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Guns and cookies

Geoffrey Landrum

George Floyd’s death touched off a racial justice movement across the country, and in Peoria, a Journal Star newspaper carrier feels the impact with notes of appreciation, cookies and gun threats. When Geoffrey Landrum started his job in March delivering…

10 recent moves leaders claim COVID-19 makes necessary

President Trump refused to reopen enrollment for the Affordable Care Act for the dozens of states where people unemployed because of the pandemic also lost company-provided health insurance. Trump increased anti-drug patrols, saying last month, “This will impact the coronavirus…

UnityPoint calls for public’s help making & donating face masks

MEDIA RELEASE FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE CONTACT Alyson McKean Regional Marketing Manager (309) 409-5775 Alyson.McKean@unitypoint.org   UnityPoint Health calls for community help with COVID-19 Peoria, IL- March 27, 2020- UnityPoint Health (UPH) joins health systems across Iowa, Illinois and Wisconsin in…

Limiting protective garb for healthcare workers sparks conflict at OSF

BY CLARE HOWARD OSF Saint Francis Medical Center issued a policy Tuesday prohibiting employees from buying, borrowing or making their own personal protective equipment like face masks. At a time COVID-19 is sweeping across America taking a devastating toll, healthcare…

Potential health risks of recreational marijuana

Editor’s Note: Community Word ran an editorial in our September 2014 edition advocating for the legalization of recreational marijuana, not because we need more mind-altering drugs but because criminalization disproportionately impacted African Americans even though use is equal between whites…

Op-Ed | Great disappointment in lack of disclosure regarding Bradley’s decision about WCBU

BY SHERYL COHEN AND MARY BETH NEBEL The latest information regarding the fate of Peoria Public Radio is that the station will cease to operate on Bradley University’s campus and will be “moved” to WGLT in Bloomington. When WCBU’s facilities…

Journal Star: A “ghost newspaper”

Incompetence and greed” is how a source described corporate, out-of-state management at the Peoria Journal Star, now owned by GateHouse Media headquartered in New York. Within just the last few months, the newsroom’s already devastated staff was cut by another…

Food for justice

Dave Bishop

The infrastructure of American’s food system entrenches social and income inequality, devastates rural communities and inner cities, drives declining health and further empowers corporations and the politicians they support. Working in resistance to those trends are Dave Bishop, an organic…