Wrong Time for Added Tax Burden

At a time when we are confronting great economic duress, it's disappointing that the Jacksonville School District 117 Board of Education would choose to pursue a Morgan County school facilities sales tax. Due to a demonstrated lack of vision and leadership by the board of education, the negative impact an increased countywide sales tax would have on local economic development, the undue burden such a tax would place on the unemployed and seniors living on fixed incomes, and the culture of dependency that this proposal perpetuates between the state of Illinois and its people, I ask that Morgan County citizens join me in voting "no" on March 20. more

Bills to tax ammo, register guns pass Illinois House committee

An Illinois House committee has approved legislation requiring registration of handguns and creating a new tax on ammunition. Both bills passed 7-4 Wednesday and now go to the House floor. Lobbyist Todd Vandermyde of the National Rifle Association opposes both measures. He says requiring handgun registration would cost money for law-abiding citizens without affecting people who have guns illegally. more

Senator McCann Reacts to Governor Quinn's Budget Speech

Senator Sam McCann issued a statement about Governor Pat Quinn's budget speech, presented February 22 to a joint session of Illinois lawmakers in the chambers of the House of Representatives. "This is the Governor's fourth budget that he has presented and finally on his fourth try, he figured out that we have a financial crisis here in Illinois. I think he admitted that today," Senator McCann said. "He said we were going to have a 'rendezvous with reality' with this budget presentation here today. I am glad that he joined us in reality." read more

Governor Names Undocumented Migrant to State DREAM Commission

Undocumented immigrants have won "a place at the table where decisions are taken," 24-year-old activist Rigoberto Padilla-Perez, recently named to the Illinois DREAM Commission, said Friday.

"Rigo", as he is known, was one of the first members of the movement of undocumented young people, or "dreamers," who have lived in the United States since childhood and are championing the legalization of their immigration status and a chance to study. more

The Greece Next Door

Run up spending and debt, raise taxes in the naming of balancing the budget, but then watch as deficits rise and your credit-rating falls anyway. That's been the sad pattern in Europe, and now it's hitting that mecca of tax-and-spend government known as Illinois.

Though too few noticed, this month Moody's downgraded Illinois state debt to A2 from A1, the lowest among the 50 states. That's worse even than California. more

GOP can't catch a break on fairness

If you're wondering why political reform is so enfeebled in Illinois, consider a federal appeals court decision last week that zapped a Republican effort to make the state's congressional redistricting fair, balanced and honest.

A three-judge panel of the 7th U.S. Circuit Court of Appeals upheld the Democrats' unabashed drawing of Illinois' 18 districts in a way that ensures the party's dominance of the state's congressional delegation for the next decade. more