Second Thoughts

Now and then in recent columns, I’ve touched on the risks and the occasional opportunities faced by Illinois as the world’s climate changes. Over at WUIS-FM’s useful news site, three experts at the University of Illinois  taking part in the U of I’s Institute of Government and Public Affairs’ Climate Policy Initiative — Dan Fullerton, […]

In August, the Springfield Muni Opera will stage West Side Story. Directed and choreographed by Anna Bussing, the Broadway classic will play  August 7-8, 13-15 and 20-22. (Curtain at  8:00 p.m.) Muni put on West Side Story in 1977, and I was backstage on opening night in my disguise as a reporter. It was a […]

 In “Naming rights and wrongs,” I discussed, but did not settle, a question raised by Rick Miller of Capitol Fax, to whit, whether government facilities and entities in Illinois should be allowed to reflect historical incidents, doctrines or individuals that some members of the polity regard as odious. The entity he had in mind was Calhoun […]

 In “The razor blade in the apple” I ventured to dismiss Mr. Rauner’s proposal to exempt local governments from the Prevailing Wage Act, which sets a locally controlled floor for construction pay on taxpayer-funded projects as a way to lower local government costs. I noted that construction is only a fraction of the cost of […]

 In my 2013 column “Happier endings” I deplored the fact that doctors of patients in the final stages of incurable diseases so often continue to administer invasive or unpleasant treatments intended to prolong life when what patients and their families really want is  help to die painlessly. Good news, then, from the folks who run […]

 In “Town character,” my recent column about the hometown as hero in mid-Illinois books, I noted that towns, like people, have different personalities. They are born, grow old and die. In middle age they falter in the race against nimbler competitors. They blush with shame at things they have done, and they are capable of […]

 Recently Rich Miller argued in a post on his Capitol Fax blog site that having a county named as John C. Calhoun, the secessionist Southern senator, was unbecoming to a progressive state. In that post, Rich note that what is today the City of Springfield once was known as Calhoun. And yes, the town was […]

 In “Merge, right?” and “Honest, officer, I didn’t see it coming,” I ventured the opinion that the State of Illinois does not set the licensing bar for automobile drivers high enough, and offered Britain’s system of testing drivers as an improvement. I did, however, note that Britain’s driver standards are not at all the toughest […]

In “The razor blade in the apple,” I examined Mr. Rauner’s proposal to freeze property taxes, exempt local governments from the Prevailing Wage Act and allow those governments to limit what is on the table when they sit down to bargain with public employee unions.  The only interesting thing that got said during the “debate” was Bruce […]

“No more property tax hikes without taxpayer approval,” preached brother Rauner last year. He pays property taxes in a lot of states, so maybe he forgot that in Illinois most property tax hikes are subject to taxpayer approval directly (usually through bond referenda) or indirectly. This state also has a mechanism, admittedly little used, by […]

From a recent report by Doug Finke: “Senate Minority Leader Christine Radogno of Lemont. . .  said property taxes account for most of the complaints fielded by her district office.”

 The SJ-R’s Doug Finke informs us that Mr. Madigan has had a change of mind, if not of heart, about the best way to organize the State of Illinois’ historic preservation efforts.  Good. The speaker originally sought to strip the Lincoln Presidential museum from the state’s Historic Preservation Agency, and handed the IHPA to the […]