Will it take things like motorized aircraft or flying cameras banking over the Shoppes at Grand Prairie or Bradley University, hovering above the Par-A-Dice Hotel & Casino or Glen Oak Park, or zooming from Dunlap and the South Side to…
Author Archive for Bill Knight
Nagging Feelings of Loss
by Bill Knight • • Comments Off on Nagging Feelings of Loss
The week of the Boston Marathon bombing, the workplace explosion in West, Texas, and the death of Peoria comic stalwart Royce Elliott, it was impossible not to feel guilty about a nagging sense of loss from flooding. Even there, many…
Special interests delay wastewater protections
by Bill Knight • • Comments Off on Special interests delay wastewater protections
It’s tempting to characterize opponents of the City/County Health Department’s proposed ordinance on wastewater systems to be as full of crap as the Illinois River and nearby Kickapoo Creek, both of which are considered by the state EPA, the Illinois…
Should society protect kids from football?
by Bill Knight • • Comments Off on Should society protect kids from football?
Society somehow thinks it’s sensible to check Halloween candy for drugs or poison despite overwhelming evidence that such incidents are an urban myth, but faced with real reports of serious injuries to kids playing football, people seem unperturbed. But high…
Knight Watch: Progressives Unite to Fight for Democracy
by Bill Knight • • Comments Off on Knight Watch: Progressives Unite to Fight for Democracy
In 1864, the Rev. Byron Sunderland, chaplain of the U.S. Senate, prayed before an April session, “Oh, Lord, give us that Thou wilt in Thine infinite wisdom vouchsafe to our rulers and legislators in this Congress assembled more brains. More…
Creve Coeur Club Genuflecting to Rove?
by Bill Knight • • Comments Off on Creve Coeur Club Genuflecting to Rove?
Complaints are building about the Creve Coeur Club bringing Karl Rove as its Washington Day banquet speaker, and the grumbling ranges from whines that the CCC “always brings in Republicans” to condemnation of Rove himself. Rove is scheduled to appear…
Climate Change is Real – More than 2/3 of Americans Accept it as Fact
by Bill Knight • • Comments Off on Climate Change is Real – More than 2/3 of Americans Accept it as Fact
Climate change is not just an abstract, an inconvenience, or a disaster limited to coastal populations or Arctic ice. Peoria is already affected and climate change could hurt us all worse. The saying “think global, act local” is recalled, but…
Was the Chiefs Stadium Worth It?
by Bill Knight • • Comments Off on Was the Chiefs Stadium Worth It?
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…
“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…