Original Peoria Pundit

Site News: Moving Day is here (UPDATED)

UPDATE YOUR BLOGROLLS!!!! This is my last post at PeoriaPundit.com. I’m moving over to The Blog Peoria Project. The new site is here. I’ve already put up a couple posts. There are many reasons, most of which I have discusses at Blog Peoria. Moving there will allow me to network with other Blog Peoria members. Once Peoria Pundit is [...]

Site news: Posting will be light

I’m working this evening, and my morning and early afternoon are taken up by Blog Peoria Project business. Member bloggers might want to read this important post. Anyway, do check out Word on the Street. Apparently, there’s something Barbara Van Auken hasn’t been telling me.

Local: Three shootings

Via WMBD: Three victims went to the hospital after a Sunday morning shooting in Peoria. It happened at the Southern Valley 66 on Western Avenue. Authorities say soon after a victim went to the hospital with a gun shot wound to the stomach, two more people showed up with bullet wounds. Police won’t say if the [...]

Local: A disease is a disease, regardless of cause

Twenty years ago, you couldn’t pick up a newspaper without reading something about AIDS and HIV. I wrote my share of them. These days, almost nothing. We assume that the disease has been beaten. There are people who walk around with an HIV infection who may never get full-blown AIDS, and there are people with [...]

Media: Cosmetic changes coming to PJStar.com

The announcement came today. The Journal Star’s new Website will “go live” at about 8 p.m. Tuesday: The new Web site should generally run faster than the current site. It features a brighter, cleaner look along with a new logo. It should also be easier for users to navigate. Depending on your Internet service provider, it [...]

Politics: Ray LaHood is getting sued (UPDATED)

UPDATE: Before taking this too seriously, consider the source: From a press release: (CHICAGO)(May 16, 2008) Illinois Republican reformer Andy Martin will hold a Chicago news conference Friday, May 16th to announce he has filed a lawsuit to stop corruption at the Illinois Republican Party’s 2008 state convention. ‘The behavior of most Republican Party leaders is disgraceful,’ [...]

Local: Maplewood Drive to close

From a press release: Maplewood, North of Main Street, will be closed for two weeks starting Monday, May 19th to allow for construction activities.

Local: Blogosphere reacts to Hinton

District 150 Superintendent Ken Hinton once again displayed his lack of respect to taxpayers and parents. In an interview with the Journal Star, he said that, sure, he’s meet with parents who are upset that 45 minutes has been cut from the school day. But he claimed that kids will benefit from all that wonderful [...]

Today’s news: Knuckleheads

From the Journal Star: You know, if I had a bullet wound in the gut, I’d be a tad uncooperative, too. Ken Hinton is in rare form. Bull-headed, condescending … come to think of it, that’s not rare for him at all. Here’s my big dream: A new board and administrators at District 150. Visualize, visualize, Visualize … The [...]

Site news: Invitations

Some announcements: I’ve been playing around with my Facebook page, and I ended up sending invitations to about half the people in the mailing list. If you got one (or two or three, sorry about that), consider signing up. Facebook is a good way to network for business and social reasons. And the mysterious Subway Conductor seems [...]

Politics; Edgar to stump for Darin LaHood

From a press release: Governor Jim Edgar to Appear With Darin LaHood Rare campaign visit by former Governor indicates candidate LaHood’s strength in State’s Attorney’s Race Peoria, IL – Illinois’ beloved Governor Jim Edgar who served this State for many years, including two terms in the Executive Mansion in the 1990’s is scheduled to appear in Peoria on [...]

Local: Emergency utility repair!

From Peoria City Hall: Rockwood from Farrelly to Eugenie will be closed starting immediately and continuing at least through the day tomorrow. Traffic will be detoured to Julia St to allow for an emergency utility repair.

Local: Security concerns at St. Mark’s

The following showed up in my email: Dear St. Mark’s Families, Today at approximately 9:00 AM there was an incident reported that a threatening message was left on a bathroom stall. We followed the Diocese of Peoria and the St. Mark School response protocol. We immediately evacuated the school moving everyone to the church as well as [...]

Media: PJS offers mayor backhanded, minimal praise for lower crime rates

It took a more than a couple days, but the anonymous gnomes who pen official opinions on the Journal Star’s award-winning (snicker) editorial page have finally editorialized about the stunning drop in violent crime from te same time last years. As readers may recall, recently I chastised the Journal Star for failing to quote Peoria Mayor [...]

Sports: Oh, joy … the Cubs pick up a .178 hitter

From Cubs.com: Veteran outfielder Jim Edmonds was en route to Wrigley Field on Wednesday, and could be in the Cubs’ lineup on Thursday if he passes a physical. Edmonds, who hit .178 in 26 games, was available after being released by the San Diego Padres last Friday. He cleared waivers on Wednesday. “We’ll put him out there to [...]

Politics: Sexist Obama?

What’s with the “sweetie?” The chicks really hate to be called “sweetie,” especially when they are the masculine type who don’t want to stay home and cook and clean for her man. End sarcasm.

Media: SJ-R site links to local bloggers

Check this out: The spiffy new State Journal-Register Web site has an easy-to-access pagelisting all their house bloggers … followed by a list of “Sprngfieldish” bloggers. Very cool. My advice to the SJ-R: Constantly monitor this list of links. Bloggers come and go. In Peoria, this is especially true. And I notice that Disarranging Mine is conspicuously absent [...]

Media: GateHouse gobbles up an Eagle

More sad news for the state of Journalism in West-Central Illinois: Eagle Publications of Western Illinois, Inc. announced today it has agreed to sell the Macomb Eagle and related publications to GateHouse Media. Terms of the transaction were not disclosed. The transaction is scheduled to be completed May 31. Eagle Publications of Western Illinois, Inc. was owned [...]

Blogs: Around the Peoria blogosphere

Click on these links. And click them often: I’m up to my old tricks at It’s Billy’s Blog. Jonathan Ahl links to Peoria Pundit, not once, not twice, but three times (here and here). Pammy Darlin’ makes a comment on beauty. Laura gives D150 bosses some advice they won’t follow in a million years. PeoriaIllinoisan does the same thing, only [...]

Entertainment: ‘Graduate’ celebrates comic commencement

From a press release: As most seniors graduate high school or college this month, “commencing” on to the next stage in life may seem less daunting after seeing the comedy The Graduate, showing at the Apollo Theater. Downtown Peoria’s nonprofit moviehouse will screen filmmaker Mike Nichols’ 1967 classic starring Dustin Hoffman in his breakthrough role on one [...]

Media: HOI is THE TV station for D150 coverage

Once again, HOINews came through for parents at District 150 schools. Last night, I caught their 10 p.m. newscast, and there were two — count ‘em, TWO — reports related to the quality of education at Peoria’s public schools. One was a follow-up to the station’s original report on how some school’s aren’t meeting state-mandated [...]

Local: Peoria leaders figure out a new way to kiss Caterpillar’s big yellow butt

Caterpillar Inc. is fixing up its parking deck. Good for them. For them. It’s their deck, they are responsible for it. In a totally pure free-market, free-enterprise system they ought to be responsible for those costs. One of those costs, one assumes, would be to find a place for its workers to park. After all, there [...]

Local: City Council cuts it short, puts off the inevitible

Well, I was wrong. Tonight’s Peoria City Council meeting didn’t end sometime after 10 p.m. as I predicted. It ended shortly after 8 p.m. The meeting started at about 6:15 p.m., but the real city business didn’t start until about 6:45 p.m. after all the proclamations were over. Which was about when I arrived. cagey veteran [...]

Politics: Not all the lefties are infatuated with Obama

I found this article on AlterNet, a news service that promotes a left-of-center point of view: Obama likes to paint himself as an opponent of the war. He reminds voters of his one — and only one — speech opposing it. But he swiftly changed his mind. Obama told the Chicago Tribune on July 27, 2004, [...]

