The United Auto Workers’ current agreement with Caterpillar is scheduled to expire March 1. Likely issues include not only compensation, but attendance policies — all as the UAW international leadership could be changing and related situations such as the union’s…
Straight Talk: Too good to be true? Disappointing development from developer KDB Group
Kim Blickenstaff rode into Peoria like the proverbial knight on a white horse with wads of money and a load of ideas for improving life in central Illinois. The highly successful businessman, who made a fortune in the healthcare industry,…
The Watch: City Council expands agenda, County Board gets busy with new membership
Local officials tidied the books to start 2023: you’ll see $750,000 in debts written off and $2.2 million in grants and bequests coming in. On Dec. 13, Peoria City Council expanded its annual legislative agenda to include public safety pension…
West Peoria News: Eagle Scout No. 75 earns his feathers for Troop 11
Boy Scout Troop 11 held an Eagle Court of Honor for Ethan Edley on Jan. 8. Ethan is the troop’s Eagle Scout No. 75 since 1943. It is an impressive number of Eagles because of all the commitment, effort, hard…
Overwhelming support: VAC helps veterans get benefits, but Peorians pay for non-residents
Peoria County has more than 9,000 military veterans, according to the Census, and hundreds seek help with issues ranging from disability benefits to housing. The county’s Veterans Assistance Commission advocates for them while maneuvering a new federal law providing…
Make multi-unit housing tobacco-free, says the ITFC
By JESSICA JOHNSON Illinois Tobacco-Free Communities Coordinator for Hult Center for Healthy Living Have you ever been constantly bothered by the smoke from a neighbor’s cigarette? Chances are most people have experienced the uncomfortable effect of breathing in somebody else’s…
It’s hard out here for curmudgeons to boogie
A barren wasteland lay in between the way I see myself and the way I am seen by others. The perception and programming of people further clouds the actual reality of that distance. I am 55 years old and at…
Inland Art: 22VA highlights therapeutic benefits from creativity art for veterans
Upon entering the 22 VA Art Exhibit last November in the Downtown Branch of the Peoria Public Library, I immediately felt connected to a wide range of creative works. Walls were lined with paintings, photos, recycled art, quilts, writing, carvings,…
Heat Waves in Red & Black: Earth’s fate precariously placed at glacial pace
For many Floridians, melting polar glaciers means too much water, rising sea levels, and eventual relocation. For many Peruvians, melting Andes glaciers means torrential spring floods, summer water shortages, and rivers — major sources of drinking water — possibly running…
The Watch: City Council talks taxes, fees; County recognizes membership
With one bellwether election barely behind us — ringing in five new Peoria County Board members — another will toll in the immediate future. Meanwhile, the nitty-gritty work of government grinds on. Peoria City Council On Nov. 8, Township Supervisor…
OP-ED: The Virtue of Hypocrisy
“Hypocrisy is a tribute that vice pays to virtue.” Francois Duc de la Rochefoucauld, a seventeenth-century French writer and moralist, meant that people who disguise their less-than-worthy thoughts in their speech and writing are implicitly admitting that there is a…
Arts Alerts: Zen and the Art of Sprinkler Maintenance, Nate Craig coming to Jukebox
BOOKS • Writer (and Community Word co-owner) Burt Raabe will be signing his poetry collection “Zen and the Art of Underground Sprinkler Maintenance” and reading selections at I Know You Like A Book on Jan. 11. • Former U.S. Attorney…
‘Disappointing’ majority will be handicap of this GOP
On October 16, 1854, in Peoria, Abraham Lincoln argued against expanding slavery and touched on a citizen’s role, that when he governs himself that is self-government, “but when he governs himself and also governs another, that is more than self-government.…
Judge: County Auditor shall earn check until office voters eliminated closes
Peoria taxpayers are paying outside attorneys to sue the county and also to defend the county in a 13-month-old lawsuit by County Auditor Jessica Thomas, whose office was changed by the County Board in 2021 and eliminated by voters in…
The Lion’s Den: Here’s to new year full of good ole days for the future of us all
If you’re reading this, then you made it to the year of our Lord, 2023. Perhaps there is light snow on the ground and a solitary robin sitting on a frosty tree limb just outside your window. If you’re lucky,…
West Peoria news: No parking when snow hits two inches or more
I am starting this column with caution about streets for snow conditions this winter. All West Peoria streets are snow routes and parking on them is prohibited when there are 2 inches or more of snow. The process begins with…
Nature Rambles: Surf Scoter catching waves on Illinois
At 123 years old, the National Audubon Christmas Bird Count (CBC) is the longest running citizen science project in existence. Its roots date back to 1900, when ornithologist Frank Chapman suggested that people should go out at Christmas and count…
Straight Talk: Christmas Sing brings back joy to our past, present, future
After an absence of three years, the annual Peoria Journal Christmas Sing returned Tuesday, Dec. 13, without the involvement of the local newspaper. Apparently, Ebenezer Scrooge, new owners of the Peoria Journal Star, had no interest in continuing what they…
Serendipity: The ‘good dishes’ serve up most memorable moments
Remember when Christmas celebrations signaled time to bring out the “good dishes” because paper plates and napkins were not allowed? Paper products weren’t so popular in the 1950s and ’60s whatever the celebration, but particularly not for the Big Holidays.…
Benchmark in history: Peoria High grad Darrin Gayles, federal judge in Southern District of Florida
There are plenty of people Peorians can be proud of here, there and everywhere. One such person to have particular pride in is the Honorable Darrin Gayles. The Peoria High graduate sits on the federal bench in Miami as…
Elvis was a hero to most, but not me in spite of history
“Elvis was a hero to most … but he never meant shit to me you see. Straight up racist … that sucker was simple and plain.” That lyric from the Public Enemy classic, “Fight the Power” shaped my opinion of…