets at Joann and Galen Siscoe’s home a dozen times each day when freight trains pass on the tracks about 75 feet from their front door. The couple has lived…
Illinois women & access to abortion: Determined by federal law, personal bank account or someone else’s religion?
by Clare Howard • • Comments Off on Illinois women & access to abortion: Determined by federal law, personal bank account or someone else’s religion?
Gov. Bruce Rauner has not definitively confirmed or denied he is prochoice. His first state-of-the-state address focused on lots of choices but not choice to have an abortion. Rauner is a millionaire pragmatist. Money has meaning to him. The “burdensome”…
Canadian Tar Sands Pipeline A Threat to Mahomet Aquifer, Scientist Contends
by Clare Howard • • Comments Off on Canadian Tar Sands Pipeline A Threat to Mahomet Aquifer, Scientist Contends
Central Illinois is now a major transportation route for Canadian Tar Sands crude oil, with Enbridge Inc. sending up to 880,000 barrels a day through pipeline constructed above the Mahomet Aquifer. The Mahomet supplies ground water for residents in 14…
UNDER THE RADAR: Tar Sands Oil Pipeline Here; Central Illinois Volume Greater Than Keystone XL
by Clare Howard • • Comments Off on UNDER THE RADAR: Tar Sands Oil Pipeline Here; Central Illinois Volume Greater Than Keystone XL
While debate over Keystone XL engulfs Congress and the White House, farmers in the Congerville-Goodfield area find themselves sitting atop a river of Canadian Crude Tar Sands oil that eclipses the volume projected for the controversial proposed pipeline to the…
Garbage: A mirror reflecting who we are
by Clare Howard • • Comments Off on Garbage: A mirror reflecting who we are
There was a lot of enthusiasm several years ago about a music video produced by the Young Professionals Organization of Greater Peoria that tried to secure Peoria’s bid for 2013 All American City by organizing hundreds of 20- and 30-year…
Contraceptive counseling by zip code
by Clare Howard • • Comments Off on Contraceptive counseling by zip code
Contraceptives are accessible to some Peoria women, not all Teen-aged girls in some areas of Peoria have more than twice the pregnancy rate as their counterparts nationwide but limited access to long-term contraceptives. Overall, the teen pregnancy rate in the…
Digital sign: Allowed in historic, residential district?
by Clare Howard • • Comments Off on Digital sign: Allowed in historic, residential district?
The short answer is yes. The long answer involves violation of trust. Frank Abdnour secured city approval and installed an electronic sign for his restaurant, The Spotted Cow, 718 W. Glen Ave. The sign is up, running and looks…
Counting on Methadone
by Clare Howard • • Comments Off on Counting on Methadone
Drug Addiction Treatment: Corporate Cash-Cow? Social Responsibility of a Non-Profit or Responsible For-Profit? Peoria has the oldest non-profit methadone clinic in the state, opened in the 1970s by Fayette Companies, but in recent years competition has come to town in the…