PeoriaStory

Legally Blonde: Good Show

PEORIA -- The musical comedy Legally Blonde sang and danced its way into the Peoria Civic Center on Nov. 30 for a three-day run.  It's cute and clever, well done and entertaining.

It's not Sondheim, of course, and makes no pretense of profundity. Instead it plays on stereotypes, which makes for amusing comedy. They're all there: the dumb blonde, the sorority girls, the ambitious rich students, the shark-like lawyers, the lesbian, gays and feminists, the working class beautician.

There's even a chihuahua named Bruiser -- yes, a live dog on stage -- that performed flawlessly.

The musical is very fast paced and the music a little too loud, making the funny lyrics hard to hear at times.  But overall the show is fun and worth the money. 

  -- Elaine Hopkins

 

Interesting talk Dec. 6

PEORIA -- Michelle Alexander, author of The New Jim Crow - Mass Incarceration in the Age of Color Blindness, will speak at 7:30 p.m. on Monday Dec. 6 at the Holiday Inn City Center, 500 Hamilton Blvd.

Alas, the ticket price is $20, but probably worth it. The talk likely will be lively on a hot topic. 

She also will be at Bradley University's Romeo B. Garrett Hall at 12 noon to 1:20 p.m. for a book signing. 

Illinois now has a record number of prison inmates, the Chicago Tribune says. The situation is costing Illinois taxpayers plenty, and endangering the lives of the inmates in overcrowded prisons.

Writing in the Huffington Post, Alexander stated:

"...crime rates do not explain the sudden and dramatic mass incarceration of African Americans during the past 30 years. Crime rates have fluctuated over the past few decades -- and currently are at historical lows -- but imprisonment rates have soared. Quintupled. And the vast majority of that increase is due to the War on Drugs, a war waged almost exclusively in poor communities of color, even though studies consistently show that people of all colors use and sell illegal drugs at remarkably similar rates. In fact, some studies indicate that white youth are significantly more likely to engage in illegal drug dealing than black youth."

A review of Alexander's book states: "Michelle Alexander has produced the best book ever written on mass incarceration and the war on drugs."

The review notes that mass incarceration is basically a racist system of social control, not crime control.  Read that review for a more detailed argument.

The HuffingtonPost.com identifies Alexander as: a longtime civil rights advocate and litigator. She won a 2005 Soros Justice Fellowship and now holds a joint appointment at the Kirwan Institute for the Study of Race and Ethnicity and the Mortiz College of Law at Ohio State University. Alexander served for several years as director of the Racial Justice Project at the ACLU of Northern California, and subsequently directed the Civil Rights Clinics at Stanford Law School, where she was an associate professor. Alexander is a former law clerk for Justice Harry Blackmun on the U.S. Supreme Court, and has appeared as a commentator on CNN, MSNBC, and NPR. The New Jim Crow: Mass Incarceration in the Age of Colorblindness is her first book.

The event is presented by Parker & Associates, Rachel Parker, who was just elected to the Peoria County Board, and her husband General Parker who is running for the Peoria District 150 School Board. (Rachel Parker, a District 150 board member, will leave her post when she is sworn in to the County Board.)

 -- Elaine Hopkins

 

 

Live TV? Maybe: District 150

PEORIA -- More than six months ago, the Peoria District 150 School Board decided, without a public vote, to discontinue live cable TV broadcasts of its meetings in favor of broadcasting them a week later with the public comments censored out. Now the live broadcasts may be coming back.  Maybe.

At its Nov. 22 meeting the board announced it was looking into bringing them back. It will take $5,000 in new technology, Supt. Grenita Lathan said.  But there's a hitch.

Now the cable provider Comcast has contracted out its public access work, so a proposal must be made to an entity in Chicago to resume the broadcasts, she said. No mention was made of whether the public comments will be included, but likely they will be part of a live broadcast.

Other possibilities include live audio and video streaming on the Internet, requiring $1,200 in equipment. Plus paid staff members to operate the systems.

Meanwhile as usual I recorded the public comments, which will be posted below in an audio file.

The meeting, held at the Thomas Jefferson School gym, had audio problems with a microphone that kept humming. Here's a summary of the highlights: 

Activist Terry Knapp talked about bullying at all levels including administrators recently bullying three teachers trying to get them to resign. At least one of these teachers is highly experienced and has tenure, but was placed in a different school with an overcrowded classroom, Knapp has said.

The teachers union contract forbids outright firing and instead offers remediation.

"It's incredible," Knapp said.  Bullying "should never occur administration to teacher."

Activist Sharon Crews talked about the dress code and enforcement of it, or lack of enforcement. "Look at what is really happening," she urged board members. She reminded them that there is still no policy on tardies, said to be a problem for teachers. 

