William Engelbrecht says that Elmwood native Nelson Dean Jay may be the best-kept secret in central Illinois.

John Leezer has been selling insurance since 1982 when he joined his father’s independent insurance agency in Toulon, the Stark County town some 40 miles northwest of Peoria.

Goodwill Industries of Central Illinois has seen remarkable growth in recent years. Don Johnson, the organization’s CEO since 2016, says the reason for that is convenience.

Friedan became one of the leaders of the women’s movement, a cause she fought for throughout her life. Friedan died in 2006 at the age of 85.

It doesn't matter if you lived on a farm or not, if you’ve lived in central Illinois for any length of time, you’re probably familiar with Colleen Callahan.

Erik Reader has a thing about downtowns. It doesn’t matter if they’re small or mid-sized or if they’re on a river or surrounded by cornfields, Reader wants to see them get ahead.

Jackie Luebcke can recall her first day on the job at WTVP-TV Channel 47, Peoria’s public television outlet.

As executive director of the Macomb Convention & Visitors Bureau, Hedblade wants to alert the public about the attractions and advantages of a section of the state that, in the past, felt neglected.

Steve Gossard will tell you that Illinois is a circus state. The former curator of special collections—including circus collections—at Milner Library at Illinois State University in Normal has made it his business to research the state’s rich circus history.

What do you do to energize students who might be disenchanted with their rural surroundings? If you’re Joe Brewer, a history teacher at Cuba High School, you develop a website with students to celebrate the accomplishments, past and present, of western Illinois.

Demarkius Medley, 37 lives in Galesburg with his wife and four children, hoping to succeed as an African American farmer despite growing up in the inner city with virtually no experience in the field.

So the Midwest is flyover country, is it? Don’t tell Jon Lauck that.

As executive director of the Everett Dirksen Congressional Center in Pekin, Tiffany White believes more people not only need to know more about the center but how government works in the United States.

Downtown Peoria isn’t as lively as it used to be. That’s probably an understatement even for downtown boosters.

Jan Crandell Powers never knew her father, Leonard Crandell, a bomber pilot during WWII, killed in March 1945 over Germany.

Ken Zurski’s new book, “Unremembered 2,” continues the author’s fascination with once-famous individuals who no longer find themselves in the limelight.

If you’re looking for information about the early days of television in central Illinois such as shows like the “Capt. Jinks Show” that entertained Peoria-area children in the 50s, there aren’t many places to turn.

Taylor Pensoneau may not live in Peoria but he likes talking about the town’s past, specifically that period in the 1930s and 1940s when the notorious Shelton Brothers were present.

Ken Gerber retired from Caterpillar Inc. in 1990 after working for the company for 36 years but that didn’t end his time with the firm.

There have been dozens of notable businesses to operate on Peoria’s Main Street over the years but perhaps none as distinctive—or dedicated—as the Costume Trunk.

Describing it as “a wild, collaborative effort,” journalist Bill Knight recently recalled the publication of “Naked Came the Farmer” 25 years ago.

Kevin Harlan may have left his beat as general manager of Peoria’s WMBD-TV Channel 31 but he’s still keeping the beat.

What if Charles Lindbergh had completed the first solo crossing of the Atlantic Ocean in 1927 in a plane labeled the Spirit of Peoria instead of the Spirit of St. Louis?

Some of the changes wrought by the pandemic—remote work, online classes and entertainment streams—are probably here to stay, said Paul Gullifor, a professor of communications at Bradley University for the past 34 years.