Local: Doing business at the Sheridan Triangle (UPDATED)

For all the talk about whether or not a roundabout at the Sheridan Triangle (the intersection of Sheridan, Loucks and Gift) would make the place a better place to live and do business, there does seem to be some economic activity going on over there. I drove by today and noticed that the former Dairy Queen [...]

Local: D150 ready to cave, the insurrection MUST continue

I couldn’t go to last night’s meeting of the group of parents upset at District 50 for slashing a month of instructional time from primary school students (in daily 45-minute increments). I had to work. In the days since the school board voted to slash the school day, there has been something of an uprising underway. [...]

Blogging: We all should be dooced

The chick who writes this blog told Nightline that: She got fired for writing a post about how her boss got Botox treatments and showed up to work with a frozen face. So, she blogs full time. She now makes $40,000 a month from advertising revenue. Sounds like a plan … oops, I don’t have a spouse to pay [...]

Local: Airline to reduce local service next month

According to United Air Lines’ new worldwide timetable, regional affiliate Skywest Airlines dba United Express is going to reduce weekday Peoria to Chicago-O’Hare roundtrip flights from five to four beginning June 5. At the same time, the airline is cutting Bloomington-Normal to Chicago-O’Hare service from four roundtrips to three. At least no further destinations will be [...]

Review: Grandpa John’s Rib Shack

Grandpa John’s Rib Shack 200 W. McClure, Peoria IL (309) 685-8902 Three out of five stars I had lunch with Mom and Dad at this venerable, third-generation rib joint today. They had the beef sandwich, I chose Monday’s daily special: A turkey sandwich with fries and a soda. I should have ordered the beef, as the bun looked empty. [...]

Local: ‘Insanity at D150′

When I first heard about the parental uprising over the drastically shortened instructional time at District 150 primary schools, I was outraged. Imagine the outrage if you are parent of primary-age kids: Seriously, what do the parents, city leaders and property owners in Peoria plan to do about the fact that our school district seems perfectly [...]

Local: PJS finds a new way to criticize Mayor Ardis

The Peoria Journal Star couldn’t find a way to mention Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis’ name even once when it devoted four stories Sunday to how the murder rate has dropped (details avaialable here). But when they ran a story today casting doubt on the success of a committee that’s just getting off the ground, this is the [...]

Media: More editorial bravery from 1 News Plaza

Today’s award-winning (snicker) editorial page opines on teenagers who help pick up litter. They are in favor. Still no comment on the drop in the the murder rate.

Local: Shut out of the process at D150, parents turn to politicians who at least listen

Today’s Word on the Street mentions that parents who are upset at D150’s decision to cut a month’s work of instructional time out of their primary schools are taking their concerns to members of the Peoria City Council. I’ll paraphrase the positions taken by two of the council members quoted in the article. Mayor Ardis: [...]

Media: State Journal-Register switching Web sites this week

While I have yet to see an announcement on the Journal Star’s Website (perhaps I missed it), the Springfield’s GateHouse Media newspaper is keeping its readers informedof the coming changes, with a nice long story detailng what is coming: The State Journal-Register’s Web site will look different when you log on Tuesday night. Sj-r.com will change [...]

Local: Man found shot near city’s downtown

Two thoughts about this article about a man who was found inside a car with a life-threatening gunshot wound to the head: This had to happen right after the Journal Star finally acknowledged Peoria’s murder rate is down dramatically from last year. I think that any crime that happens within four block of Club Apollo will now [...]

Local: Don’t hold your breath waiting for Journal Star editorial praising Ardis

My, how time flies. About this time last year, Peoria Mayor Jim Ardis had the audacity to stand up for Peoria and complain about how Peoria’s one and only daily newspaper was portraying his city. He complained that the newspaper over-emphasized bad news the city, including an unusually high murder murder rate. The response from the editorial [...]

Politics: 2nd Amendment ‘irrelevant’

New York Mayor chael Bloomberg, Michael Bloomberg, considered by some to be a viable third-party candidate for president, doesn’t want the trial of an out-of-state gun shop to even mention the existence of the 2nd Amendment to the Constitution: The trial, set to begin May 27, involves a Georgia gun shop, Adventure Outdoors, which the city [...]

Media: Good journalism lesson from the Daily Show

Remember how the Peoria Journal Star quoted a bunch of politicians and political scientists complaining that the bloggers are obsessed with dredging up old quotes to make people look bad, thus providing a disincentive to participate in the process. Well, I wouldn’t include The Daily Show with Jon Stewart among the digital media, but they’ve [...]

Politics: ‘Yes, candidate Ozinga, the rules do apply to you, too’

‘So, what you’re saying, judge, is that when I sue someone and my statements under oath are disputed by at least five different witnesses, I can be forced to give a deposition … even thought I’m running for Congress and it might embarrass me? Outrageous!’ [Tazewell County Circuit Judge John] Barra previously included [Martin] Ozinga among [...]

Media: Numero on blogging

I was at One World the other day at what I incorrectly thought was an off-the-record lunch. I picked up the latest issue of Numero, No. 26. I have to say this little magazine/entertainment guide is beginning to grow on me. Maybe that’s because they interviewed me for their article on how blogging is becoming [...]

Politics: Scientists getting mad, getting on the ballot

Are you sick of politicians making decisions based on their irrational beliefs and not on science. Well, so are scientists. A group of ‘em recently took a crash course on electoral politics. The goal? Running for office. Science has become a part of every major issue of modern life, said neurologist Alan Leshner, president of the [...]

Media: Read all about it … online

Democratic Psychodrama

I’ve been meaning to post on the latest “progress” (I use the term loosely) on the Democratic Party quest to nominate a candidate for President. Today I ran across this article in the Wall Street Journal (linked from Drudge). The article is Damsel of Distress By Peggy Noonan and it is a doozy. Noonan breaks down [...]

Local: Dog fighing in the Center Bluff

That’s what a resident told me today. I was neither shocked, nor surprised. My source says it’s happening on his block, and that he’s called the Peoria Animal Welfare Shelter (PAWS) AND the Peoria Police Department, only to see it happen again in that neighbor’s back yard, with children present. He’s a bit miffed at the [...]

Local: City Council gets back to work Tuesday

Vacation is over. After a three-week break, the Peoria City Council will meet at 6:15 p.m. Tuesday. And judging from the agenda (viewable here), it looks to be a long meeting. Bring a pillow, as I would not be surprised if this thing doesn’t end until after 10 p.m.. There are seven proclamations scheduled. There are 31 [...]

Media: HOI News winning respect from disgruntled D150 parents

I was chatting with one of the parents who unsuccessfully tried to convince District 150 to NOT gouge 45 minutes of instructional time from primary schools. His assessment mirrored my own: HOI News has presented the best coverage, hand’s down, of the whole controversy. And this was before today’s story about how at least one school’s [...]

Local: Peoria’s schools are worth fighting for

Kudos to Peoria Anti Pundit, for correctly calling me out on the negative attitude that permeated this post, in which I advised Peorians with young kids to get them enrolled in private school or to get the Hell out of Peoria. In my defense, it was a post out of character. Even though I’ve been critical [...]

Politics: Today’s wha’ th’ … ?

News flash: Congress is getting ready to increase the amount going to food stamps: A farm bill is working its way through Congress that has a provision to raise the food stamp benefits and nutrition programs by $10.3 billion over a five-year period. Food stamps and the nutrition program now represent 70 percent of the farm [...]

Media: The Community Word is on the air!

The online edition of Peoria’s ONLY locally-owned newspaper has been updated. Tons of good stuff, so go visit. And visit editor/publisher Debbie Adlof’s personal blog here.

Site news: Some changes and an inbound link

Peoria Pundit and a buch of other Peoria blogs got a nice shout-out from this site. Also, and this is no doubt old news to many, I’ve increased the font size to make this site more readable.

Local: D150 parents have a decision to make

I love Peoria. I want Peoria to survive. That won’t happen if if decent working families won’t live here. And for that, we need a quality school system. So, as an advocate for Peoria, what do I do now? It’s apparent the people who run District 150 do not know what they are doing. They stood [...]