Seven people including the president of the Parent-Teacher Organization, spoke about overcrowding at Whittier School, which has experienced a 26 percent increase in enrollment. Among the complaints: art and music rooms have been converted to classrooms so art and music are taught from carts; young children stand in long lines for lunch; recess has been cut back and playgrounds are overcrowded, equipment worn out; some classes are too big; children are being tutored in the hallways.

In her response to the comments, Lathan said the Whittier problems will be looked at.

 -- Elaine Hopkins

Here is the audio recording.

D150 Nov. 22

Mozart in Peoria extraordinary

PEORIA -- Rumors of the death of classical music have been greatly exaggerated, at least in Peoria. 

Classical music fans packed St Mary's Cathedral on Nov. 21 to hear an extraordinary concert, Mozart's Symphony in G Minor, K. 183 and his Requiem in D Minor, K. 626.

The $10 ticket price made the concert, by the Bradley University Community Chorus with professional soloists and the Bradley Symphony Orchestra, affordable.  And what a georgeous treat it was.

Mozart's music likely was created for such a venue, with accoustics that gave the sound a richness that no ordinary modern concert hall could match.

The selections have been made famous to non-classical fans from the film Amadeus.

Program notes pointed out that the symphony was written by Mozart at age 17 (amazing!), and the Requiem done by a dying Mozart, as depicted in the film. Youth and age, life and death... timeless themes.

The chorus and symphony performed beautifully, for a delightfully moving musical experience. 

  -- Elaine Hopkins

Coming Soon to a Government Near You: Redistricting

PEORIA -- The coalition of good government groups, led by the Illinois League of Women Voters, failed last spring to get a Fair Map Amendment on the Nov. 2 Illinois ballot.  But the issue is far from dead.

The Illinois General Assembly and local governments such as county boards and cities will be redistricting next spring, as soon as US Census figures are certified.  And the League will be watching the process and pressuring legislators to do the right thing.

The Illinois League's Mary Schaafsma, its Redistricting Project Manager, spoke to the Greater Peoria League on Nov. 20 about the redistricting process.  The League supports an open and transparent process that avoid partisan deadlock and keeps communities of interest intact, she said.

Despite a few Republican victories on Nov. 2, Illinois remains a Democratic Party state, she said.

Ninety percent of the Illinois Senate districts and 86 percent of the Illinois House districts had no contests, showing they may be gerrymandered to favor one party or the other.

When that happens, elected officials are less responsive to the voters, and partisan gridlock and even corruption become more likely, she said.  Voters become turned off.  Illinois is 29th of all states in voter turnout.

The General Assembly redistricts itself and the Congressional districts, she said.

Previously the General Assembly allowed Congress members to set up their own districts, but that's unlikely this year, because Republicans made gains in Congress.  So Democrats in the General Assembly will likely control that process, she predicted. "The Democratic Party will be more involved. They have more to lose in two years."

This year there likely will be 750,000 voters in each Congressional district, she said. Illinois could lose one or two seats, because of population shifts to the sunbelt.

The map deadline for the General Assembly is June 30, 2011.

Local boards also will redistrict. League members and citizens can find out the process and monitor it, she said. Peoria League members at the meeting are planning to follow through on this advice.

The Illinois League is discussing whether to pursue another Fair Map Ammendment project, which would affect the way the General Assembly is redistricted in 2021. It may tweek its original proposal to thwart objections, she said.

A similar amendment passed in Florida on Nov. 2, but took four years to build at a cost of $30 million. (But see correction below.)

The League's plan failed in Illinois when it lacked enough signatures to be placed on the ballot. The project ran out of time, and had little funding. It was opposed by Democrats who feared a loss of voters.

Other good government measures needed, she said, are campaign finance reform, stronger ethics rules and better civics education in schools.

 -- Elaine Hopkins

11/20/10 E-mailed comment:

Hi. Just to set the record straight, the Florida
effort took $9 million -- not 30! 
And $4 million of that was to gather the 
requisite 1.7 million signatures.
Thanks for the mention though. 
Happy to provide more info if you wish.
Ellen Freidin
Campaign Chair
FairDistrictsFlorida.org

 

 

Bad CAFOs

Here's a worthwhile news release, all true:

Peoria, IL--With Illinois EPA under recent federal pressure to improve its faltering factory farm regulatory program, Environment Illinois today released a report examining the role of corporate agribusinesses across the country--including Cargill's slaughterhouse in Beardsville, IL--in the pollution of America’s waterways like the Great Lakes and Illinois River.

In one of 8 national case studies, the report, Corporate Agribusiness and America’s Waterways, examined Cargill’s Beardstown facility, which discharges directly into the Illinois River. It has the capacity to slaughter up to 18,000 head of pigs per day, and—despite decades of evidence that the Illinois River is suffering from nutrient pollution—is intensifying its factory pork farming operations in the area.

