Form and function: The 2015 Best Cars for Families

From the Golf to the Odyssey and many more in between, the best cars for families this year have the kinds of features and looks to keep owners safe and happy, according to the U.S. News & World Report 2015 Best Cars for Families.

U.S. News evaluated 259 vehicles and named 19 as award winners. The awards are published on the U.S. News Best Cars website at www.usnews.com/cars.

The 2015 Best Cars for Families awards highlight cars, SUVs and minivans that make life a little easier for today's busy families. Award winners have the best combination of high safety and reliability ratings, excellent reviews from professional automotive critics and the space and features important to parents and kids.

"Family cars don't need to be dowdy or boring," says Jamie Page Deaton, managing editor of U.S. News Best Cars. "The 2015 Best Cars for Families help parents identify great cars with features that keep everyone in the family happy, such as roomy cabins, infotainment systems, separate temperature controls and tools for keeping teen drivers safe."

For the fifth year running, the Honda Odyssey wins Best Minivan for Families. Though every minivan is family-friendly, the Odyssey has innovative features, such as a trash bag holder and in-vehicle vacuum, that make it stand out from other minivans. In addition, professional car critics often say the Odyssey has excellent driving dynamics, with nimble handling and direct steering – which is rare praise for a minivan.  

In a change from earlier years, this year's award winners come from a wide range of brands, with no one company winning the lion's share of awards.

Nine brands win one award each, while General Motors takes home the most awards of any car company with its Chevrolet and Cadillac brands winning two awards each. Toyota, Honda and Kia each win two awards as well.

Of the 19 Best Cars for Families winners, 12 are also winners or finalists of the 2015 U.S. News Best Cars for the Money awards, proving that cars with the features and space families are looking for can also be great long-term values.

THE 2015 BEST CARS FOR FAMILIES

The award methodology combines professional automotive reviews, safety and reliability ratings, seating and cargo volume and the availability of family-friendly features. Within each of the 19 automotive categories, the vehicle with the highest composite score is named the Best Car for Families in that category.

U.S. News Best Cars, the automotive channel of U.S. News & World Report at www.usnews.com/cars, has published rankings for new vehicles sold in America since 2007 and rankings for used vehicles since 2012. U.S. News also publishes the annual Best Cars for the Money awards.

U.S. News Best Cars has grown in popularity and influence each year. In 2014, the site received more than 45 million unique visitors. More than 65 percent of visitors were actively shopping for a car, while 80 percent of those active shoppers reported that the U.S. News Best Cars site influenced their car purchasing decision.

'Pirates of Penzance' ready for swashbuckling at Peoria Players

When one thinks of opera, heavy drama sung by men and women with unbelievably wondrous voices might immediately come to mind.

Enter “The Pirates of Penzance,” the Gilbert & Sullivan opera with music that is beautiful but with lyrics that are equally as funny. It is an operatic comedy that allows its audiences the chance to laugh without the worry of bloodshed from the sword fight or the death of a central character in order to complete the story.

It is the next offering at Peoria Players Theatre, opening Friday at 7:30 p.m. in the theater at 4300 N. University St. and continuing through March 22. Described by the theatre as a “topsy-turvy tale of love and duty,” this opera promises to be as entertaining as any musical despite its age, having debuted on Broadway in 1879, said director Laura Garfinkel.

“We want our audiences to have fun at this show. We hope they are immensely entertained and we believe they will be. It is such a fun show,” she said before a recent dress rehearsal.

“It hasn’t been done around here for a while and it’s a perfect show for families. It’s very G rated and just good fun. Pirates are always fun, then you have the beautiful ingénue and the bumbling police. We have sword fights, gorgeous sets, the gorgeous music of Gilbert and Sullivan… It will be a very entertaining show,” Garfinkel added.

She said she and music director Denise Adams decided to submit the show together because they’ve long wanted to work together. When Adams retired from teaching last year, the opportunity was there “and we decided, why not? It has been a lot of fun.”

A look at the cast list should bear that out. Lee Wenger portrays The Pirate King. “What else needs to be said, really? He is hysterical,” Garfinkel said. But the rest of the cast is filled with local musical and comedy veterans, with Steve Post portraying Major General Stanley, Larry Betzelberger as Samuel, Seth Katz as  the Sergeant of Police, and Shirley Salazar as Ruth.

Young talents Ross Thorpe and Mina Vogel portray Frederic and Mabel, respectively, and Garfinkel said audiences should “be prepared to be blown away” by their performances.

