All posts by C. J. Summers

I am a fourth-generation Peorian, married with three children.
Peoria Journal Star

Journal Star to exclude all non-Facebook users from commenting

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Mark Zuckerberg is feeling the love coming from Peoria’s only newspaper of record.

The Journal Star posted on its website today a new policy: to comment on stories, you have to have a Facebook account.

Beginning Friday morning, readers who wish to comment on PJStar.com articles will do so using their Facebook account. Facebook accounts bring context to our commenting platform, linking to the identity of a registered user who might think twice before saying something they might not otherwise say face-to-face. Consider it similar to an Opinion Page letter to the editor, which is verified by our newsroom before being published in our print edition.

It’s our hope that the move to Facebook commenting will raise the level of dialog on PJStar.com and encourage more readers to participate. We will continue to invite debate and contrary opinions – we just encourage that the discussion be respectful.

Oh yes, I’m sure it will raise the level of dialog, because people never say uncivil things under their real names. People using their real names are the epitome of restraint and civility. I’m confident this move will create a comments section for the Journal Star that is full of real people talking about interesting things in civil ways.

There will likely be spontaneous conversations about Pindar and Chekhov breaking out all over the place. Perhaps when the next science story is published, Facebook users will instinctively turn the course of the conversation toward reconciling general relativity with quantum physics.

We’ll undoubtedly see more people saying respectful phases like, “pardon me,” “if you please,” and “with all due respect.” At worst, if someone is really upset, they may lash out with an impudent “great balls of fire!”

I can’t wait to see the comments once this new Facebook policy goes into effect. The reserved and prudent language will be like reading a Jane Austen novel. It may even encourage more readers to participate — just not the 40% who are not on Facebook, like me.

City of Peoria

Three City of Peoria departments consolidated

10 Comments

PEORIA — The City of Peoria has consolidated the Planning & Growth Management, Inspections, and Economic Development departments into the newly-christened Community Development department. City Manager Patrick Urich has appointed Ross Black as director. Black was formerly the interim Planning & Growth Management director. According to a recent Issues Update:

The three [former] departments had a combined total of 51 employees during the 2011 budget year. The 2013 budget authorizes the new department to have a total of 37 employees; a 27% reduction in staff. With new procedures that have already been put in place and with an ongoing program targeted at identifying and implementing efficiencies, the new Community Development Department will be able to provide enhanced service to the community with far fewer employees than in past years.

The new Community Development Department will continue to provide the same suite of services that were provided under the prior three departments. These services include planning, zoning, mapping & analysis, neighborhood development, grants management, code enforcement, building inspections, economic development, and real estate management.

The new department will also have two assistant directors. Joe Dulin, former interim Inspections director, will fill one of the positions. The other position, which will focus on economic development, is expected to be filled by early second quarter.

My Take: So we’ve combined three departments, but we still have three management-level employees, each overseeing one of the three former areas. Sounds like an exercise in semantics. And does anyone really believe that we’re not going to see a drop in service as a result of this supposed 27% reduction in staff? Speaking of this “reduction,” isn’t it interesting that they compared proposed 2013 staffing to 2011 levels instead of 2012 (current) levels? Curious as to what the 2012 levels are? I’ll tell you: 33. So the new 2013 level of 37 employees is actually an increase of four employees, or 11%. (It’s better at budget time to give the impression you’re cutting, even if you’re not really.)

Nevertheless, that’s way down from ten years prior:

Department FY 2002 FY 2012 Change Pct
Planning & Growth 25 12 -13 -52%
Inspections 54 20 -34 -63%
Economic Development 8 1 -7 -88%
Total 87 33 -54 -62%

These decreases in staffing are going so well that the City (in addition to adding staff while pretending they’re cutting it further) is now seriously considering outsourcing code enforcement due to lack of performance. This must be part of that “new and strong foundation upon which we can build for the future of our city” that Mayor Ardis talked about in his State of the City address this past January.

Television

Sinclair buying WHOI, selling WYZZ

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PEORIA — Sinclair Broadcast Group is buying 18 television stations from Barrington Broadcasting, including WHOI (channel 19) in Peoria, Ill. Sinclair already owns a television station in the Peoria/Bloomington market, WYZZ (channel 43), but FCC rules say they can only own one due to the size of the market. Thus, Sinclair has also announced they will be selling WYZZ.

Currently, WHOI is being operated by Granite Broadcasting (owner of WEEK, channel 25) through a shared services agreement. WYZZ is operated by Nexstar Broadcasting Group (owner of WMBD, channel 31) under a local marketing agreement with Sinclair. How the changes in ownership will affect these agreements is unknown at this time since the story is just breaking.

WHOI is an ABC network affiliate; WYZZ is a FOX network affiliate.