According to the U.S. Toxics Release Inventory, Cargill is Illinois's second-largest industrial discharger of toxic chemicals into waterways and the 13th largest industrial discharger in the US. It dumped over 3 million pounds of toxic chemicals into the Illinois River during 2008.

"It’s time for Cargill–-and other industrial producers–-to take responsibility for the massive scale of waste that comes from their hog facilities, " said Max Muller, Program Director with Environment Illinois. "We won’t have clean water in Illinois until they do."

Virtually all of the plant's toxic releases were in the form of nitrates, which are produced when wastewater contaminated with blood, feces, or other slaughterhouse waste is discharged into waterways. Nitrate pollution fouls drinking water and contributes to the staggering problem of nutrient pollution in the Illinois River, Mississippi River, and the Gulf of Mexico. Illinois is the leading contributor of the two principle nutrient pollutants--nitrogen and phosphorus--to the Gulf.

One source of that pollution is Illinois's over 500 large concentrated animal feeding operations (CAFOs). Illinois has one of the nation's highest concentrations of CAFOs, including some that supply Cargill's slaughterhouses.

 

Illinois also has the upper Midwest's least protective factory farm regulatory regime.

 

"Illinois’s lax laws have made our state a safe-haven for polluters, which create more waste and more problems” said Karen Hudson, a Peoria citizen and Illinois Citizens for Clean Air and Water (ICCAW) member. “My grandkids deserve clean drinking water.”

In September, the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) issued a highly critical report which found that Illinois EPA's factory farm regulation program "does not meet the minimum threshold for an adequate program." The report highlighted a number of critical shortcomings of the program, including its failure to issue and enforce Clean Water Act permits for the vast majority of the 3,200 factory farms that IEPA estimates require one. The report also cited IEPA's incomplete factory farm inventory, which includes only 30 percent of Illinois's 500 large CAFOs, as well as IEPA inadequate response to citizen complaints about factory farm pollution.

On November 1, Illinois EPA responded to the report by committing to a number of significant policy changes which, if implemented, have the potential to significantly reduce factory farm water pollution.

"We are optimistic that these developments will ultimately lead to proper enforcement of the Clean Water Act against factory farms in Illinois," said Danielle Diamond of ICCAW, who filed the original petition, 2.5 years ago, which prompted U.S. EPA's report. "It's a step in right direction, but we definitely still need to see improvement."

At the press conference, Environment Illinois called for Illinois to hold major companies responsible for their own pollution from industrial farms, create a moratorium on new and expanded factory farms, ensure all factory farms are required to obtain water pollution permits, and ensure rigorous enforcement of mandatory best agricultural practices.

The report noted that for the last decade, Forbes magazine has ranked Cargill as the largest privately held company in America, rivaled only by Koch Industries. In 2009, the company brought in more than $110 billion in sales.

My family farmed hogs for three generations--If I could raise my hogs sustainably, then certainly a huge company like Cargill can manage to do the same," said Art Norris, now the Quad Cities Waterkeeper, affiliated with the Waterkeeper Alliance.

“The pollution of our rivers is the unspoken cost of agribusiness that society should not bear or allow. Regulatory oversight of factory farms must improve,” said Stacey James, Water Resources Scientist with Prairie Rivers Network.

While agribusiness pollution is a major problem in Illinois, the report showed that Illinois is hardly alone.  Across the country, agribusiness contributes to making 100,000 miles of rivers and 2,500 square miles of inland lakes too polluted to sustain important uses such as swimming, fishing, drinking, and wildlife habitat.

"Industrial agribusiness is an industrial pollution source for America’s waters," said Muller. “For the health of the Illinois and our state’s other waters, Environment Illinois urges both the state and federal EPAs to hold corporate agribusiness accountable.”

###

Read the full report.

Environment Illinois is a state-based, citizen-funded environmental organization working for clean air, clean water, and open space.

 

Miami String Quartet in Macomb, New York City

MACOMB -- On Friday, Nov. 19, you can see the Miami String Quartet in New York City at Carneigie Hall, for $54 a ticket.  But on Nov. 17, an appreciative audience saw them on the Western Illinois University campus for $15.  Such a deal!

The group played Macomb in a Performing Arts Center series because first violinist Benny Kim is a Macomb native. He favored his home town with a warm up performance for the big time in the big Apple.

They were wonderful, of course.  Brilliant.

Read all about them and the New York concert here, and about Benny Kim here. 

  -- Elaine Hopkins

No Banner Strip Mine: State

PEORIA -- Here's a Sierra Club news release, good news for once:

An order issued by Illinois Department of Natural Resources Hearing Officer Michael O'Hara on November 12 rules that the Banner mine permit is denied. The Director of the Illinois Department of Natural Resources must issue a denial of the permit before the action is final.

