Category Archives: Editorials

Understanding Illinois: Chicago Mayor’s Race is Important and Tricky to Predict

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•December 5, 2018•

By Jim Nowlan
NP Guest Columnist

The mayor of Chicago is arguably more important than the governor of Illinois. Maybe that’s why more than two dozen have been gathering petitions for the city’s Feb. 26 non-partisan election (though all the candidates are Democrats).
Chicago is both less and more than it used to be. After World War II, the city alone had 3.6 million residents, more than half the state’s total population. Today, there are 2.7 million, just one in five Illinoisans. Yet central city Chicago is the beating heart of a three-state metropolis of 10 million people, with a gross economic product that would make it the 20th largest nation in the world by that measure.
And I hate to say it, but the region sends lots of tax money to support schools and services for struggling Downstate communities like mine.
Chicago is a tale of at least two cities: One, the mostly white, booming downtown and North Side, where millennials flock to good high tech and professional services jobs. The other, largely African-American and Latino to the south and west, where residents feel left behind and often live in fear of out-of-control, homicidal gang bangers. Read More

Understanding Illinois: How to Win the War for Economic Dominance

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•November 28, 2018•

By Jim Nowlan
NP Guest Columnist

In a recent column, I mused about how we are in a virtual war with China for economic dominance. I observed that because of century-old humiliations wreaked on that proud “middle kingdom” (center of the earth) by the U.S. and European nations, China would use any forthcoming dominance to exact revenge. I promised to provide policy proposals to combat the Chinese quest.
(The column strayed from my usual Illinois-focused writing, yet at age 77, I find myself speculating frequently about the really big issues. I’ll return to Prairie State observations next week.)
Individuals and nations are driven by our DNA to play “king of the hill,” in our incessant drive for “fitness.” You will recall from the childhood game that this requires not only climbing toward the pinnacle of the leaf pile or snow mound, but also pulling others above you off their perches. Read More

How the University of Illinois Wound Up in Champaign-Urbana

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•November 28, 2018•

By Tom Kacich
Of the (Champaign) News-Gazette

Champaign-Urbana owes its prominence to the University of Illinois, and the University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign owes its existence to Clark Robinson Griggs.
If it hadn’t been for Griggs — probably the greatest political operator in Champaign County’s history — the U of I or, as it was then known, the Illinois Industrial University, would have been located in Jacksonville, Lincoln, Bloomington or perhaps Chicago.
Yet, there is no Griggs Hall at the university, no statues of Griggs on campus. Even in Urbana, where he served a year as mayor, there is only a four-block-long street that bears his name.
One can only guess why Griggs’ name has been forgotten by all but the history books. Perhaps the university is just a little ashamed of the man who could be called its father.
You see, Griggs was a bit of a scoundrel.
Much of the story of Griggs’ delightfully sly effort comes from an interview he gave to Allan Nevins (who later became known as the father of oral histories) shortly before his death. Read More

Eight Films You Didn’t Know Were Filmed in Illinois

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•November 21, 2018•

By Dann Gire
Film critic of the (Arlington Heights) Daily Herald

Maybe Illinois has produced so many cool movies because it offers such a vastly diverse spectrum of locations to tell highly visual stories.
Or maybe our state has pumped out impressive pictures because the Illinois Film Office and Chicago Film Office cut through red tape for appreciative filmmakers.
Or, maybe Illinois seals those deals with its attractive 30-percent tax credit on film production costs. (Being the only state in the union with a diversity provision as part of its tax credits can’t hurt.)
Many local scenes turn up in iconic Illinois-filmed motion pictures such as “The Blues Brothers,” “Ferris Bueller’s Day Off,” “Home Alone,” “The Breakfast Club” and “The Fugitive.” Here are eight others filmed at locations across the state that are worth a special mention, too. Read More

Understanding Illinois: We’re at War, and We’re Losing it Dollar by Dollar, Day by Day

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•November 21, 2018•

By Jim Nowlan
NP Guest Columnist

For millennia, war was how you did economic development. Today, economic dominance is how you do war, and we’re losing.
I read recently that some school districts across our country are going to four-day weeks, “to save money,” and maybe to provide families more flexibility.
The article brought to mind the first of my several six-week teaching gigs at Fudan University in Shanghai, each capped by invited lectures for me to give at universities all across China. This sure doesn’t make me an expert on China, yet allowed me some observations.
The day after I first arrived in Shanghai, now 15 years ago, I took a stretch-the-legs stroll from my “foreign expert guest quarters,” located on a leafy side street.
It was early Saturday morning, and I was surprised to see gaggles of cute, early grade school-age kids in neat uniforms, gathering outside what was obviously a school building.
Later I asked my host professor about this. “Oh, of course, our children all attend school every Saturday morning, until noon.”
Indeed, Chinese children not only attend school about 210 days each year (versus our 174 days), but for an hour longer each weekday than in the U.S. Read More

Understanding Illinois: A Chance for Responsible Government Ahead

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•November 14, 2018•

By Jim Nowlan
NP Guest Columnist

As a result of the election Tuesday, Democrats are totally—I mean totally—in charge of Illinois government. Governor-elect J. B. Pritzker won a resounding victory and his party achieved more than 3/5ths majorities in both the House and Senate. And the Illinois Supreme Court continues to have a Democratic majority, as has been the case continuously since 1962.
This offers an unusual opportunity in Illinois for voters to place credit or blame, with some clarity, over the coming four years with one political party.
For most of the past half century, Illinois government has been divided, with Republicans often holding the governorship and Dems one or both chambers of the legislature. Even when Democrats controlled both the executive and legislative branches under Blagojevich and Quinn (2002-2014), these governors were often at odds with their legislative leaders.
In contrast, under parliamentary governments (think Canada and the United Kingdom), government is unified. Those nations do not have separate executives and legislatures; the chief executive (prime minister) is selected from within the party that controls the legislative branch (parliament).
So, it is easier for voters to assess blame or credit in parliamentary systems, as it will be in Illinois over the coming term of governor-elect Pritzker. Read More

