2016 Year in Review: On The Outside Looking In.Indians Hall of Famer Jim Thome will throw out ceremonial first pitch for Game 7. ~ Cleveland 19 News "I hate the Cubs just like my father before me hated the Cubs," Lisa Hitesman of Peoria, Ill., wrote on Facebook. "I hope the Indians sweep their (expletive)!" ~ USA TodayNo. 1 sports story of 2016: MVP Ben Zobrist leads Cubs to World Series championship ~ Peoria Journal StarSometimes an observant man senses movement even before the polls do, but this time the hunch and the polls say the same thing, that something is going on out there in the strange and the dark in Peoria and beyond. ~ Washington TimesThe institutions that work best in 21st-century America are those that give us choices. No one simply lives in the United States of America. We live in Peoria, Harlem and Seattle. The virtues built close to home are those that make us good citizens and ultimately draw us together. ~ Boston HeraldI know what you're thinking. It's San Francisco. What do you expect? But what starts in California ends up in Peoria. And the raucous protests by high schoolers all over the country show that progressive educators have succeeded in turning many kids into sloganeering activists. ~ Washington TimesRemember that photo of Schock dancing the tango on the street in Buenos Aires? You can bet that didn't go over great with people in Peoria working the night shift at Caterpillar. ~ Chicago Sun TimesA manufacturing company that was named the city's Small Business of the Year in 2009 and then sold to Caterpillar, headquartered in Peoria, Illinois, will be closing by the end of the year, laying off 50 full-time and contract employees. ~ The Santa Fe New MexicanCaterpillar Inc. says it will close five more factories - including an Oxford, Mississippi, plant - as the Peoria, Illinois-based heavy equipment maker reacts to slowing demand for construction and mining equipment worldwide by cutting capacity. ~ Clarion-Ledger, Jackson MSCaterpillar announced last week that Oberhelman will step down at the end of the year and be replaced by Jim Umpleby, an executive who has worked at the company for more than 30 years. Oberhelman said Tuesday that he decided to leave on his own, citing his age. "There's no drama here," the 63-year-old said. ~ The Victoria Advocate, Victoria TXDoctors have charged me a fee,
Saying naps will revitalize me.
It's advice that seems sound,
So henceforth I'll be found
Every afternoon - prone to agree.
-Paul Richards, Peoria, Illinois ~ Saturday Evening PostKinpira gobo is almost de rigueur with a Japanese meal, but as gobo, or burdock root, might also be hard to find in, say, Peoria, Ill., the dish has been converted to use parsnips. ~ Honolulu Star-AdvertiserBrian Taylor, an urbanist at the University of California, Los Angeles, has offered an ingenious argument: Traffic is a sign of urban health, one we should embrace as we do a newborn's regular excretions. "Traffic congestion occurs where lots of people pursue these ends simultaneously in limited spaces. Culturally and economically vibrant cities have the worst congestion problems, while declining and depressed cities don't have much traffic." Just take Peoria, Illinois. ~ NewsweekBut what kind of sunscreen is safest? We're joined now by Tara Haelle. She's a regular contributor to NPR's health blog, SHOTS. And she joins us from Peoria, Illinois. Sun's always shining in Peoria, isn't it? ~ NPR Weekend EditionDEAR ABBY: I am considering introducing one of my best friends, "Sierra," to my uncle "Wade." Do you think it's a good idea to set a friend up with a family member? I'm worried if it doesn't work out that my friendship with her won't be the same. Your advice is greatly appreciated. ~ CUPID IN PEORIATell me, do you think this whole New York values thing that Ted Cruz is invoking, does that play in Peoria or better yet, in Iowa? ~ Trish Regan, Fox Business ReportHillary Clinton and Bernie Sanders debated in English, but the themes were about immigration and the struggles of Latinos, including an emotional translated question from a woman whose husband had been deported. What I wondered: How would this play in Peoria? And would this fuel more nativist outrage and play right into Donald Trump's hands, making more independents and blue-collar Democrats angry that somehow "we" were "losing" our country? ~ Bucks County Courier Times (Levittown, PA)Many politicians suffer from the fact their speeches are so widely covered and instantly available, anywhere in the country. What played well in Peoria becomes tiresome in Pittsburgh. That is not true of Trump. Trump is a phenomenon. ~ Lewes DE Cape Gazette"We're so pleased freethought will still play in Peoria." Read more about Ingersoll in "American Infidel: Robert G. Ingersoll," by Professor Orvin Larson. ~ Press Release, The Freedom From Religion FoundationBishop Fulton Sheen is finally going home - nearly 37 years after his death - thanks to a Manhattan judge's ruling against the Archdiocese of New York. ~ New York Daily NewsEvery Christmas season, I get so excited about bell ringers. As a little girl in Peoria, IL my mother told me Christmas was all about giving. My mother, Agusta Crouch, was from New London, CT. She moved from her country home to the big city of Peoria, to marry my father, John.I graduated from college later with my degree in nursing. My mother and I were walking along Peoria's court house one Christmas season. I said, "My, my, aren't all these millions of small lights on the trees beautiful, Ma?!"Gusty, my mother, who had been kicked out of her home at age 13, and lived with rich Jewish families up and down the East coast, told me, "The money for these lights should have been used to buy food for starving children in other countries."The day my mother died, November 15, 2002, my younger brother, John, left her deathbed to ring his bell in front of Kroger's in Peoria, IL. My husband and I went back to ringing our bells a few days after her funeral. Christmas was all about sharing for my mother, Gusty Crouch. I believe my mother had the true spirit of Christmas-sharing with the less fortunate and thanking God for what He has given us. Bell ringers learn to share and to thank God.Lucy Derbyshire, Brunswick ~ Brunswick Times Record, Brunswick ME