News

Elder Care Concerns

BY DAVE WEIMAN Everyone needs a break. If you are living with a senior and are the primary caregiver, remember to take care of yourself. It’s wonderful that you are providing the means for your loved one to stay at…

GateHouse to Peoria Newsroom: You don’t deserve your salary

Peoria Journal Star newsroom employees are paid twice what they deserve, a representative of the paper’s owner, GateHouse Media (New Media), told the union in Springfield during negotiations there recently with journalists at the Springfield State Journal-Register. Union employees at…

Fairbanks leaving neighborhoods active

Whether emptying street-corner trash cans or settling into an emptying office, Steve Fairbanks’ sigh and smile greet visitors like a guy with secrets he’s eager to share. This time of year has featured “States of” speeches — the Union, the…

State’s attorney declines to reopen Heidelberg case

Peoria County State’s Attorney Jerry Brady said he will not reopen a case that sent Cleve Heidelberg to prison 45 years ago despite information from a Chicago attorney and local investigator that the police investigation and prosecution of the case…

Peoria’s “revolving door of poison” — Childhood lead poisoning devastates families & communities

Flint, Mich., pushed childhood lead poisoning onto a national stage, but Peoria’s lead poisoning levels are equally “frightening” and will hurt Peoria for generations to come, one health care provider said. “We have a revolving door of poison,” said Dr.…

Five years after the publication of Peorian John Kelly’s “The Other Law of Moses,” the 250-page paperback seems as relevant as ever. Progressive populist Bernie Sanders talks about income inequality and college debt; conservative populist Donald Trump rails about overpriced…

Elder Care Concerns

BY DAVE WEIMAN Boredom, loneliness, and helplessness have been called the “Three Plagues of Nursing Homes.” But, they apply to other levels of services for the elderly, too. A retired carpenter who loved to work with his hands, but due…

Environmental News Brief

Junk Science Journals Two scientific journals known for their industry ties have become go-to publications for researchers who minimize risks from chemicals, according to an article published by Center for Public Integrity. Critics are charging the two peer-reviewed science journals,…

“Unimaginable injustice” 45 years in prison

Is Cleve Heidelberg INNOCENT? BY CLARE HOWARD On a cold, gray Friday afternoon in mid-January, Marcella Teplitz and Andrew Hale drove east on Harmon Highway from the site of the old Bellevue Drive-In movie theater. Outside the theater ticket booth…

Food deserts

Distance and income leave some neighborhoods hungry for good food BY BILL KNIGHT The need is chicken-or-egg. And meat and fruit . . . . Neighborhoods need full-service groceries for consumers to shop for healthy food, but businesses need customer…