Barack Obama’s Political Career in Illinois Helped Shape His Presidency

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RON JOHNSON/Journal Star Democratic candidate Barack Obama gets a high gloss shine on his shoes from Peoria icon and shoe shiner George Manias who has buffed the shoes of presidents, congressmen and Supreme Court justices alike.
Senate race between Barack Obama and Alan Keyes. Heartland picture story on the race for the US Senate seat from Illinois.

•November 14, 2018•

By Chris Kaergard
Of the Journal Star

A decade ago, he claimed victory in the presidential campaign from Grant Park in Chicago.
He announced his run — and later his running mate — on ground trod by Abraham Lincoln at the Old State Capitol.
And, yes, he also quoted Ronald Reagan on occasion.
Like the first two, Barack Obama wasn’t born here, but chose to live in Illinois and make his reputation within these borders.
While his post-presidency may not — at least for now — feature a Chicago address, his time in Chicago and its politics helped clarify his presidential character to the world, and prepare him for the task.
So, too, did the world under the Capitol dome in Springfield, and his time representing a state that boasts Fortune 500 corporations, industrial laborers, suburban families, downstate farmers and many others.
“I think coming from an industrial, agricultural state with a lot of cultural diversity was such a great learning experience for him,” says Ray LaHood, Obama’s former secretary of transportation. Read More

Illinois Sent More Than 350,000 Soldiers to Europe During World War I

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CLAY JACKSON, HERALD & REVIEW
Great War Living History Enthusiast Ian Houghton talks about Britain’s involvement in World War I during the World War I Encampment at Monticello Railway Museum on Aug. 19, 2017. The event, sponsored by the Monticello Railway Museum and the Illinois State Military Museum, signified the departure of Illinois Army National Guard troops to Camp Logan, Texas, for mobilization training from September to October 1917.

•November 7, 2018•

By Tony Reid
Of the Herald & Review

Artie Bennett, a Marine from Clinton, was cut down by a hail of bullets 100 years ago in a far-flung foreign field, giving his life for his country in America’s first global war.
A letter home from a fellow soldier said Bennett, 18, had been attacking a machine gun nest as the Marines fought, successfully, to stem a German advance threatening the French capital of Paris in June 1918, the last summer of World War I.
The fallen Marine had lingered for an hour before dying, one of the first casualties from Illinois. The letter honoring him, typed by fellow Marine Pvt. John W. Olsen, read: “He passed away quietly, without a complaint, and was laid to rest near where he fell.”
Immaculately tended American cemeteries in France, and faded memorials at home, are among the few tangible reminders of the “Great War” that began on July 28, 1914, and ended, after 18 million soldiers and civilians had died on all sides, with an armistice that went into effect at 11 a.m. on Nov. 11, 1918. Read More

Understanding Illinois: Who is calling the signals? And Why?

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•November 7, 2018•

By Jim Nowlan
NP Guest Columnist

Whenever I go to a high school or college football game, I cringe at the sight of players on the field, standing as if witless (which they aren’t), looking to the sidelines for instructions from the coaches as to plays to call and defenses to mount.
I fear that technology, coaches and parents have connived, unwittingly I’m sure, to take the game away from the kids. Let’s give it back to them.
When I played high school football 60 years ago, we called our own plays in the huddle. And it was a good learning experience. In addition to using our own wits, we learned how to work together and make our own way on the field.
Quarterback Dan Carrington was the final word on play calling, yet players often chimed in with such as: “Go off left tackle, Dan. I know I can handle this guy.”
Then we went off tackle, and “this guy” reared up, pushed our left tackle aside, and smote down our halfback for a loss. Thus, Dan learned how to measure his teammates and whom he could trust. Dan later became president of Western Union.
According to coaches and veteran football officials I talked with, those days are long gone. Read More

Understanding Illinois: Illinois: From Leader to Laggard, and Back Again?

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•October 31, 2018•

By Jim Nowlan
NP Guest Columnist

This is the seventh and final column on “What the next Illinois governor and legislature must do.”
In an old cartoon, Pogo surveyed the world around him and declared: We have discovered the enemy—and it is us! So it may be in Illinois. We are so glum about our fiscal, tax, political and corruption problems that many of my friends have given up on Illinois. And their dour attitude is infectious.
We all need a strong dose of Norman Vincent Peale’s power of positive thinking, which can also be infectious.
First, we are not alone in our travails. Many states face big problems. Coastal states are being hammered by more frequent and more ferocious storms. Texas and the Southwest are ever more beastly hot and desperately parched, wondering where their next drop will come from. California has not only punishing taxes but also housing prices that are pushing many out of that state.
Yet some states with big problems thrive. Minnesota has an individual income tax top marginal rate that is twice that of our tax: 9.85 percent versus our 4.95 rate. And winters that can be brutal. Yet Minnesota has a healthy, growing economy and increasing population.
For most of our state’s history, our great strengths—location in the middle of the country, dense networks of interstate highways and railroads, the nation’s leading airport for domestic and international connections, an incredibly vibrant central-city Chicago, copious surface and underground water supplies, and much higher than typical percentages of population with bachelor’s and advanced degrees—have made Illinois a leader among the states in innovation and wealth. Read More