Features

Two men, 200 miles apart, two rivers, one mission

BY CLARE HOWARD Donald Hey and Bud Grieves are focused on re-establishing the ancient “flood pulse” of rivers. The flood pulse is the lifeblood of rivers, the ebb and flow of seasonal cycles of gentle floods and droughts established over…

Trump victory de-coded

News Analysis BY GEORGE HOPKINS Democracy is not for the faint-hearted. Disappointing stuff happens. Neither our Founding Fathers nor the Greeks had much use for democracy. An old Greek joke described democracy as a process by which two wolves and…

ACLU questions Heartland Clinic about religious restrictions

BY CLARE HOWARD Federally funded health care clinics cannot operate under rules that are religiously based, however, some of the lease agreements between Heartland Health Services and OSF Saint Francis Medical Center have restrictions that limit counseling and access to…

Cautious optimism following election

News Analysis: BY TERRY BIBO Scanning headlines in 2016 could make you fearful, anxious, maybe crazy — even when you weren’t looking at the presidential race. On Dec. 14, “Dow nears 20,000” and the Federal Reserve raised interest rates because…

First-hand account: From Anger to Amazement at National Museum of African American History & Culture

Editor’s note: From opening day in September, the new Smithsonian National Museum of African American History and Culture has had record attendance. Admission is booked until April, but Community Word and correspondent Sherry Cannon were able to secure a press…

Oil gas pipelines already criss-cross central Illinois

After Community Word editor Clare Howard wrote about Enbridge’s oil pipeline through Tazewell and Woodford Counties almost two years ago, the issue has continued to percolate, like tar pits belching bubbles of air, from the cancelled Keystone XL Pipeline to…

Diversity key to community healthcare

A diverse student body in medical programs is essential to the future of medical care in this country, and diversity is a key goal Kim Johnston, president of Methodist College, has pursued through a variety of wide-ranging programs since she…

Nuclear Accident: Is an accidental apocalypse inevitable?

Since the 1950s Cold War era, when “duck and cover” drills were common in schools, nuclear weaponry has become abstract, if not ignored outright by most Americans. But with belligerent rhetoric – whether Republican presidential candidate Donald Trump or North…

First-hand account: Car buyers beware

BY ELAINE HOPKINS If you bought a new vehicle recently, here’s a word of advice: check to see whether it has a spare tire. Many new car models now lack a spare tire, and some don’t even offer one as…