Media: PJS not the master of its own domain

I know I shouldn’t gloat … considering my own issues with domain expiration. But still. I’m sure the domain will start working …. tomorrow. In the evening. UPDATE: It’s 12:30 p.m. on Tuesday. I’m still getting that placeholder page. The same thing happened to me. The site was unavailable for at least 18 hours for some of my [...]

Local: FREE MULCH!

Stop the presses: The City of Peoria will have a FREE MULCH give away on May 10, 2008, from 8:00 a.m. until 4:00 p.m., at the city’s Facility Operations Center, 3505 N. Dries Lane. Mulch can be loaded into pick-up trucks, cars and vans at the Public Works facility, 3505 N. Dries Lane. [...]

Media: More nonsense about the Intertubes from the PJS

Attention newspaper editors and reporters: When you are doing a story about political bloggers, it might — just might — be a good idea to pick up the phone and, you know, talk to a political blogger. Sunday’s Journal Star includes an article about how technology is shaping politics. There’s even a segment on how blogs [...]

Media: Vulgarians at the gate

This news is enough to make me sick for the future of the wire service: Rupert Murdoch and Sam Zell, two media figures who led major newspaper acquisitions in recent months, are among four new members joining the board of directors of The Associated Press, it was announced Monday at the news cooperative’s annual meeting.In other [...]

Politics: Compare and contrast candidates on nuclear energy policy

John McCain: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pkFH_KEY29U Hillary Clinton: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_cZqtrvDIVs Barack Obama: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=TjDmyToTYBE Have fun.

Politics: A minor political miracle on ethanol

Candidates for president — in the middle of an election, no less — are backing away from ethanol: WASHINGTON - Democrat Barack Obama said Sunday the federal government might need to rethink its support for corn ethanol because of rising food prices, a stance similar to Republican John McCain’s but at odds with farm states considered [...]

Blogs: What I like about Blogger …

… is that it is far, far more flexible and feature packed than it was before. If you currently have a Blogger-dot-com blog, treat yourself to some extra features by logging into the draft Blogger home page and changing to one of the new templates, then putting some newfangled widgets on your site. It’s what I’m using [...]

News: ‘Excited delirium’ isn’t as cool as it sounds

The people who manufacture TASERS, those wonderful devices that don’t kill people (with bullets) have convinced an Ohio judge to rule that coroners can’t blame them contributing to the death of people who die immediately after they get TASERed. Seriously: While they do have a number of scientific studies on which they establish their claims, it’s [...]

Media: Boycotting GateHouse, fighting back with blogging

The folks who are boycotting the Norwich (Connecticut) Bulletin are fighting back by offering news via hyper-local citizen journalism. The complaints? Censored and poorly edited letters to the editor, fact errors, ignoring legitimate news, boosterism in editorials. My two cents: Some of the complaints seem to be of a partisan nature, which is fine. But you can’t [...]

Blogs: Blogging like mad

… over at billydennis.com.

Local: D150 talks down to the unwashed, ignorant masses

Two good posts from C.J. Summers about District 150’s plans to slash instructional time at all 12 primary schools. They are located here and here. Leave it to C.J. to provide documentation proving the district is talking about of both sides of its mouth. But Diane Vespa, herself a Kellar Primary School parent, illustrates perfectly the [...]

Media: GateHouse slashing staff again at the Journal Star (UPDATED)

Here we go again. GateHouse Media is offering a “voluntary severance package” to 220 of its 218 full-time employees at the Peoria Journal Star. The buyout is “designed to help the Journal Star offset rising expenses faced by newspapers throughout the country.” Translation: “everyone else is doing it … ” The problem at the PJS, as I [...]

Local: Elliott’s liquor license case going to a federal mediator

I hear that the City of Peoria and the owners of Elliott’s gentleman’s club on North University are taking their liquor license dispute to a federal mediator. The case is scheduled to be heard on May 8. My source says that the decision may be made in time for the May 15 Peoria City [...]

Local: Ummm …. does the City of Peoria own Cat stock? (UPDATED)

I’m sitting here in the late evening without access to the data to look this up. But it sounds to me like Randy Oliver told the fine folks in Durham, N.C. that the City of Peoria owns (or could one day own) a bunch of Caterpillar stock. The post is from a Durham blogger who [...]

Local: CJ catches D150 doin’ the doublespeak

C.J. notes that when District 150 bosses say that a a shorter school day at all 12 primary schools will actually help kids learn more, it doesn’t match earlier statements: So, let me see if I have this straight. Manual was not doing well academically, so they’re restructuring — that is, making changes that will help improve the [...]

Local: These are the deep thinkers who are teaching Peoria’s children

This is the rationalization that District 150 administrators are using to justify the decision to cut the primary school day by 45 minutes, fire two part-time teachers at each of the 12 schools and basically reduce or eliminate art and music: Despite less time at school, many principals say the proposed schedule change improves classroom instruction [...]

Local: D150 bosses are up to their old tricks

I checked in with a Kellar parent of my acquaintance, who told me that she was warned by someone in District 150 administration that it was not wise to go public with any concerns she had about the district’s plan to shorten the school day and eliminate two part-time teaching positions at each of the [...]

Local: More havok on Peoria’s streets

From a press release: Beginning Monday, May 5th, Allen Road will be reduced to one lane of traffic in the vicinity of Northmoor Road for approximately two weeks. Starting with the northbound inside lane the week of May 5th, and the outside southbound lane the week of May 12th, the contractor will be installing the left and [...]

Politics: Bringing the pork home to the Land of Lincoln

A press release from U.S. Rep Ray LaHood’s office, via the Illinois Channel: WASHINGTON, DC (April 30)—By a vote of 291-117, the U.S. House last night approved legislation authored by Congressman Ray LaHood (R-Peoria) which would establish the Abraham Lincoln National Heritage Area in Illinois. LaHood represents the same 11 counties which Abraham Lincoln represented [...]

Local: D150 to meet with concerned parents

A shortened school day and the elimination of two part-time teaching positions at all Peoria School District 150 primary schools will be the subject of an informational meeting scheduled for 5:15 p.m. Thursday at Kellar Primary School, 6413 N Mount Hawley Rd. I have been told that parents from other schools are welcome to attend as [...]

Local: A Blogger Bash rehash, and throwing some love to C.J.

I finally got some use out of my spiffy new digital camera by snapping some pics at tonight’s Blogger Bash. The evidence is available for viewing at my new blog: BillyDennis.com. Meanwhile, C.J. Summers scooped the mainstream media with details and commentary on a federal lawsuit filed by OSF.

Media: Kellar parents’ concerns on HOI tonight

Programming alert: Jen Christensen forms me that HOINews’s Ian Schwartz will do a report on concerned Kellar Primary School parents for the shows 10 p.m. newscast tonight. I try to catch the segment on the Web, as I’ll be at Blogger Bash. I’m leaving in a few moments, as a matter of fact. I invited [...]

Politics: Are cops getting behind a medical marijuana bill in Illinois?

A press release about an upcoming announcement: SPRINGFIELD, IL. – After a meeting with law enforcement officials to address their specific objections to Illinois’ medical marijuana bill, advocates will announce significant changes to the legislation in a Wednesday press conference at the statehouse. The amendments, adopted earlier this month, reflect what bill proponents said they hope is [...]

Local: More traffic nightmares …

From Peoria City Hall: Starting Monday, May 5th, the intersection of Loucks Avenue and Hanssler Place will be closed to all traffic for approximately one week for sanitary sewer replacement. Road closed ahead barricades will be placed on Loucks Avenue near Sheridan Road and near Willcox Avenue as well as on Hanssler Place near Sheridan Road and [...]

Local: Parents of precious little arsonists can cry me a river

Kudos to Bradley President Joanne Glasser, who took a firm stand for a safe campus: Three former Bradley University students convicted of manslaughter for a fatal college prank learned recently they would not be allowed to return to the college, a family member said. The parents are livid, because they say they were promised their offspring would [...]

