Steve Tarter
CorrespondentSteve Tarter retired from the Peoria Journal Star in 2019 after spending 20 years at the paper as both reporter and business editor.
He joined WCBU in 2020 shortly before the pandemic hit. Tarter, married with four adult children, enjoys old movies, especially film noir. The former president of the Apollo Theater in Peoria loves those old black-and-white crime movies so much he hosts a free annual film noir series at the Peoria Public Library every spring. He also continues to host a weekly podcast, Tarter Source, started at the Journal Star several years ago, with a spotlight on Peoria-area personalities.
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When looking back on Peoria’s rich manufacturing past, tractors and whiskey tend to get most of the attention while the Peoria Watch Co. often gets lost in time.
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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.
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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.
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Whether the label is New Age, ambient or just a way to relax, Adams says it’s the music he chooses to make.
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Bill Lervagg remembers when Peoria didn’t have a food rescue program like the Heart of Illinois Harvest. Lervaag recalled that he and Bob Baietto, a retired high school principal and former member of the Peoria County Board, helped form Harvest in 1992. Other co-founders included Hobe Albright and Gene Slevin, both deceased.
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Whether it’s King Arthur flour or Jim Beam whiskey, brand names haven’t lost their luster in the digital era.
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Jackie Luebcke can recall her first day on the job at WTVP-TV Channel 47, Peoria’s public television outlet.
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Peorian James Agbara Bryson’s efforts to tell the story of Annie Turbo Malone, the first black female millionaire in the country, received another boost recently when Bryson’s book on his grandfather’s aunt, a woman whose success began in Peoria, received state recognition.
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One of Peoria’s foremost historical figures was the topic of a presentation by a member of the Indiana Historical Bureau, speaking at the GAR Hall in Downtown Peoria earlier this year.
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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.