Upcoming City Council meetings: 7 p.m. March 14 and 28 in City Hall. The following names will appear on the April 4 consolidated general election ballot for the position of alderman: Ward 1, Leroy Dohm Jr.; Ward 2, Jerry Meismer;…
Peoria City Hall total cost with furnishings in 1899: $271,500 Public buildings are by their intrinsic nature a reflection of the community that they serve and the time in which they are built. So it is with Peoria City Hall,…
The legacy of Michelle Obama Michelle LaVaughn Robinson Obama. President Obama said her entire name when he thanked her for taking on a role that she hadn’t wanted or bargained for during his farewell address in Chicago. It’s true, she…
For more than a decade, Joe Richey has been a force to be reckoned with in the arts in Peoria. Most readers know him as the co-director of the Prairie Center of the Arts along with his wife Michele Richey.…
MUSIC March 3: Preston Jackson & Friends “Live at the Five Spot.” 5:30 p.m. Contemporary Art Center. 674-6877. March 3: Nathan Taylor & Friends. 8 p.m. Rhythm Kitchen. 676-9668. March 3: “Get the Led Out” Led Zeppelin tribute. 8 p.m.…
AFSCME tries to restart bargaining. Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner has now given three budget addresses, but he clings to anti-worker demands and refuses to resume negotiating with the state’s largest public employees union, the American Federation of State, County and…
The Art of Channy Lyons Chandler Lyons Wildemuth was every bit as formidable as her name. Like Walt Whitman, she contained contradictory multitudes. She was a writer, an historian, an arts and animal lover. She was both warm and stern,…
Women/Sister Rallies draw thousands
Since the inauguration of Donald Trump, rallies have been held across the country and around the world supporting women’s rights, Planned Parenthood and immigrants. On Jan. 21 outside the Peoria Gateway Building, a crowd of about 1,200 heard from Rep.…
ACLU: Heartland Clinics restrict access to birth control
BY CLARE HOWARD The American Civil Liberties Union of Illinois recently released results of an investigation begun in 2015 into Heartland Health Services and found the Peoria clinics limit birth control availability for many low-income residents in the community, creating…
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…
Time is now for a bold vision for infrastructure plus bold funding To compete on a global scale and provide our citizens with the quality of life we have come to expect, the United States must have first-rate infrastructure. This…
What’s right with Peoria I’m old and growing older. One of the few benefits of old age is we know what life was like years ago and see what it is today. Others can not. Peoria was different in…
Few people reside on their ancestral land; few live where they believe their religious faith originally preferred. If they did, more Mormons would populate Illinois, and a lot more Native Americans would demand a return of property throughout the state…
Open Letter to Peoria Dear Mayor Ardis and Peoria City Council Members: Peoria should become a sanctuary city. There are two compelling factors why we should; the first is moral. Contrary to what some fake news sites indicate, sanctuary cities…
Six Brockman Women Travel to Women’s Rally for Rights On Jan. 21, six women from my family, aged 16 to almost 60, joined with 500,000 others from across the nation to march in Washington, D.C. We marched in solidarity with…
February is Black History Month in a Divided Nation BY ASHLEY M. MILLER Ashley Miller is a graduate of Suffolk University Law School and currently practices law in Peoria. Black History Month 2017 is coming on the heels of a…