Local: City Planning for Dummies

I’d like to thank the people who decided it would be an absolutely smashing idea to close down sections of West Columbia Terrace at the same time they’ve got multiple lanes of West Main Street closed at the intersection with Sheridan. Moment sago, I was part of a three-block long line of cars stuck on Main [...]

Local: Blogger Bash is TONIGHT

The Peoria-Area Blogger Bash will start at 6 p.m. TONIGHT at the Silver Bullet, 135 N Main St. East Peoria, IL. A map is available here. I’ll try to be there at least by 6 p.m. This is an event held in a public place, so anyone can show up. Creators of Peoria blogs, commenters [...]

Local: And thus, the Comcast suckage begins

Internet service went down at Peoria Pundit World Headquarters today. After confirming that this was not the case of an unpaid bill (not THIS time), I contacted Comcast technical support. Some background: While others may disagree with me, During past several years, I found Insight technical support to be friendly and well-trained. It wasn’t perfect (as [...]

Local: Randy Oliver a finalist in Durham, N.C.

According to this blogger, citing area media, former Peoria City Manager Randy Oliver is one of three finalists for city manager of Durham, N.C. I commented on Randy’s situation here in Peoria, but he would like to hear from Peorians. I’d imagine some details about the other two finalists would be appreciated. My comment on Randy was [...]

Local: Life imitating sci-fi movies

This is good news: Caterpillar Inc. doesn’t plan to stop at being the No. 1 construction equipment maker in the world. It’s aiming for the universe, with NASA as its partner. Caterpillar and NASA - the National Aeronautics and Space Administration - are getting closer to having the right earthmoving - er, moonmoving - equipment available to put [...]

Media: Ask a stupid question …

A headline from today’s Journal Star: “Wonder why students decide to have sex?” I know it’s been decades, but as a I recall, In my case it might have had something to do with the fact that 50 percent of my blood was composed or hormones. It certainly felt like it. Tomorrow’s paper will have a follow-up [...]

Space Policy and Presidential Candidates

I was able to find a recent article in Popular Mechanics that compares the positions each candidate has taken on space policy. (It is my hope that most of you will find this article void of bias.) Obama In a previous comment, I called Obama’s space policy “timid.” I stand by that comment. Obama says he “grew [...]

Politics: 8 out of 11 Peoria City Council members think LaHood should be state’s attorney

I just received an invitation to a party for Darin LaHood, the former federal mob prosecutor who’s running for Peoria County state’s attorney. The invite lists eight members of the Peoria city council who have endorsed LaHood, who is the son of retiring Congressman Ray LaHood (R-18th). These include Mayor Jim Ardis; at-Large council members Eric [...]

Politics: LaHood removes what little doubt remains about Schock endorsement

Is it really big news that Republican politicians (or those hoping to run for office again in he future) have endorsed GOP wünderkind Aaron Schock? Current 18th District Congressman Ray LaHood attended a press conference to officially endorse Schock, as did LaHood’s predecessor, Bob Michel. Also tossing their support to Schock were John Morris and [...]

Politics: A few words about Kevin Lyons …

Former Peoria Police officer Troy Parker thinks Peoria County State’s attorney Kevin Lyons unfairly prosecuted him, and essentially forced him to resign from the force in exchange for dropping charges he was piloting a boat while drunk, killing one man and injuring another. Parker’s attorney says Lyons had no business filing the charges. Really? There were eyewitnesses [...]

Peoria Police Dept Opposed to New Urbanism - and their connection to “Big Oil”

I live north of Peoria and have recently begun driving down Rt. 40 (that’s Knoxville for you townies) to get to work. Today I was a gast of what I saw. A man who was trying his darndest to save money and protect the environment was pedaling his bike southbound near the T-intersection with Pioneer [...]

White and nerdy

White & nerdy, yeah, that’s me. Anyway, if you are too, click here. (HINT: Adjusting the little bars below the screens brings them into focus.) We are T-minus 1 year, two weeks - and counting - before this hits the big screen.

Local: Drive-thru service revisited

Consistently, the folks at McDonald’s on North University near Pioneer Parkway have been providing the cooly efficient and quick service I have been seeking. Kudos. The only problem is that McDonald food is fit only for emergencies (or a 30 minute lunch period). And since tomorrow is a day off, I’m probably going downtown for pushcart fare. It [...]

Politics: Schock gets endorsements

I just received the following email: AARON SCHOCK FOR CONGRESS 18th District Republicans are unified (PEORIA) Former 18th District Congressman and House Republican Leader Bob Michel will be in Peoria and Springfield on Friday and Saturday campaigning for Representative Aaron Schock with Congressman Ray LaHood. Mr. Michel and Congressman LaHood will join Schock at a news conference on Friday [...]

Site news: Relaxed, refreshed and ready to go …

Obviously, I’m blogging again. I had planned to come back a few days from now, but I wanted to get the information about the looming parental revolt at Keller Primary out into the Blogosphere. And, yes, the site was down briefly today, as I forgot to pay my bill online. I intended to do it before I [...]

Local: Kellar parents concerned about shortened school day

Parents of children attending Keller Primary School are upset at changes that will give their kids less time in school and fewer teachers to teach music, science and computer skills. One set of parents spoke to me today and complained at length about many of the issues they and other parents at Kellar have with District [...]

Politics: Obama education policy bad news for science

Yesterday I stumbled across an opinion column by Lee Cary that dissects Barak Obama’s science “priorities.” While I do think that, in a very short period of time, private enterprise is going to usurp government access to space, that time has not yet arrived. We need to close the gap between the Shuttle and Orion, not [...]

Site Manager for the Peoria Historical Society resigns

I just received a letter from Deanna Shireman announcing her resignation. Deanna managed the Flanagan and Pettengill-Morron house museums for the Peoria Historical Society. She also coordinated the many, many volunteer efforts that help out in the gift shops, fundraiser dinners, open houses, and Holiday events at the properties. Anyone who has had the pleasure of knowing [...]

Local: New airport terminal plans unveiled

The Metropolitan Airport Authority of Peoria on Wednesday will see renderings of the proposed $60 million terminal planned for 2010, the Journal Star is reporting this evening. The new building will be built just west of the current terminal and preparation work is expected to take place this summer. The existing terminal opened in May 1959 [...]

No Relief in Pennsylvania

A lot of people just want this election to be over. But it won’t happen tonight. Looking in on some links that talk politics, it just doesn’t seem possible that the Democratic nominee will be settled before North Carolina and Indiana vote on May 6. What am I hearing? I hear Hillary needs a 20% margin with outrageous turnout. I [...]

Politics: Colleen Callahan - Wheres the beef?

The opinions below are that of the author, a registered Republican. The opinions expressed are not necessarily that of the Peoria Area Association of Realtors, their committees, or their Board of directors The Realtors Political Action Committee (RPAC) is a lobbying entity that was created by the National Association of Realtors to protect and promote the tradition of [...]

Heads Up: Bad Science Fiction on the way to your TV Screen

The upcoming mini-series is called Impact According to the story… Budgeted at $13 million, the effects-heavy “Impact” chronicles the aftermath of a meteor shower during which a piece of a dwarf star lodges itself in the moon. That triggers a series of anomalies on Earth, including cell phone service interruption, exaggerated tides and the occurrence of sporadic [...]

Makes sense

Something happened this weekend that reminded me of this old article from The Onion (America’s Finest News Source). Here is the link.

Blogs: I am on a break

Sigh. I’ve written before that blogging keeps me sane. It also stresses me out at times. Or more accurately, it sometimes is just one more thing I need to do in a life that has its own stresses, from work to family and health issues. It’s not one thing or two things that has make this the suckiest [...]

Politics: The pressure is growing for futile, self-defeating solutions to high gas prices

Many moons ago, I created a post called “Peoria Pundit’s list of almost-always true observations.” I add observations as I go through life and, well, observe them. My second original observation was this: 2. Rich people don’t pay taxes. Working-class people pay taxes. Rich people pass along the costs through lower wages, poorer service and higher [...]

