This is the conclusion of blogger Where There’s a Will, There’s a Way, who chides the Peoria media for ignoring business ties of the woman who wants to be the Democrats’ choice to challenge Aaron Schock:
A glaring gap in that press coverage needs to be filled. Democratic candidate Deirdre [...]
During the next few months, if Gov. Pat Quinn tries to portray himself as tough on crime, remember this:
Repeat drunk drivers, drug users and even people convicted of battery and weapons violations are serving less than three weeks’ total time behind bars under a secret change in policy by [...]
Some links to consider
If you ask me, putting an environmentalist on the joint Peoria City/County Landfill Committee is akin to putting a member of the Flat Earth Society on the board that oversees NASA.
California conservatives are going to war against of of their own for having the audacity to [...]
Press release:
Date: December 12, 2009
Released by: Alma Brown, Communications Manager
Subject: CITY CREWS
The City is reporting minor problems with freezing pavements. Crews are checking low traffic areas and spreading salt on primary streets in order to maintain safe travel. Temperatures will continue to increase overnight to the [...]
I found this YouTube video on Hot Air Pundit, which seems to think FOXNews commentator Neil Cavuto won this little confrontation. I bed to differ:
Cavuto: “.. And another 250 grand for Oak Ridge Cemetery improvements. I certainly hope some very important people are buried there.”
Schock: “Well, first of all, [...]
I found this YouTube video on Hot Air Pundit, which seems to think FOXNews commentator Neil Cavuto won this little confrontation. I bed to differ:
Cavuto: “.. And another 250 grand for Oak Ridge Cemetery improvements. I certainly hope some very important people are buried there.”
Schock: “Well, first of all, [...]
Via Daily Kos:
By a 14-5 vote yesterday, the Senate Judiciary Committee approved S. 448, Free Flow of Information Act of 2009, and has sent it on to the full Senate for consideration. The bill, introduced by Senators Specter, Schumer, Graham and Klobuchar in Committee, for the first time extends [...]
Original post by Billy Dennis
[...]When I was a general assignment reporter in south eastern Illinois, there was a principal who was determined to cut down on teacher absenteeism. One day, a popular teacher took a sick day. But the principal was clued in enough to know that this teacher and her husband were opening [...]
Via Bernie Schoenburg:
The state AFL- CIO has picked its favorites for various races, including choosing a Springfield Democrat over one from the Peoria area to take on U.S. Rep. AARON SCHOCK, R- Peoria, next year.
DEIRDRE “DK” HIRNER of Springfield got the endorsement in the 18th Congressional District over [...]
Dad and I stopped at the Goodness Cafe for lunch, and I am glad we did.
The place is located at the corner of Monroe and LaVielle in Peoria smack dab in the Near North side.
Dad insists the joint used to be a Kroger’s store back when he was [...]
Peoria Pundit will be down briefly tomorrow due to a billing issue. It’s just a matter of not being able to send money to my host until sometime after 2 p.m. No worries.
Original post by Billy Dennis
[...]Peoria Pundit will be down briefly tomorrow due to a billing issue. It’s just a matter of not being able to send money to my host until sometime after 2 p.m. No worries.
UPDATED: Crisis averted. The bill has been paid. Yahoo was sending the invoices to the spam filter. [...]
Yes, I know that sex scandals aren’t exclusive to the GOP. Bill Clinton and his cigar fetish proved that. But it does seem like the Republicans are overdoing it a bit of late bit:
Rod Jetton, the former Missouri House Speaker, fired a state lawmaker from his committee chairmanship in [...]
The city of Peoria is gearing up to approve a multi-million dollar package to renovate a hotel that cannot manage to profit despite being located next door to the Peoria Civic Center. Meanwhile, a famous Peoria hotel is closing its doors:
The Peoria Castle Lodge, 117 N. Western Ave., once [...]
This is good news for fans of the Woodruff High School football team.
The Mid-State 6 Conference school hired Woodruff coach Tim Thornton as its newest head coach, notified when principal Randy Simmons called him hours ago.
“We put an emphasis on building a program and not a team at [...]
My condolences to the family, friends and colleagues of Decatur Herald-Review reporter Ron Ingram.
Original post by Billy Dennis
[...]Press release:
Date: December 9, 2009
Released by: Alma Brown, Communications Manager
Subject: SNOW STORM UPDATE
Periods of light snow this morning will end by midday. City crews are maintaining primary streets with a sand/salt mix. Please use caution while traveling today as temperatures continue to drop into the teens [...]
The Community Word has been updated with new content.
Long-time readers will notice a new theme. It was updated to make better use of online advertising. The CW, Peoria Pundit and other local sites are going to us using the new TellPeoria online media service, which officially kicks off in [...]
