Peoria County Courthouse to undergo plaza construction starting Tuesday
Starting on Tuesday, construction is set to begin on the courthouse's plaza, which will bring a 'transformational' new look, Scott Sorrel, the county administrator, said.
The $6.6 million project approved by the Peoria County Board will usher in a water structure similar to a splash pad with a cast bronze bison and a black granite waterfall.
Inscribed on the waterfall will be phrases from President Abraham Lincoln's speech in Peoria from 1854. You will be able to sit on the structure as well, when it's not running water.
Peoria Courthouse Plaza could have 'transformational' makeover by the fall
Another feature that would be a result of construction is LED lights that will line the top of the courthouse that will look similar to what the Murray Baker Bridge has.
The World War I and World War II Memorial and the Final Salute Memorial will not be accessible during the construction timeline.
CORE Construction is at the helm of the project, and they expect it to be completed by the fall.
Two reasons why the project is slated for an autumn completion include the city's bicentennial schedule and the possible trial of former Sangamon County Sheriff's deputy Sean Grayson, who allegedly shot and killed Springfield resident Sonya Massey in July of last year.
A judge agreed to move the case from Springfield to Peoria two months ago due to pretrial publicity.
'We're going to have more people, whether it be a bigger jury pool or national media coverage or potentially bystanders that are advocating for justice in that trial, will be here,' Sorel said. 'We want to make sure that we've got a block and a plaza that can accommodate the increased number of people for that as well.'
There will be even more limited parking than there already is around the courthouse. Alternative parking includes the Hamilton Square parking deck and the Niagara parking deck.
A good chunk of that money, as well as other funds to fix up the exterior of the courthouse, comes from the American Rescue Plan Act money.
Beyond fountains, one can also expect better sidewalk lighting. There will be permeable pavers and new pavers that allow for water to seep into the ground rather than run off.
Some of the money will go to updating landscaping and lighting on the area along Jefferson Avenue. Others will go into improving the area at the intersection of Main and Jefferson.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
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Associated Press
19 hours ago
- Associated Press
Trump once decried the idea of presidential vacations. His Scotland trip is built around golf
EDINBURGH, Scotland (AP) — During sweaty summer months, Abraham Lincoln often decamped about 3 miles (5 kilometers) north of the White House to the Soldiers' Home, a presidential retreat of cottages and parkland in what today is the Petworth section of northwest Washington. Ulysses S. Grant sometimes summered at his family's cottage in Long Branch, New Jersey, even occasionally driving teams of horses on the beach. Ronald Reagan once said he did 'some of my best thinking' at his Rancho Del Cielo retreat outside Santa Barbara, California. Donald Trump's getaway is taking him considerably farther from the nation's capital, to the coast of Scotland. The White House isn't calling Trump's five-day, midsummer jaunt a vacation, but rather a working trip where the Republican president might hold a news conference and sit for interviews with U.S. and British media outlets. Trump was also talking trade in separate meetings with European Commission chief Ursula von der Leyen and British Prime Minister Keir Starmer. Trump is staying at his properties near Turnberry and Aberdeen, where his family owns two golf courses and is opening a third on Aug. 13. Trump played golf over the weekend at Turnberry and is helping cut the ribbon on the new course on Tuesday. He's not the first president to play in Scotland: Dwight D. Eisenhower played at Turnberry in 1959, more than a half century before Trump bought it, after meeting with French President Charles de Gaulle in Paris. But none of Trump's predecessors has constructed a foreign itinerary around promoting vacation sites his family owns and is actively expanding. It lays bare how Trump has leveraged his second term to pad his family's profits in a variety of ways, including overseas development deals and promoting cryptocurrencies, despite growing questions about ethics concerns. 'You have to look at this as yet another attempt by Donald Trump to monetize his presidency,' said Leonard Steinhorn, who teaches political communication and courses on American culture and the modern presidency at American University. 