Author Archive for Bill Knight

Coffee shop “contained” in Hanna City

Ron Gulley

HANNA CITY – After talking with a friend, developer Ron Gulley knew that building a successful coffee shop in rural Peoria would need to be at a good location and unique. He settled on Ill. Route 116 and shipping containers.…

Wage theft: Are you being robbed?

Dane Simpson

Maybe you’ve realized: You’re being robbed. But it’s no burglar; it’s not at gunpoint. Your tips are stolen by your boss, or you regularly work 50 hours a week with no overtime pay, or you’re handed cash at the job…

Bill Knight | Key energy and jobs proposals

Illinoisans could spend the summer contemplating the consequences for jobs, climate and the energy industry, feeling hope or disappointment. At press time, it seems as if Illinois lawmakers could put the state on track toward a future of caring for…

Insect “apocalypse”?

Michael Smice

An “insect apocalypse” could jeopardize plant life. Farming in the 1990s increased use of neonicotinoid insecticides, the neurotoxins that collect in pollen and nectar –– causing paralysis and death for bugs, including bees. However, there’s doubt about bees’ current state,…

Bill Knight | Voting rights

Most people seem relieved that April’s consolidated local election is going smoothly, and that November’s election is over (one that longtime Republican Christopher Krebs, U.S. Cybersecurity chief, said was “the most secure in American history”). Despite that – some say…

When government aid falls short, mutual aid steps in

Tazewell County Mutual Aid

Despite the isolation needed in a pandemic, some are working for others, even if it’s at a safe distance. A garage outside Pekin is where Tazewell County Mutual Aid constantly fills and empties shelves of material for central Illinois neighbors.…

Bill Knight | Taxing times

These are taxing times; times we face not just a pubic-health crisis, but higher taxes – or lower levels of public services. Or both. Nationally, Republicans who backed the 2017 Tax Cuts and Jobs Act are responsible for federal taxes…

Bill Knight | Carl Cannon pushes himself

The longtime weightlifter, soldier, policeman, family man and mentor also pushes others – to bear life’s burdens and condition themselves to meet future challenges. In Full Cannon, published late last year, the 61-year-old Peoria who founded programs such as ELITE…

Bill Knight | ‘The big get bigger, and the small will go out’

Winter’s when farmers and farm communities think, plan and remember. In the cold of 2021, who’ll recall Agriculture Secretary Sonny Perdue, in 2019 inadvertently conceding at a World Dairy Expo, “In America, the big get bigger, and the small will…