City Beat

       A week from this coming Saturday is Christmas Day — a time when families gather to share a meal, presents, a lot of conversation… and love. Family gatherings have been tough to plan since the start of the COVID-19 Pandemic because of fear of infection by the virus — an unwelcome visitor at some…

       SmartAsset released its annual report on the best places to work in manufacturing and Decatur ranked 7th out of nearly 400 metro areas analyzed. SmartAsset explained that “we analyzed nearly 400 metro areas across the following metrics: manufacturing as a percentage of the workforce, job growth from 2016 to 2019, job growth from 2018…

       The Japanese attack on the American fleet in Pearl Harbor on Dec. 7, 1941, was so horrific that anyone mentioning “Pearl Harbor” all of these decades later doesn’t have to explain what he’s talking about. The attack on Pearl Harbor immediately plunged this nation into World War II.                 Citizens were so shocked and…

  The “State of the City” speech that I gave during the years I served as mayor was one of my favorites because it gave me an opportunity to point out the positives in Decatur including the projects planned and completed. The speech was delivered annually at the Chamber’s Business Expo at the Decatur Civic…

       Although being infected with COVID-19 remains a concern on the part of many area residents, I’m hearing more talk about a fear of being a victim of gun violence on Decatur’s streets. There was a time in the not too distant past when gun violence was confined to a few areas of town in…

       I cringe a little when I sometimes hear or read comments about Veterans Day existing for those who have been killed in the service of our nation. Those heroes should always be remembered, but that’s the focus of Memorial Day. Veterans Day honors all of our veterans. It is a United States legal holiday…

       WHEN I started appearing with Brian Byers on WSOY’s Byers & Co. at 7:00 every Thursday morning nearly 20 years ago, the studio was located on East Pershing Road where it had been for many years. There were no windows in the studio but that’s the way radio studios were constructed many years ago.…

       • I MADE my last visit to the Farmers’ Market in Central Park on Saturday. That was the final day of its season of selling vegetables and other items and it seems to me that it has been a successful season as I’ve always seen customers at the various stands anytime that I was…

       It doesn’t seem possible that Halloween is coming up on Sunday (Oct. 31). Halloween has a long, and somewhat destructive, history in Decatur and Central Illinois. Tom Emery writes about some prank-filled Hallo-weens from many years ago on page 5 of this week’s print and online editions of the Decatur Tribune.      I remember, when…

       Recently, the Decatur City Council met in open session in the conference room of the Decatur Club, primarily to discuss some goals. I had a few people complain to me that the city council members should not be meeting away from the city council chambers because it made them look “suspicious” and “sneaky”. It…