Two attempts to block the Nov. 8 referendum on whether or not to keep the Peoria County Auditor office failed in the last month as Judge James Mack denied requests by Peoria County Auditor Jessica Thomas and community advocate Karrie…
Articles
Straight Talk: School/Teacher negotiations are on a need-to-know basis
by Roger Monroe • • Comments Off on Straight Talk: School/Teacher negotiations are on a need-to-know basis
The good news is the Peoria Federation of Teachers reached agreement on a new three-year contract with the Peoria School District. Unfortunately, it took months of negotiations, a federal mediator, and the threat of a strike. Once again both sides…
Real Talk: Parenthood is the root of it all, folks
by Community Word Staff • • Comments Off on Real Talk: Parenthood is the root of it all, folks
Spending almost half of my life working in a school capacity, I have seen a lot of issues involving children. Lately it seems to have grown strikingly more serious — more aggression, more serious crimes, the anger, the hurt.…
Who’s dissing you? Be sure you’re not missing out because lawmakers are lying about the SAFE-T Act
by Bill Knight • • Comments Off on Who’s dissing you? Be sure you’re not missing out because lawmakers are lying about the SAFE-T Act
Information is power, it’s said, but increasingly — especially with today’s sophisticated, speedy technology — so is disinformation. In elections, maybe such fearmongering was always powerful. Commentator H.L. Mencken in 1918 wrote, “Democracy tends to degenerate into a mere combat…
Ready to vote? Community Word Election primer here to help
by Brian Ludwig • • Comments Off on Ready to vote? Community Word Election primer here to help
Do Republicans have what it takes to control Congress? Will Democrats keep their hold on statewide offices? Casting an uneducated vote, political scientists say, can be worse than not voting. It’s important for the electorate to be knowledgeable of the…
Community Word Election Primer 2022
by Community Word Staff • • Comments Off on Community Word Election Primer 2022
Metro Peoria’s monthly newspaper has compiled a bit of campaign information for some key races affecting central Illinois. Most media attention in campaigns for the Nov. 8 election has focused on the tops of party tickets. In Illinois, that means…
Meet the candidates running for Peoria County Board
by Community Word Staff • • Comments Off on Meet the candidates running for Peoria County Board
We reached out to the candidates running for a seat on the Peoria County Board to give them the opportunity to let our readers learn something about them. District 2 CAMILLE COATES (D): “Born, raised and educated in central Illinois,…
SAFE SPACE: Jim and Laura Sniff provide special kind of fun on their farm
by Bill Knight • • Comments Off on SAFE SPACE: Jim and Laura Sniff provide special kind of fun on their farm
At press time, a few shows remain in the Blue Ridge Community Farm’s fall concert series, but there’s no end in sight for Jim and Laura Sniff’s activities — or the love behind it in Chillicothe. A self-described “farm kid”…
Op-Ed | Meritocracy: Smug up top with demoralizing bottom
by contributor • • Comments Off on Op-Ed | Meritocracy: Smug up top with demoralizing bottom
By EMILY GILL Social mobility has long been the United States’s answer to inequality. Equality of opportunity should allow individuals to rise as far as their abilities and hard work can take them. In the twenty-first century, however, the promise…
Op-Ed | Ten years of reflection at Jon Buckley Memorial Garden
by contributor • • Comments Off on Op-Ed | Ten years of reflection at Jon Buckley Memorial Garden
By YOLANDA WALLACE Have you ever been down to the Marina far east along the walking trail near the Illinois River? Sometimes I’d go walking along the trail and see the Constitution Park. That’s where people go to discuss…