'In this case, using the trip as a PR opportunity to promote his golf courses.' Presidents typically vacation in the US Franklin D. Roosevelt went to the Bahamas, often for the excellent fishing, five times between 1933 and 1940. He visited Canada's Campobello Island in New Brunswick, where he had vacationed as a child, in 1933, 1936 and 1939. Reagan spent Easter 1982 on vacation in Barbados after meeting with Caribbean leaders and warning of a Marxist threat that could spread throughout the region from nearby Grenada. Presidents also never fully go on vacation. They travel with a large entourage of aides, receive intelligence briefings, take calls and otherwise work away from Washington. Kicking back in the United States, though, has long been the norm. Harry S. Truman helped make Key West, Florida, a tourist hot spot with his 'Little White House' cottage there. Several presidents, including James Buchanan and Benjamin Harrison, visited the Victorian architecture in Cape May, New Jersey. More recently, Bill Clinton and Barack Obama boosted tourism on Massachusetts' Martha's Vineyard, while Trump has buoyed Palm Beach, Florida, with frequent trips to his Mar-a-Lago estate. But any tourist lift Trump gets from his Scottish visit is likely to most benefit his family. 'Every president is forced to weigh politics versus fun on vacation,' said Jeffrey Engel, David Gergen Director of the Center for Presidential History at Southern Methodist University in Dallas, who added that Trump is 'demonstrating his priorities.' 'When he thinks about how he wants to spend his free time, A., playing golf, B., visiting places where he has investments and C., enhancing those investments, that was not the priority for previous presidents, but it is his vacation time,' Engel said. It's even a departure from Trump's first term, when he found ways to squeeze in visits to his properties while on trips more focused on work. Trump stopped at his resort in Hawaii to thank staff members after visiting the memorial site at Pearl Harbor and before embarking on an Asia trip in November 2017. He played golf at Turnberry in 2018 before meeting with Russian President Vladimir Putin in Finland. Trump once decried the idea of taking vacations as president. 'Don't take vacations. What's the point? If you're not enjoying your work, you're in the wrong job,' Trump wrote in his 2004 book, 'Think Like a Billionaire.' During his presidential campaign in 2015, he pledged to 'rarely leave the White House.' Even as recently as a speech at a summit on artificial intelligence in Washington on Wednesday, Trump derided his predecessor for flying long distances for golf — something he's now doing. 'They talked about the carbon footprint and then Obama hops onto a 747, Air Force One, and flies to Hawaii to play a round of golf and comes back,' he said. Presidential vacations and any overseas trips were once taboo Trump isn't the first president not wanting to publicize taking time off. George Washington was criticized for embarking on a New England tour to promote the presidency. Some took issue with his successor, John Adams, for leaving the then-capital of Philadelphia in 1797 for a long visit to his family's farm in Quincy, Massachusetts. James Madison left Washington for months after the War of 1812. Teddy Roosevelt helped pioneer the modern presidential vacation in 1902 by chartering a special train and directing key staffers to rent houses near Sagamore Hill, his home in Oyster Bay, New York, according to the White House Historical Association. Four years later, Roosevelt upended tradition again, this time by becoming the first president to leave the country while in office. The New York Times noted that Roosevelt's 30-day trip by yacht and battleship to tour construction of the Panama Canal 'will violate the traditions of the United States for 117 years by taking its President outside the jurisdiction of the Government at Washington.' In the decades since, where presidents opted to vacation, even outside the U.S., has become part of their political personas. In addition to New Jersey, Grant relaxed on Martha's Vineyard. Calvin Coolidge spent the 1928 Christmas holidays at Sapelo Island, Georgia. Lyndon B. Johnson had his 'Texas White House,' a Hill Country ranch. Eisenhower vacationed in Newport, Rhode Island. John F. Kennedy went to Palm Springs, California, and his family's compound in Hyannis Port, Massachusetts, among other places. Richard Nixon had the 'Southern White House' on Key Biscayne, Florida, while Joe Biden traveled frequently to Rehoboth Beach, Delaware, while also visiting Nantucket, Massachusetts, and St. Croix in the U.S. Virgin Islands. George H.W. Bush was a frequent visitor to his family's property in Kennebunkport, Maine, and didn't let the start of the Gulf War in 1991 detour him from a monthlong vacation there. His son, George W. Bush, opted for his ranch in Crawford, Texas, rather than a more posh destination. Presidential visits help tourism in some places more than others, but Engel said that for some Americans, 'if the president of the Untied States goes some place, you want to go to the same place.' He noted that visitors emulating presidential vacations are out 'to show that you're either as cool as he or she, that you understand the same values as he or she or, heck, maybe you'll bump into he or she.'
