By James D. Nowlan
and J. Thomas Johnson
Outside Columnists
When we were boys in the 1950s, we were proud to be from wealthy, self-confident Illinois.
Today, many of us in Illinois are in a funk. When we travel and mention we are from Illinois, there are disparaging responses about our governors being in jail.
Polling confirms our worries that others don’t think much of us. Read More
by Patrick Hogan
Natural selection is a way of life; survival of the fittest has always been nature’s most cruel – but constant – rule. So why is it so hard for some people to grasp the concept of selective breeding? Claims of it being immoral, unethical, and men playing God are simply extremist in nature and futile in attempt. The truth is, selective breeding and natural selection are the same – except humans are making the decisions on what is to be natural. Read More
by Tori Floyd
In the United States, the routine breeding of animals, dogs in particular, has been a traditional practice for hundreds of years. But this intentional production of puppies walks a thin line and poses a few ethical questions. Where does tradition break ethics? Where does breeding become a burden? When does human intervention go too far?
Many people breed dogs to preserve a pure bloodline, but too often people breed dogs to make a profit. Each puppy bears a dollar sign. This fact is what makes innocent breeding escalade into puppy mills. This fact is what causes the horrible conditions. So many dogs are being born that the basic needs in living conditions, sanitation, exercise, and human socialization are all too great to be met. Read More
by Christina Brown
According to the First Amendment, everyone has the right to religious freedom, everyone can cherish one’s god in his or her own way, everyone can freely speak of their religion. Somehow, public schools have gone against the right to have freedom of religion within its walls. The children, kindergarten to fifth grade, the preteenagers, sixth grade to eighth grade, and the teenagers, freshmen to senior, all have the right of religion taken away for eight hours five days a week. Why do schools believe they have the power to monitor what is said about religion within the halls and Read More
by Alex Love
Our state and national government requires standardized testing to gauge our children’s academic success. Often times, students are compared to one another due to the same test being administered to their fellow classmates. This notion poses a question; how fair is it to give a test to all students when no one child is the same?
Every child has his or her own strengths, weaknesses, and personalities. How fair is it to rely so heavily upon testing success to determine the future of our children? Standardized tests scores are used to show where a student is academically–exceeding, meeting, or Read More
By Jim Nowlan
Outside Columnist
Over the past two decades, the state school aid formula for local schools in Illinois has moved away from its roots of trying to reduce the gap in total dollars between property poor and property rich school districts.
Downstate districts tend to have been the losers in this shift.
Downstate senator Andy Manar (D-Bunker Hill) has initiated efforts to refocus the distribution formula on “equalization” (in quotes because nobody expects the state to be able to make all districts actually equal in basic spending). Read More
Submitted by Kara Kinney
MCFB Manager
The Moultrie County Farm Bureau was formed in 1919. As the largest and most effective organization representing Illinois farmers, their mission is clear - “To improve the economic well-being of agriculture and enrich the quality of farm family life.” The Moultrie County Farm Bureau is affiliated with the Illinois Farm Bureau. In fact, as a member of Moultrie, they are also a member of the Illinois Farm Bureau.
We are a membership organization. We have two classes of membership, voting and associate. Voting members are those that have interest in a farm or farm business. Associate members are members who take advantage of our great benefits. Farm Bureau members are involved in efforts to:
by Kim Riedel
NP Columnist
In a quest to survive this past dreary and cold winter, I kept myself busy with some different ideas, plans and discoveries.
My curiosity about aquaponics sent me to books, You Tube, and asking several people for guidance to find out more information.
Aquaponics is the process of growing plants in a soilless media such as hydroponics but uses the nutrients from the fish tank to fertilize the plants rather than having fertilizer or other additives added to the water as in hydroponics. The fish fertilize the plants, and the plants clean the water for the fish. The fish and plants work together so the water can be recycled indefinitely (unless it evaporates). You should be able be grow more plants in less space than a regular garden, and plants should grow faster and larger. It should be a fun experiment. Read More
by Angela Hogan, RN MSPH
Administrator, Mo. Co. Health Dept.
As I sit here on this cold day in late March with snow on the ground (again), it is hard to imagine that in four months our current temperature will be tripled to 90 degrees Fahrenheit! What is not so hard to imagine is the storms that will ensue between now and then. That is why I would like for everyone to sign up for CodeRED. Read More
By Jim Nowlan
Outside Columnist
On first blush, the proposal by Illinois Speaker of the House Michael Madigan to impose a three percent tax surcharge on income greater than $1 million sounds like a relatively painless (for most of us, certainly) way to raise about $1 billion for education.
On second blush, it’s a bad idea for at least these reasons:
First, The proposal reinforces the widely held perception by business that Illinois has an unpredictable and unstable fiscal system. Read More