Excerpts from recent editorials by Illinois newspapers
March 12, 2016
The (Springfield) State Journal-Register
Drown Illinois higher education, drown the state's future
Illinois, if it's ever to get out of the budget crisis in which it finds itself, must improve its business climate and grow its economy.
So it's mind-boggling to try to figure out why the state's leaders seem content to kill the state's higher education system while they play out a political showdown without regard to the people it hurts.
Remember the old adage about eating your seed corn? That's what our state's leaders seem determined to do when they don't pass a budget, don't pay universities what's owed them and don't support lower-income students seeking to better themselves through higher education.
"We're on the verge of dismantling the higher education system in Illinois," James Applegate, the director of the state's Board of Higher Education, warned the Senate Appropriations Committee.
With no state money coming in for nine months, most universities have turned to operating on cash reserves, and in some cases, even those have begun to run out. Among the impacts:
(asterisk) Southern Illinois University expects to lay off several hundred employees at its campuses in Carbondale and Edwardsville, and at its medical school in Springfield.
(asterisk) Eastern Illinois University plans to lay off 177 employees and impose furloughs on others.
(asterisk) Western Illinois University plans to lay off 100 employees.
(asterisk) Chicago State University sent warnings of layoffs to all 900 employees and has warned its situation is so dire that a shutdown is possible.
Even worse is the impact on students, who are no longer receiving Monetary Assistance Program grants, which are aimed at those who demonstrate financial need.
The grants, which max out at $4,720, go to roughly 130,000 college students statewide.
Stop. Think about that number. 130,000.
Most colleges and universities had been fronting the grants to students for months, betting that the state would end the madness and repay them. That's no longer a safe bet for many universities and colleges, and they're having to reluctantly tell students to find the money themselves.
130,000 students who likely don't have a spare couple thousand dollars lying around to pay for the their college tuition.
130,000 students who understand that higher education is the ticket to a better life. Studies show that attaining a bachelor's degree can add hundreds of thousands of dollars to a person's lifetime earnings.
130,000 students who are willing to work and learn. 130,000 students who can form the educated workforce that Illinois will need if it wants to lure businesses to locate or stay here.
Both sides in the political game say that they want to fund the MAP grants. They just can't seem to set aside their posturing long enough to come up with an actual plan for how to do it.
College presidents told lawmakers Thursday that they're concerned that students will start leaving Illinois even more than they already do for college. Why, after all, would they want to attend a higher education institution where prospects for its long-term health are uncertain
Applegate, in his testimony Thursday, said that the state's higher education institutions are "swimming toward a distant shore but they've got a concrete block around their ankle."
The state needs some lawmakers with sanity and political courage to step up and throw them a life preserver.
Drowning higher education is a sure prescription to drown the state's economic future as well.
___
March 12, 2016
Belleville News-Democrat
Sunshine can make government honest(ish)
Welcome to Sunshine Week, which we celebrate through March 19 as a reminder that when you open up government and its filing cabinets to a little sunshine, it has a sanitizing effect that creates good government.
Journalists rely heavily on two tools to ensure government remains open, and they are the same tools that any member of the public can employ to keep an eye on their public leaders and tax dollars. The Open Meetings Act gives access to government proceedings and curbs the antics employed to hide the public's business from the public. The Freedom of Information Act opens up public records.
Government agencies try to hide records by charging high fees, delaying requests or claiming the requests are too burdensome to fulfill. They claim records must be kept secret because they contain private or sensitive information, when often they are the only ones sensitive to disclosure.
The News-Democrat recently fought the city of Collinsville for access to public records regarding Councilwoman Cheryl Brombolich's personal purchases using city accounts when she worked for the city. That FOIA fight went to court, took nearly nine months but eventually the public was able to see exactly what purchases were made by Brombolich and other city department heads. Voters can use that information.
More than 100 FOIA requests were made when News-Democrat journalists were counting the sexual felony cases in Southern Illinois, work that showed for the victims brave enough to come forward, law enforcement will fail to prosecute 7 of every 10 cases. That work led to a statewide task force to examine the problem and to a major federal grant in St. Clair County to change the outcomes.
There is a chance this week that the U.S. Senate, with your encouragement, could pass S. 337, the FOIA Improvement Act, during Sunshine Week. The bill would strengthen the FOIA law so federal agencies would need to start with the presumption that records were open, would need to make it easier for the public to obtain records and would ensure independence to the ombudsman responsible for FOIA disputes, the Office of Government Information Services.
Help spread a little sunshine this week. Call U.S. Sens. Mark Kirk and Dick Durbin and ask that they support S. 337.
___
March 9, 2016
Chicago Sun-Times
Toting hidden guns without training a danger to everyone
The United States Concealed Carry Association itself warns: "Carrying a concealed weapon can be very dangerous if you are not well trained."
To which a growing number of states are saying, "So what?"
West Virginia became the eighth state to do away with training - or any other - requirements for the concealed carrying of firearms, despite safety worries voiced by police officers. Because the state's legislature overrode a veto by Gov. Earl Ray Tomblin, most people over 21 soon will be able to tote hidden guns even if they have no idea what do do with them in a crisis situation.
Seeing how trained police officers can make mistakes, imagine untrained citizens with guns stepping into a situation where shots are being fired. We think "can be very dangerous" sums it up well - and at least one new study says that is exactly true.
This new trend will affect Illinois residents who travel to states without training requirements - or that have reciprocity agreements with states that have eliminated such requirements. Visitors to those states could find themselves in the middle of dangerous scenarios.
Moreover, a big part of concealed carry training is teaching gun owners their legal responsibilities. People from states without training requirements are likely to cross state lines, including into Illinois, not knowing what the local rules are or even that they exist.
Before 2003, only Vermont allowed people without training or permits to carry concealed firearms. But as more states jump on the NRA's latest bandwagon, the chances of untrained people causing unintentional harm soars.
Last year, professors at Mount St. Mary's University in Maryland tested 77 volunteers in a simulator facility that the Prince George's County police department uses to train its officers.
In the study, commissioned by the National Gun Victims Action Council, volunteers with varied levels of training turned out to be anything but the competent defenders of the peace envisioned by concealed-carry advocates.
In a carjacking scenario, most or all of the citizen gun carriers would have been killed. In an armed robbery scenario, the citizens who took on the robbers were killed. In a larceny scenario, the citizens killed the suspect, not realizing he was unarmed.
That's hardly a ringing endorsement for allowing citizens without training to carry concealed firearms.
Illinois now requires training, but you can be sure that concealed carry proponents soon will come around to demand we toss training and permit requirements to the wind. Keep that in mind during the current legislative session as lawmakers debate new proposals to allow concealed guns on public transportation, at Interstate rest stops, in parks and at athletic facilities.
It's irresponsible to have hidden guns at those locations. It would be even more irresponsible if the people with those hidden guns had zero training.