Chicago Tribune
21 hours ago
- Chicago Tribune
Christi Parsons: Abraham Lincoln's empathy is what our divided nation needs
In our era, they might seem like performative gestures for the president. A quiet visit with the wife of a wounded soldier. A conversation with a battlefield nurse or a kitchen worker. A hand extended to a Black woman who had once been enslaved. Abraham Lincoln didn't publicize these moments, though. He prioritized them for personal reasons. Because even as he held the Union together with the force of his will — even as he buried his own child and bore the weight of a nation at war — he made time for mercy. He listened to the voices of those without power, a practice that steeled him for wielding his own. Empathy is getting a bad rap these days. Elon Musk recently declared it the 'fundamental weakness' of Western civilization, summing up the ethos of the administration he just left. Even those who defend empathy speak of it mainly as a private virtue, not one that compels any particular action by public figures. But in the hands of a great leader, empathy can become a powerful political force. Whenever America has begun to fray — during war, depression, civil upheaval — the country has rallied behind a president who focused on the disenfranchised. If we're to survive our current crisis of division, our civic leaders need to do the same thing. And, as citizens, so do we. Maybe that's why Lincoln's name keeps rising in our conversations, as historians and storytellers nudge us in this direction. Lincoln is a figure in exhibits, podcasts and intellectual festivals this summer. The Metropolitan Opera is working to produce George Saunders' moving novel 'Lincoln in the Bardo,' a deeply empathetic portrayal of the 16th president. New scholarship further reveals a deeply sensitive and heartfelt man. In this modern moment of anxiety, they're showing the way to a better place — or at least the first step toward it. How did Lincoln cultivate the trait of empathy? Partly by surrounding himself with compassionate people. That's according to 'Loving Lincoln,' a new biography examining his story through the lives of the women who, despite their lack of franchise, were his key influencers. By his female relatives, Lincoln was nurtured into what his stepmother called 'the best boy I ever saw,' historian Stacy Lynn writes. Their stories 'offer evidence of Lincoln's kindness and sensitivity, his patience, his moral center, his social and political virtues, the breadth of his compassion, and his inspirational legacy.' By far, the deepest relationship of his life was with his wife, Mary, whose steely resolve helped bolster his commitment to freeing enslaved people. She was in favor of emancipation very early on, and she pressed her husband on the issue. The Lincoln White House became a place of mercy and goodwill, in no small part because of the compassion the president showed for his wife in her grief. He welcomed Black people to the White House. Mary Dines, who worked in the kitchen, urged Lincoln to visit the camps where newly freed families lived, and he went. Elizabeth Keckley, a formerly enslaved woman who became Mary Lincoln's dressmaker and confidante, called him 'kind and generous by nature.' Editorial: The idea of America, under stressLincoln also welcomed Frederick Douglass and Sojourner Truth. 'I never was treated by any one with more kindness and cordiality than were shown to me by that great and good man, Abraham Lincoln,' Truth said later. To meet the gaze of all these people, to shake their hands, to give them audience — these were not symbolic gestures. They were radical acts of inclusion by the leader who kept the Union intact. This is meaningful for us today, in our moment of deep national division. For those in office, the life of Lincoln is a guideline. He spoke publicly of the need for love and compassion. He surrounded himself with confidantes who embraced it. And he took action on it, ultimately assisting the emancipation of 4 million people from bondage. Elected officials today can do likewise. They can reject the dogma of hatred in discussing immigration. They can surround themselves with advisers who, even if they favor downsizing government, hold respect for public service and public servants. They can vote and act with care for those on the margins of society. But the work of public compassion isn't all on their shoulders. Each of us can train ourselves individually for compassion. A good first step is the one Lincoln modeled all his life. We can start today by using compassionate language, a practice that can lead to feeling it in the heart. Research shows language doesn't just express emotion — it can help shape it. Certain practices can actually increase activity in the neural networks that enhance empathy and emotional regulation. Showing empathy to others feels good, too. Compassion, as with charity, begins at home. Ultimately, though, we have a compassionate responsibility to one another. So what can we as individuals do to fulfill it? We can reach out to friends and family members with differing perspectives. We can try to talk, understand and share. We can reward kindness in those who seek our votes — this fall, next year and the two after that. We can help change the national tenor by changing our own. In the grand scheme of things, it was just a few years ago that Lincoln led our country through something much worse than the conflict we're now experiencing. His example feels even more relevant when we consider how powerfully his words land in our hearts today. He's telling us how to bind up the wounds of our nation, 'with malice toward none, with charity for all.' For the love of Lincoln, let's listen. Christi Parsons is a former Tribune White House correspondent and a longtime political journalist now on the faculty at the University of Maryland.
