News & Features
July 2025 MainStream hits streets, mailboxes starting tomorrow
Check out what you’ll find in the July 2025 edition of MainStream, hitting distribution locations and mailboxes throughout Illinois and Iowa starting tomorrow.
Peoria Proud seeks community input on police relations
Peoria Proud, host of the River City Pride Festival July 19, wants to know about your experience with law enforcement, through a survey happening now.
Opinion
“The Way of Water” is stunning, important and helps redeem the original “Avatar”
Like many, Aime Wichtendahl was initially a skeptic about “The Way of Water,” James Cameron’s massive and much-anticipated sequel to the original “Avatar” film.
But after taking in the three-hour film, Wichtendahl is a fan of the new “Avatar 2” and gained a renewed appreciation of the original “Avatar” released in 2009.
“James Cameron is trying to help us learn. By tapping into the universal nostalgia we all feel – that once there was a time everything was perfect before someone screwed it up – he’s trying to tell us something. He’s trying to wake us up to how we’re impacting the world around us. ‘The Way of Water’ illustrates that despite our best efforts, humanity remains incapable of change.“
Read Wichtendahl’s review of this blockbuster film here.
“House of the Dragon” continues “bury your gays” TV trope
Like so many, every Sunday I sit down on the couch to watch the newest episode of House of the Dragon. I am a big fan of the original series except for, of course, that oh so unfortunate final...