Transportation

Sequester could impact air traffic towers in Peoria and Bloomington

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Secretary of Transportation Ray LaHood warned of disruption to the nation’s air travel if automatic federal spending cuts are allowed to go through (known as the “sequester”). The Chicago Tribune reports on how such cuts would affect air travel in Illinois (emphasis added):

LaHood said the cuts will also mean the elimination of overnight shifts at 60 air traffic control towers across the country and the closure of more than 100 towers.

Under the plan, local airport towers that would see an end to overnight monitoring include Midway and two smaller airports, Dupage and Peoria International. […]

The closure list includes five Illinois airport towers: Central Illinois Regional Airport at Bloomington-Normal, Decatur Airport, Dupage in West Chicago, Southern Illinois Airport in Murphysboro and Marion County regional in Marion. […]

The National Air Traffic Controllers Association, the main union representing controllers in the U.S., said Friday’s announcement of “draconian” cuts was worse than it anticipated.

“Once towers are closed, the airports they serve may be next,” the union said in a statement. “We believe the delay estimates provided by the FAA are conservative, and the potential for disruptions could be much higher.”

In Missouri, some lawmakers are seeing LaHood’s announcement as a political ploy to pressure Congress. The Springfield, Mo., News-Leader reports:

Steve Stockam, Joplin Regional Airport manager, called the situation “extremely frustrating” and said LaHood’s announcement seemed aimed at ramping up the pressure on Congress to block the $85 billion in cuts.

“It looks like this is a political move . . . trying to get the Congress to move on some of the revenue and taxes that the administration is proposing,” Stockam said.

As for how closing towers will affect air travel at smaller airports in Missouri, the article continued:

“It continues to be extremely frustrating to us,” said Stockam, “because we just don’t understand why these types of cuts are being made that really affect public safety.”

He said the Joplin airport would not have to close even if its tower is unstaffed, because pilots can talk to each other as their planes land and take off. But it would be harder to ensure the safety of passengers without air traffic controllers guiding aircraft.

“It puts people in a greater risk because you don’t have that extra set of eyes directing traffic in and out of the facility,” he said. “You have a pilot, who is also trying to fly an airplane, trying to be a controller.”

My take: I recommend reading these articles in full. Unfortunately, I couldn’t find any local reaction from the Journal Star or the Pantagraph, but perhaps they’ll have some information later today. LaHood really comes across in these articles as a tool for the Administration, threatening to administer cuts in the most disruptive way possible in order to pressure Congress. Although he reportedly states that “safety remains the department’s top priority,” it sounds to me like, in reality, politics is the top priority. The sooner he can be replaced, the better.

Uncategorized

Former Journal Star reporters start new weekly newspaper

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From a press release:

The Weekly Post prototype (image supplied by The Weekly Post)
The Weekly Post prototype (image supplied by The Weekly Post)
Some say that newspapers are dying, but a newborn venture in rural Peoria County is defying conventional wisdom.

Starting today, Feb. 21, The Weekly Post will deliver news, features, photos, comics and more for free to 5,000 households in western Peoria and eastern Knox counties.

“There is still a place for a truly local newspaper,” said editor Jeff Lampe, a former Peoria Journal Star outdoors writer and current publisher of the monthly magazine Heartland Outdoors. “People want to know what is happening in their community. Despite the growth of Facebook and Internet blogs, community news is not always readily available.

“Our goal is to provide that local information and to become the news source people for residents of Brimfield, Edwards, Elmwood, Kickapoo, Laura, Williamsfield and Yates City.”

Lampe is enlisting regular contributions from area residents such as three other former Journal Star reporters: Terry Bibo, Keith Butterfield and Bill Knight. The Weekly Post will also feature material from local photographers, writers, businesspeople and students.

Bibo is an award-winning columnist who continues to freelance for the Journal Star, covering Fulton County.

Butterfield was a longtime government reporter before becoming a spokesman for Caterpillar, from which he retired last year.

Knight, who retired from teaching journalism at Western Illinois University in May, also writes a twice-weekly newspaper column for downstate dailies and weeklies and does weekly commentaries for public radio.

“Some people think we are crazy to start a newspaper in this day and age. But I still see successful weeklies across Illinois,” Lampe said. “Those successful papers have at least one thing in common: They print stories and features people want to read. That is our goal. We plan to cover the news of west-central Illinois with a passion.”

In an email exchange with Bill Knight, I learned that the weekly paper is free and will be supported solely via advertising. A companion website is planned for the future, but initial efforts will be focused on the printed paper, according to Knight.

