Super Political Action Committees (super PACs) spent almost a quarter of a million dollars in the Peoria TV market during the campaign from January-March, records show, together paying $3.74 per vote for the March 20 primary. That’s lousy for democracy…
Author Archive for Bill Knight
Peoria Launches ‘Don’t Shoot’ Program
by Bill Knight • • Comments Off on Peoria Launches ‘Don’t Shoot’ Program
A new approach to stopping gun violence stresses conversation and cooperation, not registration or retribution, and this month Peoria launches the program: “Don’t Shoot.” The program comes close to reconciliation, a progressive technique tied to institutions and individuals ranging from the church…
Ingersoll, Independence Day & Freedom!
by Bill Knight • • Comments Off on Ingersoll, Independence Day & Freedom!
The bronze statue at the foot of Glen Oak Park is one of the few local landmarks linking Peoria and Robert Ingersoll. July is perhaps one of the best times to remember Ingersoll, who not only died in July (1899), but delivered…
Flag Day, patriotism and outsourcing
by Bill Knight • • Comments Off on Flag Day, patriotism and outsourcing
It’s obvious and easy to criticize Wal-Mart for selling outsourced merchandise made overseas, some of it by virtual slaves or kids. But as Flag Day approaches, it’s worth noting that Caterpillar, Inc. and Peoria Flag & Decorating in Peoria Heights each in its…
For Mothers’ Day: more progress, please
by Bill Knight • • Comments Off on For Mothers’ Day: more progress, please
As Mothers’ Day approaches this month, I recall inadvertently insulting my Mom decades ago, trying to defend a girlfriend’s career goals by complaining about the lack of opportunities for women who stayed home. “I chose to be a housewife and raise you…
Prevention: being ‘Earthers AND Workers
by Bill Knight • • Comments Off on Prevention: being ‘Earthers AND Workers
Single-issue activism can be ineffective, and it’s particular noteworthy in April, when people commemorate both Earth Day and Workers Memorial Day, when people urge prevention as the best action against trouble, on global and personal scales. For labor, if the…
NCAA Hardly ‘Squeaky’ Clean: BU Guest Speaker
by Bill Knight • • Comments Off on NCAA Hardly ‘Squeaky’ Clean: BU Guest Speaker
When Pulitzer Prize-winning writer Taylor Branch comes to Peoria this month, he’s returning to “the scene of the crime.” But the crime wasn’t the 1951 indictment of Bradley University players like Gene “Squeaky” Melchiorre, caught up in the scheme to fix basketball games. The crime…
Some baseball history to think about as Spring Training begins
by Bill Knight • • Comments Off on Some baseball history to think about as Spring Training begins
Major League Baseball’s pitchers and catchers report to Spring Training this month, when everything’s fresh and new (if cold and dormant). Everyone has an equal chance (depending on off-season personnel moves and injuries). And the possibilities are endless (at least…
Local Red Cross administrators and civic leaders should reassert control of Peoria operations
by Bill Knight • • Comments Off on Local Red Cross administrators and civic leaders should reassert control of Peoria operations
The heavy hands of out-of-state attorneys and a dominating national headquarters seem to be getting in the way of a settlement in the long-delayed unionization of Peoria’s Heart of America Red Cross Blood Services division. Local Red Cross administrators and…
Health insurers gouging patients?
by Bill Knight • • Comments Off on Health insurers gouging patients?
Greater Peoria is a medical Mecca, and it also has a significant presence of insurance companies, so one wonders whether there’ll come a time when central Illinois will be Ground Zero for a battle between health providers and health insurers.…