Vox
3 days ago
- Vox
Why America is murdering less
is a senior producer and reporter for, Vox's daily news podcast. These days, Miles is mostly focused on economics stories, but he has reported and produced episodes on topics ranging fromto the campaign of Over the last two years, a quiet miracle has been playing out across the United States: People are killing each other far less often. Murder and other types of violent crime spiked across the country in 2020, when the pandemic closed down schools and recreation centers and the police murder of George Floyd fueled a collapse in community trust in policing. Violent crime stayed high for the next two years. But murders fell by about 12 percent in 2023 — the largest drop ever recorded in federal crime statistics — and may have declined even further in 2024. Federal data for the year has yet to be released, but murders likely fell around 14 percent in 2024, according to data compiled by the Real Time Crime Index. This year, they're down roughly 20 percent. Jeff Asher, a crime analyst who helps run the index, said 2025 is on track to have the lowest murder rate since 1960, when the FBI began keeping reliable records. Today, Explained Understand the world with a daily explainer, plus the most compelling stories of the day. Email (required) Sign Up By submitting your email, you agree to our Terms and Privacy Notice . This site is protected by reCAPTCHA and the Google Privacy Policy and Terms of Service apply. One of the most remarkable examples of this trend is Baltimore, Maryland, which in the first six months of this year has had its fewest homicides in five decades. Baltimore, like many other cities in the US, received a massive influx of federal funding in 2021 from the American Rescue Plan Act (ARPA). In the last few years, the funding paid for things like new recreation centers and street lights in high-crime areas. At the same time, the Biden administration distributed billions in grants to nonprofit violence reduction groups. That funding, Asher told Vox's Today, Explained podcast, may be part of the answer. He described an 'everything but the kitchen sink' theory of gun violence reduction, with a tide of federal money addressing multiple potential factors, directly and indirectly. 'It's a lot of slop being thrown against a wall, but it's also, I think, well-informed slop, if that's a thing,' Asher said. 'And it is the thing that I think helps to explain why we're seeing [a decline in murder rates] everywhere.' How Baltimore got a handle on gun violence Baltimore's murder spike began earlier than the rest of the country. It came in 2015, after a young Black man named Freddie Gray was killed in police custody. Violent crime shot up to historic highs and stayed elevated through 2020, when Brandon Scott was elected mayor on a platform of reforming how the city approaches gun violence. 'The goal was very simple,' Scott told Vox. 'We were going to reduce the number that has sunk many Baltimore mayors for years by 15 percent from one year to the next, and that was homicides.' Scott's team has leaned into a strategy called 'focused deterrence.' It calls for concentrating resources on the small group of people — mostly young men and boys — who are most likely to be both victims and perpetrators of gun crime. Baltimore's police have tried focusing on these high-risk young men before; what's new here is the carrot: Baltimore partners with nonprofits to offer them job training, mental health support, housing assistance, and other services to try and head off gun crime before it happens. 'What we were doing [before] is we were trying to arrest the criminals who were committing the acts, but there were no wraparound services,' Baltimore Police Commissioner Richard Worley told Vox. 'There was nothing offered for them to get out of the game.' The effort was initially funded by tens of millions of federal dollars. And preliminary research suggests it's moving the needle. 'My whole mindset changed for life,' said Malik, 20, who got involved with Roca Baltimore, an anti-violence group that partners with the city on focused deterrence, after he finished a stint in prison for a gun charge in 2023. 'I think way different — I'm more disciplined now.' Other young men at Roca Baltimore said they thought a general improvement in the infrastructure in their neighborhoods was contributing to the decline in gun violence. Scott's administration received $41 million from the American Rescue Plan Act to renovate the city's parks, pools, and recreation centers. 'All of the [recreation centers] getting reopened, getting refurnished, rebuilding and all, everything looking better and stuff like that. Just simple things like that can go a long way,' said Antonio, 20, another member of the Roca program in Baltimore. 'If you got somebody in a messed-up environment, all they see is abandoned houses, all the recs closed, no activities. What else is there to do [but be] outside? You feel me?' What's next for Baltimore The tenuous progress in Baltimore and elsewhere is now under threat. This spring, Roca Baltimore found out it was one of the programs impacted by the Justice Department's decision to cancel nearly a billion dollars in violence reduction grants; it lost a million dollars in grant money that had already been promised. The organization has had to lay people off, and it will serve fewer kids this year than last year. After the passage of President Donald Trump's reconciliation package earlier this month, Scott is also bracing for the additional ripple effects of federal cuts to Medicaid and food benefits. 'It's really sad because you have a president and administration and a party that claims that they want to deal with violent crime, right?' Scott said. 'But then they cut Roca. They cut…people that are out here helping to prevent violence simply because they don't believe in the methods that they use.' Asher, the crime analyst, cautioned that it's difficult to predict what is going to drive gun violence up or down. It may continue to trend downward even if the funding cuts force Baltimore and other cities to scale back the anti-violence strategies developed over the last few years. But, he said, if history is any guide, gun violence will likely begin to trend back up at some point — and that's when the loss of those programs will be felt the most acutely.
