The project has saved the city more than $16,000 per year in energy cost and paid for itself in less than two years, at a cost of $50 per light
West Peoria News: Lighting District fully converted to LED
Inland Art: Local MAP guides young artists on career path
Labor roundup: Will Teamsters go on strike at UPS? Alaska unions OK with Willow Project
Negotiations between the Teamsters and United Parcel Service started April 17, and the Teamsters are warning members to prepare for a strike. The union’s new president, Sean O’Brien, has vowed that the union would go to the mat for key…
INSIDE OUT: Amazing ‘Body Worlds RX’ at Riverfront Museum brilliantly exposes life — and health
Donating bodies to science goes beyond helping medical students and harvesting organs, as shown by the world-renowned “Body Worlds RX” exhibit opening May 13 at the Peoria Riverfront Museum. Today, seniors are warned to pay attention to their hips…
Nature Rambles: Red-headed Woodpeckers are dangerously temperate-amental
Central Illinois has long been a refuge for healthy populations of Red-headed Woodpeckers. Our plentiful oak woodlands and rich river valleys have long been home to this colorful species. With its bright red hood and black and white body, it…
The Lion’s Den: Cost of being poor can be very expensive
According to U.S. Census data, the official poverty rate in 2020 was 11.4 percent, resulting in 37.2 million people living in poverty. In addition, Census data indicates that between 2019 and 2020, the poverty rates increased for non-Hispanic Whites and…
Heat Waves in Red & Black: Inflation Reduction Act — save money at home by decarbonizing
If you want to help arrest global warming but are not sure about your best actions, then the Inflation Reduction Act, or IRA, offers a lengthy list of things to do. Over the next 10 years (2023-32), this breakthrough climate…
SPECIAL, Part 2: Strategies to prevent gun violence include uniform licensing, community beautification
Firearm violence has been a major topic across the nation and in our own Peoria area. It is a leading cause of injurious death and has doubled in cases in Peoria from 2020 to 2021. Last month in our Part…
City Council class has healthy mentality for Peoria
Three of the five candidates who earned at-large spots on the Peoria City Council were elected for the first time. And three retained their seat at the half circle at City Hall. All five want to get things done for…
Willie Nelson returning to Summer Camp this month
Willie Nelson is “on the road again,” returning to the annual Summer Camp music festival at Three Sisters Park outside Chillicothe this Memorial Day weekend. Nelson — who turned 90 on April 29 — played the popular event in 2009.…
ARTS ALERTS: Lakeview Ledger, Kid-created Newspaper; Bobcat Goldwaithe at Jukebox; Wedding Singer at Peoria Players
ART • Bradley University’s Heuser Gallery has two exhibits in early May: Nichle Gronvold-Roller’s MFA show continues through May 3, and a Graphic Design Portfolio Show is scheduled for May 6. • The Contemporary Art Center has two exhibits displayed…
Editorial: Great reads, Sandra — Serendipity, indeed
It’s the little things that make the moments of our lives extra special. And it takes a big heart to fill them with love. Serendipity. That’s what Sandra Dempsey Post provided for readers for more than 40 years all over…
The Watch: Peoria County powering up facilities with solar energy
Two solar projects up, one down, as we cut the carbon footprint. Peoria County Board Peoria County Board met March 9 with all members present. Regular business focused on approval of solar project developments and power purchase agreements between Peoria…
West Peoria News: Rohmann and Sterling corner revitalization on way
The environment in which resilient economic ecosystems emerge is not always rooted in large-scale development of entire cities but in the smaller, action steps taken by the local community to make the city safer, more livable, and financially resilient while…
Straight Talk: Why no naming rights for Civic Center?
The heated confrontation between Peoria Rivermen fans and the Civic Center Authority Board is over — for now. A short-term, one-year lease agreement with a second year option was reached and all God’s children said “Amen.” Not everyone praised Ric…
Bill Knight: Medicaid benefits are on the ropes
It’s one thing to enrich the wealthy through targeted tax cuts, etc., but must government make the poor needier? That’s looking likely since Congress in its Consolidated Appropriations Act, enacted Dec. 29, 2022, set March 31 of this year as…
UPDATED: Three films by former ICC students at spaceprairie.com
Wes Brooks can rightfully promote his movie Space Prairie — Act I as “years in the making.” Maybe more importantly, the 26-year-old can also legitimately call himself a filmmaker. Brooks and two other Peoria-area filmmakers screened some of their work…
Inland Art: Garden to garment, no scrap left behind — creative clothing with nod to sustainability
Creative clothing with a view toward sustainability is the focus of three fashionistas in Peoria. Dana Baldwin creates phenomenal evening gowns, wraps and coats, Aareon Boyd up-cycles vintage wear and Lily Scalf focuses on natural dyes and elegant daywear. Each…
Heat Waves in Red & Black: Putin’s petrostate under kleptocratic ‘reiderstovo’
Russian oligarchs are named incorrectly. America has oligarchs, men whose extraordinary wealth can sway governments. As Gilens and Page (2014) show, economic elites and big corporations get their way when Congress crafts legislation whereas ordinary citizens have negligible impact. Wealth…
LETTER: Yes, CO2 pipeline seems like bad idea
Thanks to Bill Rau and The Community Word for highlighting the concerns around the massive CO2 pipeline buildout planned for Illinois. These pipelines are dangerous, especially when run through densely populated areas like Peoria’s South Side where the geography ensures…