•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

•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

•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

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

•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