Original post by Billy Dennis
[...]The Peoria City Council today approved a $165.8 million budget that eliminated 69 jobs, a log of them from the police department:
At-large Councilman Gary Sandberg criticized council members and city officials who have pointed to the slumping of revenue sources during the recession as the main culprit for the [...]
A Oregon media blogger posted a link to a YouTube search for videos that supposedly showed some TV news reporters in an unfavorable light. The station bosses responded by sending a letter demanding the link be removed, lest the blogger face legal action. His reaction?
I was shocked. And confused.
[...]
A Oregon media blogger posted a link to a YouTube search for videos that supposedly showed some TV news reporters in an unfavorable light. The station bosses responded by sending a letter demanding the link be removed, lest the blogger face legal action. His reaction?
I was shocked. And confused.
[...]
I’ve long advocated that newspapers stop giving their work product away for free on the Web and start charging for content. For many reasons, old-timers in the news business think it wont’ work. Why? Because no one else has done it. That say no one will pay for news online [...]
Press release:
Date: December 8, 2009
Released by: Alma Brown, Communications Manager
Subject: SNOW STORM UPDATE
City crews will maintain pavement conditions as we can expect a chance of sleet during the evening rush until 6:00 or 7:00 p.m. Weather conditions will change over to all rain until early morning [...]
Press release:
Date: December 8, 2009
Released by: Alma Brown, Communications Manager, 494-8554
Subject: SOLID WASTE/YARD WASTE CARTS
Waste Management solid waste and yard waste carts will be exchanged during the week of December 14 – 18. In order to facilitate the exchange, we are asking that all carts be [...]
A reliable source tells me that GateHouse Media officials stunned the staff of the Pekin Daily Times this morning with an announcement that the afternoon newspaper is moving to morning-only.
This means every employee at the paper will have to adjust their work schedules. Also, deadlines for the morning paper [...]
Press release:
Date: December 8, 2009
Released by: Alma Brown, Communications Manager
Subject: SNOW STORM UPDATE
City crews are currently spreading a sand/salt mix on primary routes. As this storm progresses today, temperatures are expected to warm and snow will eventually mix with rain. As a result, primary intersections will be [...]
What left-wing loon wrote this ode to France’s socialist health care system?
For a dozen years now I’ve led a dual life, spending more than 90 percent of my time and money in the U.S. while receiving 90 percent of my health care in my wife’s native France. On a [...]
Generally, I encourage elected officials to make use of social networks like Facebook and Twitter. It’s a great way to communicate back and forth with constituents.
But there is such a thing as being too transparent. Consider this status update from State Sen. Emil Jones:
Two rules: 1. The boss [...]
The Peoria City Council will give its stamp of approval to the city’s legislative wish list Tuesday. There are a lot of items on the list, one of them is legislation allowing cities to monitor traffic violations at red light intersections:
[Peoria Police Chief Steve] Settingsgaard also wants to see [...]
This has nothing to do with news, the media or Peoria. But I thought I’d share with my readers.
Enjoy:
Original post by Billy Dennis
[...]Remember Wayne Rodgers, the guy who used to play Trapper John on MASH? He went into real estate and other businesses and made a fortune. If you think this makes him a smart guy, you would be right:
Politically, Rogers considers himself a “Jeffersonian democrat. The best government is the [...]
Via POLITICO:
[Sen. John] Ensign admitted to the affair with Cindy Hampton in June, more than a year after the Hamptons left the senator’s office. Doug Hampton claims that Ensign later aided him in lining up lobbying clients, including arranging a meeting for one of those clients with Transportation Secretary [...]
Press release:
(Peoria, IL / December 7, 2009) – Looking for the perfect stocking stuffer that focuses on the safety of your family? The newly released book “Keeping Your Family Safe – The Responsibilities of Firearm Ownership” fits the bill.
Written by two physicians, one an emergency medicine physician at [...]
Press releases
DOWNSTATE STORY
VOL. 18
NOW AVAILABLE
Ten new short stories by Illinois and Midwestern writers, illustrated with original art, are featured in the 2009 edition of Downstate Story, Peoria’s only literary magazine.
The downstate Illinois writers in this issue are Pepper Bauer of Mapleton; Maria King Carroll of [...]
Press release:
Date: December 7, 2009
Released by: Alma Brown, Communications Manager
Subject: ILLINOIS MUNICIPAL LEAGUE
Mayor Jim Ardis attended the winter board meeting of the Illinois Municipal League (IML) held December 6 in Chicago. Mayor Ardis serves on the Board of Directors, the policy-making body of the Municipal League.
[...]
Commenter Sara said this at my post about layoffs at the Journal Star, including Adriana Colindres, the GateHouse News Service’s top-notch statehouse reporter:
Check this out:
Help us cover the Legislature. 15-20 hours per week. $15-$20 per hour. Computer skills required. Knowledge of legislative process helpful.