Also, she said, the voices that make up the daughters’ chorus, the pirates’ chorus and the police chorus “are all so fabulous. The singing is just great. That and the appeal of the gorgeous music and you see why this show is such a classic.”

A small orchestra made up of two violins, two flutes, and a cello sits in front of the stage, with Adams conducting while playing the piano.

The sword fight was carefully choreographed by two men training in stage combat. The set, including the pirate ship, was designed by Julie Wasson.

Some of the songs from “Pirates of Penzance” are known for their comedic value, including “I Am the Very Model of a Modern Major General” and “I Am a Pirate King.” But Garfinkel cautioned that one should not expect this musical to be over-the-top with absurdity. “You could say it is written along the lines of an old fashioned melodrama, with fights between the pirates and the police, the old fashioned story of boy gets girl, boy loses girl, boy gets girl again at the end… Those are in there, of course. But the cast plays their roles straight up; they are just funny because it’s a funny show and they are a talented group,” she said. “We have amazing talent in this town.”

The very premise shows that. The show focus on Frederic, who has been raised as an apprentice to a band of kind-hearted pirates, yet feels he must tell the group that when his apprenticeship is completed he will be obligated to work to eradicate them. Then, he is told his apprenticeship is supposed to last until his 21^st birthday and since he was born on Feb. 29, he only has a birthday every four years. Thus, he is led to believe his apprenticeship will last until he is in his 80s.

Show times for “The Pirates of Penzance” are 7:30 p.m. Friday and Saturday, then again on March 19, 20 and 21. Matinees are scheduled at 2 p.m. March 15 and March 22.

Tickets are $18 for adults and $12 for those 18 and under. To purchase tickets call (309) 688-4473 or visit www.peoriaplayers.org.

High number still text and drive

For distracted drivers, actions do indeed speak louder than words.

Although large percentages of Americans of all ages say that driving while sending or checking texts or emails is unsafe, unsettling numbers of drivers in all age ranges – especially Millennials – are frequently or always engaged in distracted behavior behind the wheel, according to findings by the USC Annenberg Center for the Digital Future and Bovitz Inc.

"Large majorities recognize the dangers of texting while driving, but we found disturbing differences in actual behavior based on age," said Jeffrey I. Cole, director of the USC Annenberg Center for the Digital Future. 

Overall, the survey found that a very large percentage of respondents -- 87 percent -- said that sending or checking online messages while driving is unsafe. Millennials (age 18-34) are somewhat less likely to believe that online communication while driving is unsafe – 81 percent.

However, when asked about their actual behavior, some drivers admit that they still engage in driving behavior that has been proven unsafe and is illegal in many states:

• 18 percent overall said they cannot resist the urge to send or check online messages while driving. 
• Eight percent said they text or email while driving always or often. Of this group, Millennials are the biggest offenders, with 17 percent saying they always or often text or email while driving, compared with 4 percent of non-Millennials. 
• Fourteen percent of Millennials always or often check online messages or online notifications while driving, compared with only 4 percent of non-Millennials.

When asked if sending or checking online messages was dangerous while driving, agreeing or strongly agreeing were 95 percent of those age 55 or older. In contrast, 81 percent of Millennials said sending or checking online messages was dangerous while driving.

"What's unsettling is that the youngest group reported the lowest level of agreement that using online technology while driving is dangerous, even though they are most likely to have been recently taught about these issues in safety courses or driver education," said Cole.

Age also played a role in views about whether interactive devices such as mobile phones or tablets should be allowed in cars at all.

Overall, more than half of respondents – 53 percent – said that all interactive devices should be banned from cars in motion. However, the percentage of Millennials who agree with a ban was only 45 percent, compared with 56 percent of non-Millennials and 62 percent of respondents 55 or older.

Age also plays a role in identifying Americans who are never engaged in distracted driving. For example, 93 percent of drivers age 55 or older never use text or email while driving, compared with only 48 percent of Millennials.

Findings on the benefits and costs of technology were developed from the results of the Topical Survey, a supplement to the Center's annual research study that covers issues such as privacy, social media use, use of technology at school, stress and technology, and norms regarding the presence of technology in social settings.  Respondents were surveyed in December 2014. The Topical Survey has a margin of error of +/- 3.1 percent.

Since 2000, the Center for the Digital Future (digitalcenter.org) has examined the behavior and views of a national sample of Internet users and non-users in major annual surveys of the impact of the Internet on America. The center also created and organizes the World Internet Project, which includes similar research with 37 international partners.