Local: Why does crap always happen on my day off

It never fails. I get a day off, and something happens to keep me from enjoying it, whether it’s a snow storm, heavy rain, record cold or problems on my Website. Today, it’s a flat tire and an earthquake.

Local: The things you hear and see during a walk

I went for a long walk today, from my home on Randolph down to visit relatives who live near Main and University. Yes, there are an awful lot of empty storefronts along West Main Street. But there are an awful lot of businesses that are not. But people don’t know about them because they don’t use [...]

News: Scientific study seems to support use of medicinal marijuana

I’ll probably get hate mail again accusing me of being pro-drug abuse, but here’s a press release: Study Confirms Medical Marijuana Pain Relief University of California Clinical Trial Shows Relief of Neuropathic Pain, Mild Side Effects DAVIS, CALIFORNIA — A clinical trial conducted at the University of California at Davis and just published online by the Journal of [...]

Politics: Callahan campaign platform announcement tomorrow

From a press release: MEDIA ADVISORY: PRESS CONFERENCE WHAT: Callahan will be announcing a major issue that will be a part of her campaign platform. WHEN: THURSDAY, APRIL 17TH 10:30 AM ? SPRINGFIELD, IL 2:00 PM ? PEORIA, IL WHERE: SPRINGFIELD Capitol Blue Room Springfield, IL PEORIA Callahan Campaign Headquarters 820 S.W. Adams Peoria, IL 61602 I’ll be at work, [...]

Politics: A history lesson for lil’ Aaron

Aaron Schock is famous for finishing high school early, and then getting through Bradley University in record time. Springfield Blogger Will Reynolds suggests Aaron “Nukes to Taiwan” Schock could benefit from this not-quite School House Rock episode: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=UQBWGo7pef8 Heh. I mostly agree with the video. But I should point out that the Sandinistas gained power thanks to some [...]

Politics: Former Attorney General (the one with integrity) will stump for Darin LaHood

From a press release: JOHN D. ASHCROFT, FORMER UNITED STATES ATTORNEY GENERAL, TO CAMPAIGN FOR DARIN LAHOOD John D. Ashcroft, former Attorney General for the United States, will be in Peoria on Tuesday, April 22 to campaign for Peoria County State’s Attorney Candidate Darin LaHood. Attorney General Ashcroft will be the featured speaker at a fundraising luncheon for [...]

Local: Alley work schedule today and maybe tomorrow

I would have liked to get this press release up earlier, but DotCanada and DotAmerica prevented that. Here it is: City crews will begin work on the alleys listed below today. If they don’t finish, they will complete these alleys tomorrow. The following alleys are off of Harvard: between Paris and Reservoir Knoxville and Purdue Purdue and Minnesota Minnesota and Princeton Off [...]

Politics: Operating engineers oppose Blago’s raid on road work funds

From a press release: Local 150 Leadership Blocks Blago Raid on State Road Fund; Call on House Lawmakers to Reject HB 473 Springfield, Illinois… “No man’s life, liberty, or property are safe while the Legislature is in session.” Mark Twain would have added an exclamation point to that observation if he had ever had the occasion to meet [...]

Local: Award for Workforce board

From a press release: Central Illinois Workforce Board Receives “Excellence in Innovation Partnership” Award WHO: Central Illinois Workforce Development Board and Talent Force 21 Partnership. WHAT: Received the Excellence in Innovative Partnership Award from the Great Lakes Employment and Training Association (GLETA). The Excellence in Innovative Partnership Award recognizes and honors the outstanding achievement of those One-Stops [...]

Blogs: I’m back. Did you miss me

Tuesday was supposed to be such a wonderful day. Then my site went dark. DotCanada/DotAmerica once again neglected to send me a bill to renew my domain (I knew that renewal was coming up). They redirected the domain to some advertising, then left for the day and was unreachable for instructions on how to renew electronically. [...]

Politics: McCain is looking better and better

Careful readers will note that I have NOT said which presidential candidate is getting my vote. Although, I do believe I might have mentioned once or twice a desire to move to small Central American nation should Hillary actually win. And I have defended Barack Obama against some of the racist bile coming out of [...]

Media: ICC alum, baseball expert, will be on Peoria radio Friday

Via an email: Tim Wiles, a former Illinois Central College Harbinger staff writer and ICC’s 2005 Alumnus of the Year who now serves as director of research at the National Baseball Hall of Fame & Museum in Cooperstown, New York, will be on Peoria radio WOAM 1350-AM at 7:05 a.m. Friday to discuss his new [...]

Local? Rebuilding alleys? Hardly

I took the following email from Peoria City Hall: Today, Public Works crews began grinding alleys. This is done so they can put material into the alley to build them up. The next step will be to seal coat the alleys. The work will not be completed until early Summer. I would hardly call this “rebuilding alleys,” [...]

Blogs: Blogger Bash at the Silver Bullet on April 29

Unless there’s an outpouring of opposition, I’m going to call the R.F.P. over and declare that we have a winner. The next Peoria-Area Blogger Bash will start at 6 p.m. Tuesday, April 29, at the Silver Bullet, 135 N Main St. East Peoria, IL. A map is available here. I’ll try to be there at least [...]

Local: The cause of Peoria anti-business climate is …

… Peorians. We want it both ways. We scream and yell about how Peoria makes it hard to do business. But we scream and yell even louder whenever anyone wants to do business in our neighborhood. Heaven forbid, there might be a car parked where I want to park! There might be some urban youth-type person walking down [...]

Local: Yes, Miss Hardee’s manager, I’m the one who told you to shut up and take my order

Well, technically, I didn’t I didn’t tell you to shut up.* I just interrupted you while you were blathering and told you to take my order. Here’s why: I work for a living. I don’t wear a suit and tie to work, so that means my bosses give me a limited amount of time for lunch. [...]

Politics: Is Hillary Clinton the next Tricky Dick?

Does this description remind you of anyone? “She doesn’t look at her life as a series of crises but rather a series of battles. I think of her viewing herself in more heroic terms, an epic character like in The Iliad, fighting battle after battle. Yes, she succumbs to victimization sometimes, in that when the truth [...]

Local: Gisele Bündchen supports the Kellar Branch

Why the picture of Gisele Bündchen in this post about the Kellar Branch? I’ll get to that in a minute. The Peoria Journal Star’s award-winning (snicker) editorial page has once again claimed that the Kellar Branch must be destroyed because it’s not needed. As evidence, it cites the lack of massive amounts of traffic since the [...]

Local: So, you want to dis-incentivize gang membership?

Freakonomics has an interesting post in reaction to state of New York passing a law making it illegal to recruit anyone into a gang. Success is 100 percent guaranteed because, as you know, the last thing people who are engaging in an ongoing, multi-generational criminal enterprise want to is break the law. End sarcasm. From the [...]

Sports: Today’s dilemna

The New York Yankees are playing the Boston Red Sox in a nationally televised game, and I can’t decide who I want to lose more. It’s isn’t so much the teams I loathe, it’s their fans, are compete for the title for most obnoxious.

News: You know how global warming was going to make hurricanes worse?

hurricane, global warming, al gore, Kerry Emanuel

Today’s news: Mighty powerful

Links via the Journal Star, snarky commentary from me. I’ve gotta agree with Mr. Luciano here: Stories on Lotto winners are the worst. But I guarantee one thing. If I ever win $1 million, I absolutely guarantee that I will supply the news media with one hell of a story. How the mighty hath fallen. You will [...]

News: What would Uncle Walt think?

CUTLINE: Nude actors wearing Mickey Mouse masks perform on stage during a rehearsal of the sell-out reinterpretation of Giuseppe Verdi’s opera “A Masked Ball” directed by Austrian Johann Kresnik in Erfurt, Germany, Somehow, I get idea that Disney’s corporate lawyers are girding their loins for legal battle.

