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 [...]

Today’s Journal Star has an article about a bartender’s attempt to get out of a ticket by claiming parts of the state’s spiffy new anti-smoking law is unconstitutional, which might doom the entire act.
 The specific language is known as a “severability clause,” which is not unusual and most often aims to uphold all other provisions [...]

I hope everyone enjoyed the Peoria City Council meeting today. It was both short, AND boring.  Here are the bullet items:

The council punted on what was to be the big story, a new attempt to pass an ordinance mirroring the state law banning smoking inside commercial establishments. The goal is supposedly to “capture” 100 percent [...]

Tuesday’s Peoria City Council meeting will either be very long, or very short. The agenda (printed below the jump) is very long. But there are 30 items on the consent agenda, which can be approved with one vote (although typically five or six items are taken out for discussion). There are no special presentations. There [...]

This screaming headline MUST be true, because certainly the City of Peoria would not waste precious police manpower doing unannounced raids on otherwise law-abiding bars to make sure no one inside is smoking.
Right? Hello, is this mic on …

It’s called a smoking hut. And it’s what the Chicago Tribune says employers are resorting to  in an effort to protect their employees from the elements because they are not allowed by state law to smoke indoors. Sure tobacco isn’t healthy. Neither is pneumonia. Good thing the government is there to protect employees from unhealthy [...]

Bar owners in Illinois are certain that the ban on smoking will hurt business. People just won’t go out to socialize and enjoy a beer or two if they are forced to stand out in the cold to light up. Here’s a solution out of Indiana to bring in the crowds, essentially by substituting one [...]

After a bit of an absence, I’m back with new links from the Journal Star:

Peoria Heights is going to spend $5,000 on its share of a study to see how a trail could be build along the existing Keller Branch rail line. It’s a step in the right direction, although I doubt that rabid trail [...]

I was going to say pretty much what Scott O’Brien says about local media’s excessive coverage of the looming smoking ban:
Give us a break. Instead of continuing to over-cover this story, why don’t these media outlets instead focus on more important local stories.
I mean, let’s take a look at the current city government issues. Apparently [...]

Some links, mostly from the Journal Star:

Good Word on the Street, today. Somehow, I strongly suspect that John Sharp isn’t buying City Manager Randy Oliver’s denial that he’s looking for a job elsewhere. It seems that Oliver and his wife not only do not have a house here in Peoria, they also have been doing [...]