by Roger Monroe • • Comments Off on Straight Talk: COVID funding folly is ‘curing violence’?
It makes no sense. The health department has no experience or credentials to “cure violence.” Yet, it was handed $400,000 by the City Council with a pat on the back and the battle call, “go fight crime.”
by Roger Monroe • • Comments Off on Straight Talk: Sixty-year reunion rekindles memory of a lifetime
The noon get together could not have been scripted better by Hollywood. Zack and Merl shook hands while smiling eyeball to eyeball. They sat down and talked and talked as family members admired the budding friendship.
by Roger Monroe • • Comments Off on Straight Talk: Why so much deception in all these hospital ‘deals’?
For some reason, Unity Point Health officials didn’t call it acquiring Methodist, Proctor and Pekin hospitals a sale, but a “strategic affiliation,” which it wasn’t and isn’t.
by Roger Monroe • • Comments Off on Straight Talk: Why no naming rights for Civic Center?
The heated confrontation between Peoria Rivermen fans and the Civic Center Authority Board is over — for now. A short-term, one-year lease agreement with a second year option was reached and all God’s children said “Amen.” Not everyone praised Ric…
by Roger Monroe • • Comments Off on Straight Talk: Auditor lost election, but winning in courts
By a whopping 70%, Peoria County voters said the office of County Auditor should be closed. Members of the County Board had overwhelmingly stated there was no need for an elected auditor. Auditor Jessica Thomas was expected to accept the…
by Roger Monroe • • Comments Off on Straight Talk: Rivermen, Bradley basketball on thin ice at Civic Center
The future of professional hockey in Peoria is being threatened by ASM Global, the people who manage the Peoria Civic Center. The ice-making equipment in the arena is 41 years old and needs to be replaced. That inevitable development was…
by Roger Monroe • • Comments Off on Straight Talk: Too good to be true? Disappointing development from developer KDB Group
Kim Blickenstaff rode into Peoria like the proverbial knight on a white horse with wads of money and a load of ideas for improving life in central Illinois. The highly successful businessman, who made a fortune in the healthcare industry,…