U.S. Department of Education says in the state of Illinois, homelessness in schools has increased by 17 percent this year, outpacing the national increase by 8 percent. via Number of homeless students on the rise in Illinois : News : ConnectTriStates.com.

http://www.pjstar.com/article/20140923/NEWS/140929713

http://www.realclearpolitics.com/epolls/2014/governor/il/illinois_governor_rauner_vs_quinn-4224.html

http://politics.suntimes.com/article/springfield/former-state-health-official-charged-alleged-kickback-scheme/mon-09222014-935pm

http://www.bondbuyer.com/news/regionalnews/analysts-toll-road-bankruptcy-wont-hurt-indiana-rising-tolls-could-1066358-1.html

Public hearings are scheduled for a draft environmental impact statement to evaluate passenger rail improvements aimed at speeding traffic through northwestern Indiana’s congested railroad corridors as well as in Illinois and Michigan. http://www.myfoxchicago.com/story/26601638/public-hearings-scheduled-for-rail-improvements

The foreign-owned operator of a northern Indiana toll road filed for bankruptcy as traffic fell short of the projections that underpinned the 2006 groundbreaking deal to privatize the highway. http://www.reuters.com/article/2014/09/22/us-indiana-tollroad-bankruptcy-idUSKCN0HH2C420140922

“Illinois history is being made. Not quite like Lincoln’s ‘House Divided’ speech, but it’s a marker of sorts,” said an attorney representing an applicant.  The cast of characters who showed up to apply included “everyone from Cheech and Chong types to hedge fund guys.” http://politics.suntimes.com//article/chicago/med-pot-license-seekers-cheech-and-chong-…-hedge-fund-guys/mon-09222014-639pm

That’s the way the game is played in Springfield: you scratch my back, I’ll scratch yours. The taxpayers and voters be damned. http://ilnews.org/2865/column-its-not-what-you-know-in-illinois/