Author Archive for Bill Knight

Arts Alerts: Memorable murals, Nutcracker Ballet, Blues, ICC Philarmonic and A Christmas Carol Radio Play

ART Celebrating its 10th anniversary, the Peoria Riverfront Museum recently unveiled “The Amethyst,” one of the world’s tallest geodes, now on display as part of its permanent collection. Big Picture Peoria has eight “augmented-reality-enabled” murals of renowned native Peorians on…

Beauty of a winter lion: Poetry of Byron DeHaan

BILL KNIGHT

As winter increases its mean freeze, there’s something warm and inviting about Byron DeHaan. The long-time director of public affairs at Caterpillar for decades helped instill a sense of corporate citizenship at the Fortune 500 company, and the 96-year-old resident…

Midterm election scorecard tallies totals from Peoria County

Peoria-area voters weighed in on a host of national, state and local races and issues on Nov. 8. Here are details on key winners and their victory percentages from unofficial results from balloting in Peoria County, where the turnout was…

Peoria County voters choose to eliminate auditor

Peoria County voters on Nov. 8 overwhelmingly approved eliminating the County Auditor’s Office, but related court actions remain active: a renewed claim to stay all proceedings and restore the authority of the office, a Temporary Restraining Order (TRO) to maintain…

Election Commission staking out nuisances like voter intimidators, Big Liars

Local and federal law enforcement are on alert for disruptions in the Nov. 8 election in Peoria, where threats have included possible attempts to intimidate voters, plus a campaign of correspondence apparently intended to disrupt the election’s preparations and execution.…

Two Auditor requests for ballot injunction denied by judge; Referendum on whether to keep office left up to voters

Two attempts to block the Nov. 8 referendum on whether or not to keep the Peoria County Auditor office failed in the last month as Judge James Mack denied requests by Peoria County Auditor Jessica Thomas and community advocate Karrie…

Who’s dissing you? Be sure you’re not missing out because lawmakers are lying about the SAFE-T Act

Information is power, it’s said, but increasingly — especially with today’s sophisticated, speedy technology — so is disinformation. In elections, maybe such fearmongering was always powerful. Commentator H.L. Mencken in 1918 wrote, “Democracy tends to degenerate into a mere combat…

New wedge issue from Darren Bailey a non-issue wedgie

BILL KNIGHT

Campaigning for Illinois governor, Republican State Sen. Darren Bailey has core issues: For education, agriculture, lower taxes and term limits; against crime, abortion, gun restrictions and pandemic mandates. Now he wants his own mandate: University enrollments. “Bailey’s recent ‘kitchen table’…