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Crain's: Why are so many professors moving out of Illinois?
Kim Coble is among scores of professors fleeing Illinois because of the state’s precarious fiscal condition and erratic funding of higher education. After years of climbing the academic ladder, she’s decided to take a chance in California, even if it means giving up tenure and descending a rung.
“I felt that an untenured position in another state was more secure than a tenured position in Illinois,” says Coble, 45, a Chicago State University astrophysicist headed to San Francisco State University and trading a full professorship for an associate one. That’s not the only blow: She’ll pay $3,400 for a two-bedroom apartment (before a one-time $6,000 stipend), two and a half times the $1,350 a month for her three-bedroom co-op in Hyde Park.
Higher ed is in turmoil across the country as states cut support and pressure builds to slow tuition increases. But debt-ravaged Illinois is a special case. Gov. Bruce Rauner wants to chop funding by 20 percent and shift some pension obligations to schools; the stopgap budget approved in June means higher ed will get less—$1.6 billion—over 18 months than the $1.9 billion it got in the 12 months through mid-2015. Hundreds of university employees have been laid off.
Northwest Herald: Lawmakers are overpaid
Despite Illinois being in its second year without a full state budget, a recent report by the Illinois Policy Institute found that Illinois legislators are some of the highest paid in the nation.
“It’s time for legislators to set an example of how to cut back by starting with their own pay and perks,” Ted Dabrowski, vice president of policy at the think tank, said in a news release. “They should set an example for other areas of state government of how reduce the cost of government to a level taxpayers can afford.”
According to the report, Illinois lawmakers are the fifth-highest paid in the nation, with legislators reportedly receiving an average of $100,000 each year in compensation. Illinois legislators also have the highest base salary in the Midwest at $67,836, according to the report.
State Rep. David McSweeney, R-Barrington Hills, said he agreed with Dabrowski that lawmakers in Illinois are being paid too much.
“It’s very clear we need to cut spending in the state,” McSweeney said. “We do not – I repeat, do not – need a tax increase. [And instead] we need to cut spending.”
BND: Gov. Rauner speaks Greek to lawmakers
Remember how Hercules’ fifth task was to clean the stables of King Augeas in a single day? The home to 3,000 oxen hadn’t been cleaned in 30 years.
Some might see parallels in Springfield and Gov. Bruce Rauner. Thirty years of B.S. accumulated in the capital, and someone quickly needs to clean it out.
How? Term limits. The Independent Map Amendment.
Voters via petition repeatedly tried to make both of these changes, but Madigan and Co. continue to block them in the courts using the same argument: Amendments to the Illinois Constitution through voter petitions can only change the structure and procedures of the General Assembly. Madigan’s lawyer has successfully argued that because the map amendment proposal adds duties to two other branches of state government — the executive branch’s auditor and the courts’ Illinois Supreme Court justices — that it is unconstitutional.
The Southern: Mayor lining up infrastructure projects as result of TIF funds
In late June, Mayor Bob Butler announced the city of Marion had about $7.5 million in funds to spend on infrastructure improvements due to tax increment financing districts.
Earlier in July, Butler asked each of his council members to provide a top priority project for improvements within the city.
Although, not all of the $7.5 needed to be spent, the mayor did want to start moving forward.
Sun-Times: Downers Grove official named to replace Rauner ally, Rep. Sandack
Suburban Republican officials have chosen a replacement to fill the term of former state Rep. Ronald L. Sandack, the outspoken ally of Gov. Bruce Rauner who resigned abruptlyon July 24.
David Olsen, 27, a member of the Downers Grove village council, was picked by the Republican Party chairmen of DuPage and Will counties to represent the 81st House district through January.
The Southern: Retired coal miners losing health benefits as companies file bankruptcy
Sitting at his kitchen table at his home near Sesser, retired coal miner Jim Miller fumbled around for the right word. Betrayal. That’s the one he settled on. That’s the way he felt when he opened a letter in the mail on July 5 from Alpha Natural Resources, from which he retired in 2007, stating his health care benefits will terminate Aug. 1 — this Monday.
Alpha declared bankruptcy in August. A bankruptcy court judge approved the coal company’s request in May to cut worker benefits as part of its Chapter 11 restructuring agreement. Five months prior, a judge reportedly approved the company’s request to award 15 top-level executives metric-based bonuses totaling upwards of about $12 million, which it argued was necessary to retain its leadership team.
Miller, who is 71, retired from the Wabash mine in Keensburg in 2007. Foundation Coal Holdings, Inc., a sibling company of Alpha, closed the mine that year as talks broke down with the UMWA over a wages dispute.