The proposed coal strip mine location is between Rice Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area and Banner Marsh. The mine site is in the Illinois River floodplain and borders the village of Banner

On September 27^th, the Fulton County Circuit Court ruled that the September, 2009 decision issued by the IDNR Hearing Officer did not comply with state law. The Illinois Attorney General, Sierra Club, and numerous Banner area residents had filed to appeal the earlier decision by the Hearing Officer, stating many problems with the original ruling.

“Now I don't have to worry every day about a coal mine in my front yard,” said Teresa Grigsby, of rural Banner.

Much of the mine area has been flooded numerous times in the last several years.

The new City of Canton water line from near the Illinois River now runs along the mine property boundary.

John Grigsby, head of the Citizens for the Preservation of Banner Township, said, “This mine permit should never have been approved in the first place. Information was available and was presented that this mine permit was not feasible.”

“I was so worried that the mine would come in and destroy the best things about our area. The blasting would be right next to us. My fears were for the people of Banner and our water wells and all the nature that would be destroyed,” said Ken Fuller, Mayor, Village of Banner.

“The fact that it took a court ruling to point out to the Illinois Department of Natural Resources that their own hearing officer did not follow the law, is more than disconcerting: it shows deep and serious problems with the mine permitting and review process in Illinois,” commented Joyce Blumenshine, Heart of Illinois Group Sierra Club. “This property was proposed for acquisition as part of Rice Lake State Fish and Wildlife Area back in the 1980's, and it should be protected for the federally endangered species and natural resources values there.”

# # #

The Woodruff High School swimming pool...

PEORIA -- Here's a post from Jim Runkle, former swimming coach at Woodruff High School, closed by the Peoria District 150 School Board last spring supposedly to save money. Which it has not done yet:

Jim writes:  I'm sure youv'e read today's PJStar (Nov. 15) and noticed the article about the possibility of re-opening of the Woodruff pool. The timing of this may be coincidental, but it happens right before the start of the boys high school season and the end of the girls season.

The Park District's competitive program usually sees a large influx of  girls after their high school season and therefore needs more pool time. I believe the Notre Dame boys team has a large group and will need room also.If this deal gets done within the next eight or ten days, it would be at the very least, suspicious.

The school district has paid on average, slightly over $145,000.00 per year to use Peoria Park Pool, for at least the last three years.This is just one of many reasons that closing Woodruff  (no pool rental versus 145 grand)t o save money was hard to buy into.

Having been around pools for 45 years, I can tell you they may be the most expensive room in a school to operate. I would find it very difficult to believe anyone could afford the rental fees that would be necessary to cover the expenses incurred by reopening the pool. I would guess there would some kind of "in kind" reciprocation, that would mean that District 150 is not saving, but rather adding money spent.

The building's Commons area is already used for various meetings, and now the pool reopens. How long before there are no savings at all?

I predicted the above mentioned scenario when the District voted to close Woodruff. I could be wrong, I have been before; but if this happens in the next couple of weeks, something smells. -30-

My take:  I believe Woodruff was closed to make it available for use as the charter school. That charter school is a huge mistake of the board's, as real experts say they don't work.  Here's a definitive article on charter schools from the New York Review of Books.

 -- Elaine Hopkins

 11/17/10 - Here's an emailed comment from Ed Dentino:

Read briefly the Charter School article.   I know several teachers in area schools.  They are unanimous in saying that the cultural and economic circumstances of their students is the determining factor of school results.   The rest, as I like to say, is fluff.

"Guggenheim seems to believe that teachers alone can overcome the effects of student poverty, even though there are countless studies that demonstrate the link between income and test scores." -30-

Changing the districts, empowering voters

PEORIA -- Want to change politics as we know it?  Here's where it starts (the news release):

The League of Women Voters of Greater Peoria presents a talk  entitled Redistricting: Why It Matters, at its meeting at 9 a.m. on Saturday, Nov. 20 at the community room at Schnucks Supermarket, 4800 N. University, Peoria.

The speaker will be Mary Schaafsma, Redistricting Project Manager for the Illinois League of Women Voters.  She will discuss the current status of redistricting in Illinois which takes place in 2011.

The process takes place once every ten years and determines which voters are represented by which legislative district.  Join the discussion and learn what’s at stake.  The League of Women Voters of Illinois has taken up the issue of redistricting as one of its priorities for 2010-11.

Also under discussion: how the public can monitor redistricting and make the process more transparent at the local and state levels.  All levels of government from school boards and county boards to the Illinois legislature will be redistricting after the final US Census figures are available.  The League is interested in monitoring the process.

An optional light breakfast can be purchased from Schnucks beginning at 8:30 a.m., and coffee will be provided.   The event is free and open to the public. -30-