Local: Welcome to Peoria, you evil commie bastard

From the Journal Star: Against a backdrop of unrest in Tibet and protests accompanying the worldwide tour of the Beijing Olympic torch - two issues that have placed China in an unflattering global spotlight this week - the Chinese Ambassador to the United States, Zhou Wenzhong, is visiting Peoria Friday. But unless you are an employee of [...]

Blogs: Posting will be light today

I spent the morning running errands, and then it was off to work. Don’t worry, I have some very interesting stuff in the hopper.

Blogs: I would never suggest doing anything illegal, but …

… it would help this site out tremendously if one of my readers happened to have a license for a Mac version of Photoshop that isn’t being used at the moment. I don’t need anything with a lot of bells and whistles …

Today’s news: Casting about

Links are via the Journal Star, the snarky commentary is my own: Apparently, Peoria isn’t the only city that sucks up to politically connected developers, in this case, a developer with a history of making sweetheart deals, not that the Journal Star would ever bother reporting it. I don’t know whether or not Ali al-Marri is a [...]

Blogs: Issuing a Blogger Bash R.F.P.

As is tradition in the Peoria Blogosphere, a Blogger Bash is held every time a month has a 5th Tuesday. That means we are due for a bash on April 29th. There has been some discussion over at Cory’s site, but no definitive conclusion. So, I’m opening the floor here for request for proposals. I’m in [...]

Blogs: New Peoria-area bloggers

I’ve been remiss in my duties. I recently came cross two Peoria-area bloggers and neglected mentioning them. The first is one Michael Davis, who operates Just a Thought. I don’t know exactly what city in which he resides, but he links to other Peoria bloggers and discusses Peoria matters, who he’s a resident of the area. The [...]

News: Illinois soldier killed in Iraq

My condolences to the family, friends and comrades of Private First Class Shane D. Penley.

Today’s news: Cutting the bone, leaving the fat

Links via the Journal Star, snarky commentary by me: State revenues hiccuped again, so Peoria School District 150 administrators want to close a school. Still no explanation why it’s a good idea to buy houses on Prospect at inflated prices. Citing no reason other than it doesn’t want to, the Peoria Liquor Commission has again denied Elliott’s [...]

Politics: Ray LaHood is, apparently, a huge environmentalist

The Pantagraph has the scoop: The Nature Conservancy in Illinois was named the Organization of the Year at the Illinois Outdoor Hall of Fame Banquet held last month. The Conservancy was honored for extraordinary contributions to natural resource preservation in 2007 when the Conservancy celebrated 50 years of work in Illinois. The Conservancy has protected more than “80,000 [...]

Just asking…

What was all the smoke this afternoon in the direction of East Peoria? I could see it clear over by Willow Knolls.

Politics: Schock thinks he’s a playa’

From CQ Politics, a report that Aaron Schock is setting up a fund to pump money into other Congressional candidates campaign war chests: It is hardly unusual for members of Congress to set up leadership PACs. These fundraising vehicles, which collect money from donors and mete it out to other candidates of the same party, once [...]

Media: ‘Beltway smartass’ wins Pulitzer

Remember Gene Weingarten, the Washington Post columnist whose smart-ass column about Peoria devolved into a pissing match of bad yellow journalism puns? Well, he just won a Pulitzer Prize. In fact, his is one of six the Post won this year, the most in the paper’s history. The New York Times won just two. Kudos to Gene. And anti-kudos [...]

Today’s news: Hiatus

Unless otherwise noted, all links are via the Peoria Journal Star. The snarky commentary is my own. No link here, but I need to let everyone know that Peoria Pundit Radio is going silent, for the time being at least. My work schedule changed and I no longer have Sunday evenings free. But I do have [...]

News: ‘Coward’ tries to hurt helpless animal

And, luckily, he gets HIS ass handed to him.

Local: I was going to post something …

… but I took a walk instead.

Local: Here’s your sign …

Spotted on a bumper sticker: “I’m for SOLAR POWER and I vote!” The sticker was attached to an SUV that was idling while empty in the parking lot of North Peoria grocery store. Apparently, it was one of those nifty, non-polluting sun-powered cars that the government is trying to suppress. I just wish I had my camera.

Blogs: Meeting an old friend for the first time

The always entertaining Rich Miller is in Peoria today to address a meeting of the American Civil Liberties Union. We got together last night for dinner and conversation on the state of Illinois politics and the sad condition of the mainstream media, as well as a lively exploration of free speech issues. I’ve known Rich for [...]

PeoriaPunditRadio: On the air with autism discussion

The show starts at 6 p.m. and can be heard here. The call-in number is (347) 326-9459. As usual, I found a few simple links to blog entries that discuss autism, especially as it relates to vaccinations: Here is one that claims a government concession that vaccinations can cause autism. And here is one that discusses the false [...]

Media: Randi Rhodes is the left’s Ann Coulter

The following is Air America talk show host Randi Rhodes in the midst of the NOT SAFE FOR WORK tirade against Hillary Clinton, Geraldine Ferraro, Eliot Spitzer and others that got her suspended for her gig: Rhodes looks a little bit like Ann Coulter. Trouble is, she sounds like Coulter too, [...]

Media: The Community Word is on the air!

I didn’t get the update done quite at the start of the month, but better late than never. It’s a good issue this month, with news articles about upcoming Earth Day festivities, interviews with both Aaron Schock and Colleen Callahan, as well as the usual slate of columnists, including myself. Also, publisher Debbie Adlof has bitten the [...]

Politics: Bill would make Illinois budget available on Web

I just received the following press release: Taxpayer Watchdog Group Urges Immediate Up-or-Down Senate Vote on Budget Transparency Bill SPRINGFIELD – The Illinois chapter of Americans for Prosperity (AFP), along with State Rep. Mike Tryon and three other citizen organizations, today called for Senate President Emil Jones to schedule budget transparency legislation for an immediate up-or-down vote. [...]

PeoriaPunditRadio: Autism debate (UPDATED)

April is autism month. I thought it appropriate to devote at least one Peoria Pundit Radio segment to debate on the myths and reality surrounding this condition. The next show is scheduled for 6 p.m. Friday — that’s two days from now. Autism certainly has been in the news recently, from Sen. John McCain jumping [...]

Today’s news: High taxes play in Peoria, as least as far as Peoria legislators are concerned

Links are via the Journal Star. The snarky commentary is my own: We’re one step toward an involuntary county-wide tax to pay for a regional museum no one wants to pay for voluntarily. All it needs is approval from the House of representatives and the governor. Aaron Schock and David Leitch are already on board. I [...]

Local: Lyons specifically opposed nuisance suits 13 years ago

I recently was sent a link to a Journal Star article from March 12, 1995, about Chase Ingersoll’s efforts to bring nuisance suits against the owners of crack houses. This is what Peoria County State’s Attorney Kevin Lyons said about such efforts back then: Some lawyers praise Ingersoll as a “breath of fresh air” in Peoria’s [...]

Politics: 20 years later, Lyons discovers Peoria has a problem with crack houses

Seriously. Lyons told HOINews he’s sick of crack houses, so he’s filed complaints that could get six of the houses forfeited. And, boy, he’s soooo mad, he might file more. This is classic Lyons. First, Peoria’s neighborhood leaders have been begging Lyons to get tough, but he usually clucks his tongue and says no one else understands [...]

PeoriaPunditRadio: On the air

The show starts at 6 p.m. Central Time and can he heard here. Call in at (347) 326-9459 and join the conversation. Remember, this is a LONG DISTANCE call, so if you are using an old-fashioned land line, you will be charged for each minute you use, unless you have one of those unlimited plans. [...]

Blogs: The future of the Blog Peoria Project

I created the The Blog Peoria Project to encourage neighborhood-based citizen journalism. And to some extent it has succeeded. But I was kinda hoping for more. I envisioned it as a network of blogs, but it’s mostly a locally-based free blogging service, with no more interaction between members than would exist between any group of [...]

Local: Ch-ch-changes on the Peoria City Council

A source very close to the situation tells me that one of the five at-large members of the Peoria City Council plans to resign in order to seek the position as Peoria City Manager. This council member member has apparently secured six votes from the remaining 10 members of the council. Should that fail, however, he [...]