Amtrak, City of Peoria

Replay: Why train service needs to be to Chicago, not Normal

47 Comments

Speaking of bad ideas, a recent Word on the Street article says that local officials are still pursuing the foolhardy idea of getting a commuter train to Bloomington instead of a direct Amtrak route to Chicago. Rather than re-explain in different words why this is such a bad idea, I’m just going to reprint an earlier article I wrote on the subject (original post here):

The old Peoria-to-Bloomington commuter train idea is apparently still on the table over at the Tri-County Regional Planning Commission. Let’s go over this again:

Nobody wants to take a train to Bloomington. The only reason anyone would ever take a train to Bloomington is to continue on to Chicago or St. Louis. And if their ultimate destination is elsewhere, they’ll just drive to Bloomington to catch the train. Bloomington has free parking and virtually no traffic congestion. So a Peoria-Bloomington route is doomed to fail.

Peoria to Chicago, on the other hand, would be a heavily-traveled route. Since Chicago would be the ultimate destination for most train trips anyway (they’re a major Amtrak hub, unlike St. Louis), it makes sense to have a direct route from Peoria. Those in the tri-county area could avoid the commute to Bloomington to catch the train, as well as avoiding the traffic congestion and high cost of parking in Chicago.

Look at it this way: imagine we’re talking about air service instead of train service. Can you imagine anyone seriously suggesting that the best we could do is to offer commuter flights to Bloomington for those who wanted to continue on to Chicago (or any other destination)? With a layover? Where you have to switch planes and transfer your own bags? Would anyone buy a ticket on that flight? No. And they won’t take a commuter train to Bloomington, either.

We need our legislators to start fighting for Peoria transportation options instead of fighting against them. You would think we’d be in a great position having a home-town boy as Secretary of Transportation, and yet LaHood is the biggest obstacle. He’s never supported train service for Peoria. In fact, he’s been downright ornery opposing it. Why? Does Caterpillar not want train service to Peoria or something? And what about Durbin? He supported the Quad Cities in their effort to get passenger rail service–why isn’t he doing more to push Peoria’s effort? Where are our advocates?

The Greater Peoria Area is the third-largest metropolitan statistical area (MSA) in the state. There’s demand for passenger rail service here. Instead of the Illinois Department of Transportation giving away millions of dollars to build new and unsustainable roads through cornfields (Orange Prairie Road extension, Pioneer Parkway extension), why don’t they put that money toward a responsible and sustainable mode of transportation that would help the whole region: direct passenger rail service from Peoria to Chicago?

лак за паркет

Healthcare, Uncategorized

Worst weight-loss idea ever conceived by the mind of humans

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If I told you about a weight-loss program that involves emptying your stomach contents into the toilet before the food can be digested, what would you think I was describing? Bulimia, right?

Wrong. I would be describing the AspireAssist™ Aspiration Therapy System:

With Aspiration Therapy, patients “aspirate” (drain) a portion of their stomach contents into the toilet after each meal through an endoscopically-implanted tube, reducing the number of calories absorbed by the body. The tube is implanted in the stomach, and leads to a small, low-profile port at the surface of the skin. Aspiration performed about twenty minutes after a meal will remove about a third of the calories consumed.

Aspiration Therapy System
Aspiration Therapy System

They call this “minimally invasive,” which is funny in and of itself. But the best line in their promotional material is this: “The AspireAssist is used in conjunction with a lifestyle modification program, and requires careful and comprehensive medical monitoring.” This is equivalent to those 1970s commercials for Sugar Smacks cereal that included the obligatory tagline, “Part of this nutritious breakfast!” Yeah, right. Another of the worst ideas that people have come up with when it comes to losing weight is not to use the best thermogenic fat burner on the internet, all because of fake news and misleading publications.

A “lifestyle modification program” is what used to be called, simply, a “diet.” It’s hard to see how these two things go together: aspirating your stomach (removing food after you’ve eaten it) and dieting (not eating the food in the first place). It seems to me that only one is really necessary for effective weight loss, and it ain’t aspiration.

This “therapy” is nothing more than an enabling device for overeating. It’s high-tech bulimia masquerading as medical science. They address this objection in their material. Here’s one of their rebuttal statements: “One of the primary dangers of bulimia is the damage to the teeth and esophagus due to stomach acid; Aspiration Therapy poses no such risk.” Wait, damage to the teeth is one of the primary dangers of bulimia?


Uncategorized

Avoid News

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I recently read a paper by Rolf Dobelli (a Swiss novelist and the author of “The Art of Thinking Clearly“) called “Avoid News: Towards a Healthy News Diet.” Click on the title to read it (PDF format).

Don’t let the title fool you into thinking he’s advocating ignorance. He’s not. On the contrary, the core of his argument is that “news” does not make us better informed, and in fact keeps us from being well-informed citizens. He argues against the short, superficial factoids that get hurled at us through radio, TV, and newspapers, and instead advocates reading books and in-depth magazine or journal articles that provide context and deeper understanding.

Take a little time to read and contemplate his arguments. What do you think of them?