The widely respected book artist and writer Buzz Spector began his career in Chicago in the mid ’70s. His text-based projects have included installation, papermaking, printmaking, drawing and collage. A connoisseur of cartography, Spector’s words and images get uniform scrutiny.…
Two years ago “Abraham Blue,” the 50-foot mural of Abraham Lincoln on the Peoria County Courthouse, came into our community. Many recognize the historic importance, but few know the real reason I (Doug) created this image. “Abraham Blue” represents a…
Illinois universities help fuel the climate crisis. First, no Prairie State university has dumped fossil fuel investments. These money-losing, risky holdings serve primarily to legitimize a planet-destroying industry. Second, as large fossil fuel burners, universities are major carbon emitters. Illinois…
A referendum to dissolve West Peoria Township will be on the Nov. 3 ballot. Having performed the due diligence of weighing the costs and benefits for the citizens of West Peoria, the Township board decided dissolving the Township was in…
Living in the Midwest provides residents with some of the most beautiful weather months, a few of the most challenging, weeks of dreariness, explosive heat that appears suddenly, and while we’re perspiring and paying high utility bills, we realize we’ll…
Election Day Nov. 3 will soon be upon us. My first presidential election was November 1968. I voted for Richard Nixon mainly because he promised to heal the country after the assassinations of Martin Luther King and Robert Kennedy. Also,…
Lots of people have announced they’re running for mayor of Peoria, some others are undecided and that includes current City Hall leader Jim Ardis. WMBD-TV keeps announcing Ardis has declared. He hasn’t. Rita Ali, elected just a year ago to…
As summer slips into fall and the sound of the cicadas provide us with a nightly symphony, I am reminded of the simplicity of nature and how it has a way of gently reminding us that despite what we think,…
The day Supreme Court Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg died and President Trump and Senate Majority Leader Mitch McConnell pledged to violate McConnell’s own precedent on USSC vacancies, Trump’s Environmental Protection Agency re-authorized the use of the herbicide atrazine, which contaminates…
“As I was sitting at work on the verge of tears, just thinking that the color of my skin could literally decide on whether I would make it home to family and friends, I was at a loss. I am…
