Imagine sitting in your bathroom. Now imagine staying there. For more than a year. That’s how long some 30 percent of Illinois inmates are in solitary confinement, concedes the Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC). Another 10 percent suffers such isolation…
By BILL KNIGHT As Peoria’s City-County Citizen Leadership Academy starts this month with help from neighborhood activists, two recent studies seem to indicate a struggling Peoria and the need for strong neighborhoods to be the backbones of cities. The new…
Between now and Sept. 10, when the special election for the 18th Congressional seat will be decided, candidates Darin LaHood and Rob Mellon will be campaigning throughout the 19 downstate counties. In the low-turnout July 7 primary, LaHood won…
Power brokers or power vacuum? BY BILL KNIGHT The increasing vibrancy of the Warehouse District is seen when crowds hear the Peoria Municipal Band play on Water Street, and the livelier downtown is showcased in Caterpillar’s Visitors Center or the…
Talking about drugs’ side effects, the late comic Robin Williams said, “There’s a product called Olestra, which is a very strange thing. ‘Olestra? What is that?’ It’s said on the little side of the chips: ‘May cause anal leakage.’ That’s…
Gov. Bruce Rauner’s turnaround agenda could seriously hurt everyday people. And it wouldn’t be a double-whammy. It would be more like a quadruple-whammy. Squared. The Republican’s proposed cuts to human services in particular could weaken everything from health care and…
TV news audiences understandably could conclude mayhem rules, but that’s a flawed impression. Broadcasters can decide “if it bleeds, it leads” newscasts because people care, or it’s usually cheap and easy (officials comment; there aren’t “pro-crime” lobbyists or advertisers to…
Life is more than mere existence. It’s survival and growth – as individuals, as a species, and as inhabitants of a planet teeming with life. But living has historically trod two paths: faith and reason, or religion and science.…
Demographics are destiny, it’s been said. Not necessarily, of course, but a new book by Paul Taylor – scheduled to speak at the Peoria Area Labor Management Council (PALM) at 11:15 a.m. May 19 at the Par-A-Dice Hotel – offers…
At the March meeting of the Peoria County Board, Dist. 14 Board member Brian Elsasser wore a white striped tie and light purple shirt, a natty complement to his customary two-piece black suit, attire befitting a prosperous business man;…
