The Chiefs and the City of Peoria in the downtown stadium may have started as a marriage of convenience, but at its 10-year anniversary, the relationship seems to be enduring. Instead of the honeymoon being over, ongoing operations and the return…
Author Archive for Bill Knight
“Bailout” Documentary Premieres in Peoria
by Bill Knight • • Comments Off on “Bailout” Documentary Premieres in Peoria
A tattered U.S. flag is an early image in the movie “Bailout,” directed by Peoria native Sean Patrick Fahey. Scheduled to premiere at downtown Peoria’s nonprofit Apollo Theater Oct. 5-11, the 85-minute documentary about the human cost of the 2008…
Peoria’s downtown ballpark: the numbers
by Bill Knight • • Comments Off on Peoria’s downtown ballpark: the numbers
The Peoria Chiefs’ stadium development project cost $25.952 million. Public costs for land consolidation, utility relocation and improving Jefferson Street and curving it were $8.152 million. For this, the net to the City of Peoria was $4.94 million ($3.28 million…
Super PACs Spent Big in Peoria
by Bill Knight • • Comments Off on Super PACs Spent Big in Peoria
Super Political Action Committees (super PACs) spent almost a quarter of a million dollars in the Peoria TV market during the campaign from January-March, records show, together paying $3.74 per vote for the March 20 primary. That’s lousy for democracy…
Peoria Launches ‘Don’t Shoot’ Program
by Bill Knight • • Comments Off on Peoria Launches ‘Don’t Shoot’ Program
A new approach to stopping gun violence stresses conversation and cooperation, not registration or retribution, and this month Peoria launches the program: “Don’t Shoot.” The program comes close to reconciliation, a progressive technique tied to institutions and individuals ranging from the church…
Ingersoll, Independence Day & Freedom!
by Bill Knight • • Comments Off on Ingersoll, Independence Day & Freedom!
The bronze statue at the foot of Glen Oak Park is one of the few local landmarks linking Peoria and Robert Ingersoll. July is perhaps one of the best times to remember Ingersoll, who not only died in July (1899), but delivered…
Flag Day, patriotism and outsourcing
by Bill Knight • • Comments Off on Flag Day, patriotism and outsourcing
It’s obvious and easy to criticize Wal-Mart for selling outsourced merchandise made overseas, some of it by virtual slaves or kids. But as Flag Day approaches, it’s worth noting that Caterpillar, Inc. and Peoria Flag & Decorating in Peoria Heights each in its…
For Mothers’ Day: more progress, please
by Bill Knight • • Comments Off on For Mothers’ Day: more progress, please
As Mothers’ Day approaches this month, I recall inadvertently insulting my Mom decades ago, trying to defend a girlfriend’s career goals by complaining about the lack of opportunities for women who stayed home. “I chose to be a housewife and raise you…
Prevention: being ‘Earthers AND Workers
by Bill Knight • • Comments Off on Prevention: being ‘Earthers AND Workers
Single-issue activism can be ineffective, and it’s particular noteworthy in April, when people commemorate both Earth Day and Workers Memorial Day, when people urge prevention as the best action against trouble, on global and personal scales. For labor, if the…
NCAA Hardly ‘Squeaky’ Clean: BU Guest Speaker
by Bill Knight • • Comments Off on NCAA Hardly ‘Squeaky’ Clean: BU Guest Speaker
When Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Taylor Branch comes to Peoria this month, he’s returning to “the scene of the crime.” But the crime wasn’t the 1951 indictment of Bradley University players like Gene “Squeaky” Melchiorre, caught up in the scheme to fix basketball games. The crime…