Today’s links, part 2

Now this is a newspaper correction. Randall is back from Vegas, and perhaps he should have stayed in Vegas if he finds it so preferable to Peoria. Someone notify John Plevka: The printing press also grants a power that’s easilly abused. The owners of this printing press wants to pay anyone who’ll tell them that video games [...]

Today’s news: Up and running

The links are via the Journal Star. The snarky comments are my own: It’s good to hear that Percy Baker is doing well after heart transplant surgery and is itching to start helping the community again, this time by advocating for organ donation. Hey, if I was stranded in Peoria Heights, I’d get a little hot under [...]

Local: Monday morning linkage

Here’s a start-of-the-work-week tour of the Blogosphere: Long before GateHouse Media bought the Peoria Journal Star, I was writing about how Peoria’s only daily newspaper skewed its editorials and coverage to promote some local candidates at the expense of others (here’s one example, out of many). According to this site, another GateHouse newspaper is getting in [...]

Local: Remains of fallen soldier identified

My sympathies go out to the family, friends and comrades of Staff Sgt. Keith Matthew Maupin, the member of Bartonville-based 724th Transportation Company, who as captured following an ambush April 9th, 2004. His captors released a low-quality video of Maupin that depicting his murder, but it was not clear until now that is what happened. [...]

Blogs: Kudos to Rich and Larry

That would be Rich Miller and Larry Handlin of The Capitol Fax Blog and Arch Pundit, respecitively, for being named the best political blogs in Illinois by the Washington Posts’ “The Fix” column.

Site news: Updates

Some tidbits: No, I am NOT going to change the theme. WordPress — my blogging platform — has recently released version 2.5. I’ll be upgrading soon. Probably Tuesday. I can’t afford to fall behind, lest I find that I can’t get support anymore. After that, I’ll update The BlogPeoria Project. Blogging HAS been light recently. I’ll try to [...]

PeoriaPunditRadio: Show moved to Tuesday

For those who were wondering, I’ve moved this week’s PeoriaPunditRadio show to this Tuesday. The scheduled topic is the situation in Tibet, plus local news and information, plus two “Fibber McGee and Molly” episodes. The show can be heard here. Callers are welcome at (347) 326-9459. As a matter of fact, it looks like I’ll be working [...]

Politics: Green Party picks Senate candidate

The Illinois Green Party is holding it’s convention in Peoria this weekend. I would have loved to go down and mingle with this well-meaning left-wingers, but I have to work today. Too bad the Libertarian Party in Illinois has essentially collapsed. Anyway, they picked their senate candidate today. Good luck trying to keep her and [...]

Local: Bartonville’s shaggy dog story

A couple weeks ago, Bartonville police announced they were going to be “proactive” in the fight against drugs. They were going to set up roadblocks, pull over cars and have one of those highly-trained drug-sniffing dogs do it’s thing. Although I consider the act of pulling over cars just to see if there’s a possibility [...]

Politics: The legend of Kevin Lyons grows

I received the following from a someone who’s in touch with Peoria County politics. I have no reason to doubt its accuracy: On Tuesday, March 26, [Peoria County State’s Attorney Kevin] Lyons showed up in traffic court at the Peoria County Courthouse and tried a DUI jury trial. Needless to say this was [...]

Today’s news: Light

Blogging will be light today, so here’s a few links from the Journal Star. The snarky commentary is my own. Twice within a matter of a few days, the Peoria County State’s Attorney’s office failed to indict someone. Judging from the facts of the case, it’s probably just as well. Allow me to go on record now [...]

Media: Another childhood fantasy shot to hell

CUTLINE: President Bush hugs a person dressed as the Easter bunny at the start of the annual Easter Egg Roll, Monday, March 24, 2008, overlooking the South Lawn of the White House in Washington. You mean there’s no such thing as the Easter Bunny? Damn you , Reuters! Damn you for spoiling my childhood. I am [...]

Local: A few taxing questions for Gary Sandberg

I’m asking Gary because he was the Peoria City Council member who moved to increase the city’s tax on hotel room rentals from the 1.5 percent called for in the Hotel, Restaurant and Amusement tax by another half percentage point to 2 percent.* What essential city services– such as police and fire protection or infrastructure — [...]

Blog: More than 1 million served

Sometime Tuesday, Site Meter recorded the 1,000,000th unique daily visitor to PeoriaPundit.com. I have no idea who it what or what brought them here. Was it a regular visitor who wanted get his or her daily fix? Was it someone lured here by promises of pics of Paige Davis stripping? And I have to concede that the [...]

Politics: Schock, Callahan have a new opponent in the 18th District race

Via the State Journal-Register: Admittedly running against “great odds,” Green Party candidate Sheldon Schafer is entering the race to replace U.S. Rep. Ray LaHood, R-Peoria. Schafer, 59, of Peoria and a political novice, hopes to offer a different choice at the ballot box in November and advance the beliefs of the Green Party, which was established in [...]

Today’s News: Peoria’s biggest slumlord

The links are via the Journal Star. The snarky commentary is my own: I’ve said it before, I’ll say it again: I see no reason to make a huge deal out of minor crimes and traffic offenses committed by the children of public officials unless there’s some evidence that official tried to interfere with prosecution or [...]

Local: City willing to risk another lawsuit to protect Big Al’s from competition?

How completely bizarre. For a little less than five years, the official position of the City of Peoria is that Elliott’s cannot and must not have a liquor license. Because a tiny non-stripper corner of the joint was too close to an apartment complex. This decision allowed the place to operate as a liquor-free strip joint where [...]

News: Kentucky lawmaker wants to jail authors of Federalist Papers, Poor Richard’s Almanac and Common Sense

A Kentucky lawmaker has proposed to ban the practice of posting information anonymously on the Internet. Posters would have to leave their real name, email address and actual physical address with the site owner. The poster’s real name would have to appear on the site. The publisher would be fined $500 the first time an [...]

Local: One restaurant bites the dust, another re-opens

Sad news, via Chef Kevin: The Penguin Tapis closing its doors, if if hasn’t by the time you read this. The Tap was always close to my heart. I used to eat there quite often, less and less since the original owner passed away, leaving the restaurant to his family. Unlike Kevin, I loved their [...]

Today’s News: Infrastructure, infrastructure, infrastructure

The links are via the Journal Star. The snarky commentary is my own: Reporter John Sharp turned in a nice package of articles on the Warehouse District. The main story details how the area — just southwest of what we consider “downtown Peoria” — has evolved from a industrial and distribution center based on railroads to [...]

News: Obama, McCain are less ‘tepid’ on Tibet than Bush

Out of curiosity, I went looking for any statements Barack Obama and John McCain might have made regarding the crackdown the communist Chinese government is doing in occupied Tibet. I found this in an Associated Press article: McCain did not discuss the issue during a 45-minute meeting with French President Nicolas Sarkozy, but told reporters later the [...]

PeoriaPunditRadio: Sunday’s show cancelled

One of the disadvantages to scheduling shows in advance is that I sometimes find out later that my work schedule has changed. So, I will be working Sunday and won’t be able to broadcast tomorrow’s show about China and Tibet. I’ll reschedule for a later date. It’s too bad because there is so much to talk about.

Local: Best. Day. At. Work. EVAR.

Things have been a might stressful at work recently. I remarked to one of the bosses that one of the things that might improve morale might be movie posters. Preferably, movie posters featuring talented actors like Jessica Alba, Scarlett Johansson and … Drew Barrymore. He laughed and the suggestion. I laughed at my suggestion. So what does he bring [...]

Media: Snark invades the Journal Star newsroom

Hat’s off to PeoriaIllinoisan, for catching this gem that I missed in today’s article about med school grads: Medical students around the country on Thursday performed the annual rites of Match Day, the day they learned where they will spend the next five years as medical residents. The 44 candidates for graduation at [...]