Send resume to:
The [...]
Right after this happened, and I was writing posts about it, all I kept hearing from folks is how these people were all friends and how no one wanted to seek revenge (or a long sentence) for what happened to Danny Dahlquist.
Now, we have the lawsuit.
The 22-count suit [...]
Former Peoria journalist Jonathan Ahl announced on C.J.’s site that he has deleted his blog.
That’s a shame.
Original post by Billy Dennis
[...]Now that Rupert Murdoch announced all his newspaper properties are putting up a pay firewall of some sort, I advised other newspapers to follow suit. This may be happening in Boston:
“Nothing is absolute, but we are heading toward some sort of consumer pay model,” for its Web site Boston.com, [...]
Access to BlogPeoria Project sites has been intermittent this morning. A support ticket has been send to the hosts and they are working on it as I write this. I normally don’t make announcement about hiccups in access, but this has been longer than usual.
I’ll keep you all posted.
[...]
Two interesting bits of GateHouse Media economic news from the Turner Report.
First, the bad news:
The quarterly report filed today with the Securities and Exchange Commission, showed a sizable decrease in revenue from the same quarter the previous year, with losses in advertising, circulation, and printing, and a $526.1 [...]
Apparently, some of my commenters are getting all their health-care reform news from Rush Limbaugh. So, to provide some clarity, here are five health care myths being spread by the GOP.
Hopefully, this will reduce the wacka-doodle in the comments section.
Original post by [...]
This just arrived in my inbox. I’m not endorsing any of John Bambeneck’s suggestions, although I agree with most fo the goals he expresses. I’m printing this to generate some discussion:
Have at it:
Friends-
Are you fed up with the mess in Springfield? I know I am. Years of [...]
A Wall Street Journal article on News Corp. earnings included this little tidbit:
[News Corp owner Rupert] Murdoch said News Corp. plans to charge reader fees for all its news Web sites, which aside from The Journal include newspapers such as the Australian, U.K. tabloids the Sun and News of [...]
A Wall Street Journal article on News Corp. earnings included this little tidbit:
[News Corp owner Rupert] Murdoch said News Corp. plans to charge reader fees for all its news Web sites, which aside from The Journal include newspapers such as the Australian, U.K. tabloids the Sun and News of [...]
According to the list I found at the City of Peoria Website, the Randolph-Roanoke Residential Association did not have an event to coincide with today’s National Night Out Against Crime.
So what was I to do?
I went begging for an invitation on Facebook.
(First, I’m going to apologize for [...]
If you are a fan of weather news and have a Facebook account, you ought to visit Sandy Gallant’s weather album taken from the stations’ Skywatch camera positioned at Methodist Medical Cente. The picks show the line of clouds moving in and bringing the rain and wind. I saw the [...]
I guess I’m just another media Brownshirt for making fun of these people.
Original post by Billy Dennis
[...]Here’s one man’s opinion: journalists are nothing but lazy thieves.
The Internet is also making reporters lazy. In fact, many believe there’s a lower standard for Internet journalism. Don’t believe it? The editor of Wired magazine just wrote a book about why content should be free. Come to find out [...]
His computer is still hiccuping on occasion, but Merle Widmer has managed to get two new posts up on his site, here and here.
Original post by Billy Dennis
[...]Anyone prone to upset stomach or sudden bouts of projectile vomiting are advised to not read the following story:
Jeanne Williamson, an assistant superintendent of school operations at District 150 before she left in 2002 to become superintendent of Dunlap School District 323, was hired as a consultant. She retired [...]
David Jordan reported this on Peoria Station on June 30:
PEORIA – Atlantic Southeast Airlines dba Delta Connection will drop its nonstop service between Peoria and Atlanta on September 1. The airline’s online schedules show two daily roundtrips through July, then one through August. Delta Connection had reduced Peoria service [...]
From a press release:
Peoria, Illinois (August 3, 2009)–For the first time since 1992, Caterpillar employees and retirees who participate in the Caterpillar Preferred Provider Organization (PPO) plan will be able to choose Methodist Medical Center for their healthcare needs when Methodist joins the Caterpillar PPO network next July. A [...]
Since local news organizations pretty much ignore state politics — except trials and budged crises — most Peorians probably have never heard of State Sen. James Clayborne. He’s the Illinois Senate majority leader. And he’s mulling over a run for governor.
Rich Miller predicts that Clayborn would make interesting candidate:
[...]
Timothy Riggenbach hasn’t even completed his first summer as a member of the Peoria City Council, and it’s clear he’s forgotten exactly who he is supposed to represent.
Third District City Councilman Timothy Riggenbach hopes opposition to OSF Saint Francis Medical Center’s wishes to someday build an “energy center” in [...]
RT: @PeoriaPundit: A special meassage to birthers (UDATED) 