Bovitz Inc (bovitzinc.com) is a design-driven research and strategy firm that helps organizations uncover opportunity and drive innovation. 

Madison Theater May Play Again

For decades it played in Peoria. It had silent movies, talkies, later films like 1978’s Superman and, in the 1990s, live music. Once it closed in 2003, the 1920s theater looked like it might go the way of other Peoria picture palaces like The Apollo.

The past 12 years have seen efforts by the Central Illinois Landmarks Foundation, various volunteer groups and, more recently, Peoria Assistant City Manager Chris Setti, to save and renovate the theater.

Now, it looks like those wishes and dreams of a restored Madison Theater may actually come to fruition.

The City of Peoria is in talks with The Kim Group, which deals in property management and real estate, to develop the parking lot at the corner of Madison Avenue and Hamilton Boulevard. The hope is that this new 12 to 14-story building will not only house successful businesses but also help bring people to a refurbished Madison Theater.

            After a Request for Proposal was issued by the City in October 2014, The Kim Group, led by Katie Arnholt Kim, was selected from the two offers the City received.

            “We had two strong proposals, but I think that The Kim Group’s proposal just was a little more complete and comprehensive,” Setti said. “She [Kim] had a good overall vision for the block, had some better numbers [and it was] just a little more solid a proposal. The other was a little more speculative.”

The Kim Group proposes to fill the parking lot building with retail, office space, residential units, restaurants and a parking deck. Kim is currently working with the city to iron out how she plans to accomplish and finance her vision for the parking lot space and the theater.

Having an entertainment venue the size of the Madison could greatly benefit downtown, but it will take a sophisticated and nuanced business plan to make it work, Setti says.

On its own, Setti believes restoring the Madison and making a profit running it would be difficult due to the millions of dollars it would take just to renovate it. The combination of the theater renovation and a mixed-use building next door is what can make it work and possibly change the downtown dynamic.

Profits gained from the parking lot complex, for example, can help make up for financial losses from the Madison. The adjacent building could also fuel vitality by already having an audience that works and/or lives near the theater.

“I reject the notion that Peoria can’t sustain the theater, because I think we’ve been supporting live music at the Civic Center, at Limelight, at CEFCU Center Stage,” Setti said. “I think there’s plenty of opportunity and there’s plenty of market for good product, but I do think it helps to have an entire package.”

The theater will have to be home to different types of events to stay sustainable, Kim said. Three to five different companies would rotate through the space each week. One business can use it on Mondays and Tuesdays, another Thursday through Saturday, etc.

Kim wants a venue that hosts something every night of the week, rather than a weekends only. She thinks Peoria needs events happening throughout the week to keep people coming downtown.

The plan is to make the Madison usable for the whole community. Kim wants it to have events for young families, young professionals, empty nesters, the foodies, theater lovers and the list goes on.

Having a vibrant downtown is crucial, too, she said. Places for people to eat beforehand or a place to get drinks afterward are needed for the Madison to succeed. As part of a three-part project Kim is calling The Third Act, an underused block of Main Street will see new retail, restaurants and residential buildings that will aid in this endeavor.

The parking lot complex will benefit in that way, too. Besides bringing people closer to the Madison by having people working or living next door, the complex will have a restaurant or two people can go to after a Madison event.

If the city is able to make a deal with The Kim Group and all else goes as hoped, construction on the parking lot space and Madison renovation would start late this year with completion within 18 months, but it could take as long as three years.

Timing is of the essence now, Kim said. The longer it takes to start on the project, the greater the risk that parts of the building will get even worse. The problem is bringing the right people into town who can do the skilled plastering work needed.

There are people who have stepped up to help with the project. Clint Drury, assistant director of the West Central Illinoi Building and Construction Trade Council, has offered the council’s resources, local banks have offered to help with the numbers; and the CILF has volunteered to run fundraisers for certain items like a chandelier or a curtain.

 “We’ve had so people come back and say ‘I can’t give a huge monetary donation but I’d love to give something or I’d love to help you clean up the building or whatever you need to make this happen again,’” Kim said. “We get calls like that all the time.”

After getting involved in the project, Kim discovered her great grandfather had done some ornamental plastering within the building and, having a special relationship with her great grandfather, that served as a motivation to revive the theater. There are so many other Peorians who care about the Madison and have a history with it, as well.

 “[People] will send me picture of proms,” Kim said. “They’re sending me pictures of the cotillion balls. You don’t really realize how much of Peoria’s history is in the Madison until people start talking.”