Today’s news: Laws for thee and me

The links are from the Peoria Journal Star. The snarky comments are my own: Apparently, I’ve been violating the city’s trademark. Sue me. As someone who often complains about spending on non-essentials, it seems odd to be defending this because it is non-essential. But as someone who is familiar with communications and marketing, I also recognize [...]

News: Chickens coming home to roost

I could not resist running this photo. I believe the man on the right needs no introduction. The guy on the left: The Rev. Jeremiah Wright. That’s the former pastor of Barack Obama’s church who the right wingers are using the scare Democrats into voting for Hillary Clinton, who the GOP thinks will be easier [...]

Local: If you happen to go to Wal-Mart today …

… find the worker there named Marty. She’s my mother. Tell her you read on the Internet that she makes the best damn lasagna in Peoria. This is the Wal-Mart on North University. I’m telling you, it’s addictive.

Local: Peoria in a hole?

Two different notices from City Hall might give one pause about the city’s infrastructure: There has been a cave-in in the Southbound lane of Wisconsin. Wisconsin from McClure to Arcadia will be closed from now until repairs are completed. We are not aware what has caused the cave-in. And this one: Due to a water main leak downtown in [...]

News: Turns out mercury in bulbs is just as poisonous as mercury from other sources! Who knew? Well, I did …

You remember all the hate-mail I got when I dared to suggest that those carbon-friendly light-bulbs that the envirowackos are trying to shove down our throats might not really be environmentally friendly because they are filled with mercury? Turns out I was ahead of the curve on that one: Compact fluorescent light bulbs, long touted by environmentalists [...]

Today’s News: No surprises

Links via the Journal Star: To the surprise of no one, OSF Health Plans has been old. The new owner will be Humana Inc. This sale was mentioned back when the city was deciding who employees’ health care provider would be. The decision to pick OSF over rival Methodist saved the city millions of dollars. Employees [...]

Media: Here’s why need to keep an eye on Comcast

Via Valleywag: The FCC has announced that it will hold a second hearing on “net neutrality” — the debate over whether broadband providers can favor some kinds of Internet traffic — at Stanford University on April 17 (PDF). We wrote back in February that FCC chairman Kevin Martin was considering a “do-over”; the FCC’s first hearing [...]

Media: Cranking up the fear

I listened to an hour or so of Sean Hannity this afternoon as a ran errands before I had to go to work. Good Lord. Were it not for the fact that I knew better, I would assume that Barack Obama was an armed militant who wanted to round up all the white people and put [...]

Media: Times-Observer re-joins the 21st century

Many moons ago, I was editor of the weekly Peoria Times-Observer, and one of my duties was to upload each week’s articles to the newspaper’s online version. For a variety of reasons, the company stopped posting articles and switched to a static site with contact information. Those reasons included: Under-powered, clunky computers that made the task tiresome [...]

Local: Welcome to road work season

From Peoria City Hall: The Greater Peoria Sanitary District will be performing inspections of sewers beneath University Street starting Monday, March 24th. The work will begin south of the intersection of University Street and Northmoor Road and continue to Austin Drive. Expect intermittent lane closures in the southbound right lane of University Street over the [...]

News: Visionary sci-fi writer Arthur C. Clark dies

Via The Associated Press: COLOMBO, Sri Lanka - Arthur C. Clarke, a visionary science fiction writer who won worldwide acclaim with more than 100 books on space, science and the future, died Wednesday in his adopted home of Sri Lanka, an aide said. He was 90. Clarke, who had battled debilitating post-polio syndrome since the 1960s and [...]

Local: Joint city/school district meeting is tomorrow

From a press release: The Joint City / Schools subcommittee on Safe Schools / Safe Neighborhoods will be meeting at 3:00 PM Wednesday at Valeska Hinton. District 150 will be the primary presenter with that presentation relating to several important City / School District issues.

Local: Campaign for Walkable West Bluff meets tonight

Via C.J.’s site, I discovered the Campaign for a Walkable West Bluff. They will be meeting tonight at 6:30 p.m. in Bradley Hall, Room 142. I don’t think I’ll walk, but I will drive over. Beats going to some lame Peoria City Council meeting. Basically, what they want to do is actively campaign for the city [...]

Today’s news: Getting schooled

Some links via the Journal Star: The woman who found (the horrors!) a long brown hair on a pretzel has had her butt sufficiently kissed by the company CEO. Hundreds of people have been killed in Tibet, the nation’s economy is tanking, and Terry Bibi Baker devoted two columns to a a hair on a pretzel. It [...]

Local: A question for the city’s Sister City Commission (UPDATED)

Any word on whether any residents of Benxi — our wonderful sister city — are participating in the oppression of Tibet? Just curious. Maybe we can bring it up next time some of their Communist Party commissars visit Peoria and are honored on the floor of the Peoria City Council? UPDATE: The subject of Tibet and [...]

PeoriaPunditRadio: On the air! (closed)

(The show is over now. Listen here.) If you see this post at the top of the blog, then I’m on the air (click to listen), right now. Call (347) 326-9459 to join the conversation. It starts at 6 p.m. and ends at 7:30 p.m. (Central) Here are some of the topics and some associated links: Litter: Peoria Litter [...]

Site news: Sharing the wealth

Some updates: I just crossposted a ton of stuff over at Illinoize. Like Rich Miller’s The Capitol Fax Blog, Illinoize is a must-read for anyone who wants to be more informed about state politics than the local media would have us be. I also highly recommend Illinois Issues Blog. A reminder: Peoria Pundit Radio today at 6 [...]

Local: Museum debate online (UPDATED)

Note: This is a post from yesterday, but I bumped it up a bit. Wanna hear what goes on in Springfield? The intrepid radio reporter Dave Dahl sent me an mp3 file of the Illinois House debating whether or not there should be an opportunity to raise taxes county-wide to pay a $15 appropriation for the [...]

Today’s 6 links: A little tolerance, anyone?

As I get ready for tomorrow’s Peoria Pundit Radio Show (6 p.m., listen here, call in at (347) 326-9459), I thought’s I’d toss together six links to keep readers occupied. I’m planning to talk about litter, but ANY subject is likely to come up: Remember Sally Kern, that Oklahoma state legislator who said homosexuals are worse [...]

News: Ethanol keeps spreading the misery

We already know that ethanol subsidies encourage farmers to take their land out of the production of real food, thus raising prices, thus increasing hunger and starvation around the world. Turns out that all these wonderful new ethanol production facilities are a huge drain on scarce water resources: Some corn-producing regions are already scrapping over dwindling [...]

Politcs: Schock’s site lends a hand to Callahan

I looked over Colleen Callahan’s official web site, and I have to say that, so far, it lacks real content. Except for providing readers with some contact information and a way to donate, there’s not a lot there. In other words, Aaron Schock’s site has Colleen’s beat all to Hell. Sorry. Maybe that will change. But [...]

Local: Race relations committee seeks members

From Peoria City Hall: At the Mayor’s State of the City Address this year, he announced the formation of the Peoria Race Relations Commission to focus on race issues in the community, and positive means to deal with them. Dr. Amir Al-Khafaji, Chair of Civil Engineering and Construction at Bradley University, has agreed to serve [...]

Politics: Dirty tricks on the Web from the Schock campaign? Kinda doubt it … (UPDATED 2x)

Does Colleen Callahan have a campaign Website yet? Anyone who’s looking for one might stumble across this one: CallahanforCongress.com. Methinks it’s NOT her site. Except for the disclaimer “Copyright. Callahanforcongress. All rights reserved” and a link to GoDaddy.com, the only content is a picture of a cute little girl (emma.jpg) wearing a shirt with a “Callahan [...]

Local: Here’s the straight dope on yard waste collection

From a Peoria City Hall press release: The 2008 yardwaste collection season begins on Monday, March 17, 2008, and ends Friday, December 19, 2008, for City of Peoria residents served by Waste Management. Yardwaste may be set out for collection in: Garbage cans marked “Yardwaste only” which do not exceed 32 gallons in size nor 50 lbs. in [...]