•November 23, 2016•

By Jerry L. Ginther
NP Columnist

Tradition has significance for most seniors, I believe, especially during the autumn and winter holidays. I mean, what would Thanksgiving Day be without the traditional turkey dinner with pumpkin pie, stuffing, cranberry sauce and the many other treats associated with the day? The aroma from the kitchen created anticipation for all who waited for the feast to be served. Who would think of dining out at a restaurant on this occasion unless one had no family with which to share the day?

There was always excitement in the preparations, too. And, as the old song, Over the River and Through Wood, suggests, we often went to Grandmother’s house for the day. Family would begin arriving at Grandma’s house mid morning, some with excited children. Some would bring side dishes to share, and all brought good humor and a healthy appetite. The ladies gathered in the kitchen with cheerful greetings and preparations for the meal got underway. I don’t recall any complaints concerning, “too many cooks in the kitchen.”

So many cheerful conversations took place before, during and after the meal. Of course, I can’t remember every Thanksgiving Day, but I can remember the atmosphere that was present at all. With the menfolk, the first fishing tale would never top the last, and every buck deer bagged had a huge rack. If you were a young boy, you were enthralled by the adventure. Even the girls found enjoyment in those accounts. The details of each hunt and fishing trip were articulated in such vivid detail that they captured the imagination of the listeners as only the old storytellers could. The art of conversation and storytelling was still intact in those days. That is to say, they were never boring. To me there was no such thing as an embellished account. If one of my uncles was telling the story, it had to be just as he told it. Is there any wonder as to why they enjoyed telling their stories to children? Yes, we believed every word! Read More

•November 23, 2016•

By Jim Nowlan
NP Guest Columnist

I promise readers this is the last column, at least for a while, about my near-obsession, understandable as I think it is, over the failure of the governor and Illinois House speaker to come together somehow to forge a responsible state budget.

In the recent election, GOP Gov. Bruce Rauner reduced the speaker’s House Democratic majority from 71-47 to 67-51, and in the state Senate he gained two GOP seats, which brings the Dems’ majority in that chamber down to just under two-thirds.

The governor was unable, however, to hang onto the office of Illinois Comptroller, which had been rather securely in GOP hands under the late Judy Baar Topinka until 2014, when Rauner appointed Leslie Munger, a businesswoman, to the post on Judy’s passing.

At that time, the Democrats enacted a bill that limited Munger’s appointed tenure to two years, rather than the four years it would have been otherwise.

This is a ministerial, rather than policy, office. The comptroller writes the checks to pay the state’s bills. Yet the office has been critical to Rauner.

Because of the lack of a balanced budget, the state has been racking up billions of dollars in bills each recent year, which it lacks the revenue to pay.  Read More