Last month, Community Word spoke with Jessica Stephenson, owner of the independent bookstore Lit on Fire on Main Street. This month, Mary Beth Nebel, owner of the independent bookstore I Know You Like a Book on Prospect Road in Peoria…
Larry Ivory knows social and economic inequality can be measured and traced throughout American history. It’s an anchor that weighs down the American capitalist economy and is a valve threatening to explode under pressure. Ivory, president and CEO of the…
Remembering music from the ’60s, one wonders when the pandemic will ease enough to move from “The Sounds of Silence” to “I Can Hear Music.” Live music is often a sidelight to fans or local musicians, but for others it’s…
The deaths of John Lewis and C.T. Vivian left a legacy but also a responsibility for the rest of us to carry on the work of moving America toward its ideals and away from its blood-soaked history. Reprinted with permission…
Indignation was heated over action the Peoria Housing Authority took at Taft Homes over the July Fourth weekend. PHA implemented measures again this year similar to those followed for almost a decade, but this year advance notification inadvertently did not…
When Rigo Diaz came to Peoria from Mexico 45 years ago, he discovered a very small Hispanic community here. It was rare to see another Hispanic family in the stores. Today, leaders in the Hispanic community believe Latinos account for…
Affordable, reliable, universal mail delivery could vanish as the United States Postal Service runs out of money this month, the American Postal Workers Union says. That’s tragic at a time when the nation is divided and the U.S. Postal Service…
Operating without tax dollars for decades, relying on the sale of products and service, USPS delivers almost half of the world’s mail, including millions of packages for UPS and FedEx. Bob Gunter, president of the American Postal Workers Union’s Heart…
Joe Zich wants to feed your gut. Fermented foods are his passion. He has parlayed his personal passion into a small, part-time business called 309 Cultures that includes a line of kimchi and sauerkraut. Zich, 28, said when he started…
Gaping holes on America’s grocery store shelves reflect panic buying and underlying weaknesses in the industrial food chain. Filling those voids are the local farmers and processors who supply seasonal food, meat, eggs and dairy to shops that promote local…
