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CityLink to offer free rides for annual Passenger Appreciation Day

CityLink to offer free rides for annual Passenger Appreciation Day

Yahoo16-04-2025

PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — CityLink announced it will provide free rides for its 16th annual Passenger Appreciation Day on Thursday.
The free rides will be provided on CityLink fixed-route buses, CityLift paratransit vehicles, and CountyLink rural transportation vehicles, , a CityLink news release stated.
The free rides are to honor the former City Link General Manager Jerome Lilly, who died unexpectedly in 2007. The CityLink Transit Center in Downtown Peoria was dedicated to Lilly in 2009.
'We are pleased to continue our tradition of Jerome Lilly Passenger Appreciation Day on April 17,' CityLink General Interim Manager Kofi Kisseh said. 'We want to take this opportunity to thank our passengers for their dedicated support of the public transit services we provide.'
CityLink to offer free rides on Veterans Day
There will also be a free giveaway for passengers who visit the Transit Center between 8:30 a.m. and 11:30 a.m. on Thursday. The giveaway will be available while supplies last.
Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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Children's Museum in Peoria Celebrates a Decade Serving the Community
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Children's Museum in Peoria Celebrates a Decade Serving the Community

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‘Something that mattered': 3 Kentucky women on their military service
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Beth Crider retires, leaving a 30-year legacy in Peoria education
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Yahoo

time2 days ago

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PEORIA, Ill. (WMBD) — She's off to retirement after giving a 30+ year career to education in Peoria County. Beth Crider began her teaching journey at Valeska Hinton Early Childhood Center and grew over 17 years there. She moved into leadership roles and then into administration. 'Peoria County is really like a microcosm of the state of Illinois,' said Former Regional Superintendent Beth Crider. 'You have your large city centered district. Peoria Public Schools with all of the challenges that they face. Then you have a more suburban district with Dunlap, who's only grown in size since I took over in this office. And then you have smaller districts, lots of districts and rural areas, and they have different needs. So you're trying to serve all of that with limited time, talent and treasure. You do the best you can.' Crider landed her role as the regional superintendent in 2014. She's been leading the way forward since then through technology changes, safety, and teacher retention shortages. 'When I started, email wasn't a thing,' said Crider. 'So, the transition of technology over the course of my career, I just don't think there's been any time in the history of this country that it has been so dramatic and so quick. But school safety, I would argue that Sandy Hook has been the defining moment of my entire regional superintendency, because at that moment, being a kindergarten first grade teacher myself, it hit me in a way that I just have never recovered from. And I have spent every moment trying to make sure our students are safe and to get across that finish line May 30th without a significant event will mean a lot to me. Our office is focused on that.' Upon her retirement, Crider said one thing always remained a constant priority. 'It's celebrating our students through the arts, celebrating our students academic accomplishments, celebrating them seeing out in the wild,' said Crider. 'So, I'll go to a restaurant and they'll say, Mrs. Crider, and it's so great to see them being successful and the jobs that they have. I have former students that are engineers, fellow teachers, you name it, they're out there and they're taking the world by storm. It's so exciting to see.' Dr. George McKenna is taking over for Crider after being her assistant for a decade. She said he's fit for the job and he'll stay on the right path forward for the county. Copyright 2025 Nexstar Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.

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