Unless noted, all links are via the Journal Star:

The 18-year-old who was found murdered behind Sterling School apparently had an “unconventional relationship” with the man prosecutors say killed her. No kidding. There was an eyewitness to the murder, they say. And she snitched. Apparently she never got the memo saying that Peorians never talk to [...]

I thought I’d publish a post (longer than I intended, actually) catching up on issues raised in recent posts:
* Seth Ben-Ezra has been maintaining a Google map listing the locations of violent crime and murder in Peoria. Keep up the good work. It’s citizen journalism in action. Many will disagree with his numbers and his [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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.

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

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 [...]

Two practicing socialists decide to put their share-the-wealth philosophy into action with a knife. Unfortunately for them their target was a WWII vet who’s a big John Wayne fan and who happened to be packing heat.

From a press release:
TRAINING LANDLORDS TO PREVENT DRUG AND GANG HOUSES
The City of Peoria Neighborhood Division and Code Enforcement Division is offering a free training to help landlords and property managers keep crime, drug and gang activity off rental property. The training will be held from 9:00 A.M. to Noon, Friday, March 14, 2008, at [...]