Articles

Be “upstander” not “bystander” in fighting hate crimes

BY CLARE HOWARD More than 200 people filled the sanctuary at Temple Sholom in Galesburg recently to hear the outreach director from Southern Poverty Law Center talk about the uptick in hate crime since the presidential election, and she recommended…

Standing Rock:  Template for resistance

BY ELIIDA LAKOTA Editor’s note: Donald Trump may try to overturn the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers’ decision to halt the Dakota Access Pipeline, and Native American Tribal Leaders may demand protesters leave the Standing Rock encampment before spring flooding,…

Protesting factory farms 

BY BILL KNIGHT Karen Hudson has had brushes with fame – and the law – but days after the 20th anniversary of her increased involvement with sustainable agriculture, the 61-year-old Peoria County resident stresses that she’s an everyday person and…

Gut health linked to disease, obesity

BY CLARE HOWARD Two medical researchers who arrived at the University of Illinois College of Medicine at Peoria in August dream of fighting disease and boosting immunity by restoring balance to the gut microbiome. Long-held assumptions about the human gut…

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…