Illinois House Democrats were told during a private caucus meeting in Springfield last week that, despite what Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez says, inaction on concealed carry would have very serious consequences. As you most assuredly already know, a federal appellate court has given the General Assembly until June 8 to pass a new […]
Illinois
Posted inNews
National ‘Amazon tax’ could mean big bucks for Illinois
As Illinois residents file their income tax returns, they’re faced with a choice: admit to buying something online and pay sales tax to the state, or skip the tax and risk paying a penalty later if they get audited. With the understaffed Illinois Department of Revenue swamped by a backlog of unprocessed filings, taxpayers who […]
Posted inNews
Health insurance reform closer to reality in Illinois
The Illinois Senate could vote next week on implementing a crucial piece of the federal health insurance reforms passed in 2010, but two competing bills could lead the state in opposite directions. The federal Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act of 2010, sometimes called “Obamacare,” calls for each state to set up public health insurance […]
Posted inOpinion
Bad start to Quinn’s re-election effort
“Off topic? I can’t imagine what that would be,” cracked Gov. Pat Quinn last week during a press conference. Just hours before, his lieutenant governor had announced that she would not be Quinn’s 2014 running mate. Gov. Quinn usually does a pretty good job during his press conferences of convincing reporters to wait to ask […]
Posted inOpinion
Illinois: the nearly ungovernable state
Gov. Pat Quinn used the phrase “our Illinois” almost 30 times last week in one form or another during his annual State of the State address. “In our Illinois, everyone should have access to decent healthcare,” Quinn said. “In our Illinois, working people find good jobs not just for today but for tomorrow.” “In our […]
Posted inOpinion
A matter of degree
Baptists have had more success against sin in Illinois than merit-hiring advocates have had against patronage. As I noted the other day, political patronage has been a factor in hiring in State of Illinois agencies since they unloaded the wagons from Vandalia. (“The arts of the patron,” Jan. 3). At hearings of the Illinois Reform […]
Posted inOpinion
Hard times on Civvy Street
Illinois legislators and governors have a soft spot for heroes. I know that because they do so much to create them. The administrators of adoption agencies that find ways to keep going when the state doesn’t pay its bills are heroes. So are schoolteachers who must buy their kids books with their own money because […]
Posted inNews
She may be innocent
In the early morning hours of Dec. 3, 1986, Richard Harshbarger grabbed his .38 caliber revolver and a homemade bat, climbed into his Dodge Rampage truck, and departed from his home in Pana. His younger sister, Peggy Jo Jackson, lived in the southern Illinois town of Mt. Vernon with her abusive husband, William Jackson, and […]
Posted inNews
Natural gas fracking is coming to Illinois
Illinois is poised to tap into a rich vein of money by allowing an oil and gas drilling method known as “fracking,” but environmental concerns and disagreement over state taxes are keeping that financial well plugged for now. Hydraulic fracturing of shale rock – called “fracking” for short – has been used since the 1940s […]
Posted inOpinion
Positive spillovers
Illinois legislators aren’t the only people who have to borrow money to pay for services whose value they sometimes question. Tuition and fees at four-year public institutions in the U.S. rose nearly 400 percent in the 30 years after 1981 – after adjusting for inflation – and student debt is rising faster than the salaries […]
Posted inOpinion
The myth of energy independence
The definition of “energy independence” is evolving. Until recently, it has meant the U.S. producing enough of our own oil so that we were not dependent on other nations for our energy needs. But now we’re in a world of oil interdependence. Oil markets know no national allegiance. Globalization and profit motive are altering a […]
Posted inOpinion
Arts of the patron
Mary Lee Leahy died Dec. 12, after a busy life working for good causes as an attorney and public servant. Perhaps unfairly, she is remembered mainly as a Holy Warrior against patronage in public employment. This alone made her passing notable in Springfield, where patronage has been a way of life since they unloaded the […]
