The digital editor of The Southern Illinoisan, the daily newspaper in Carbondale, a city of 26,000 that sits about an hour from the Kentucky border, was ecstatic…. Comment: We link to it.

“We’re adding three months to life per calendar year.” Comment: Think anything like that is used in the actuarial assumptions for pensions?

Comment: Among the most overdue and obvious reforms Illinois needs is a ban on lawmakers maintaining property tax appeal practices on the side. It’s an obvious conflict of interest and a means of intimidating property owners into political support. Michael Madigan, John Cullerton and Eddie Burke all have those law practices on the side.

Rockford ranked eighth among the 150 largest metro areas in the country for the highest percentage of new jobs in occupations that pay a living wage.

“With the right reforms, Illinois can provide energy assistance to people who need it without using scare state dollars.”

Full opinions linked here.

“Maybe a more apt simile is that of the dueling popes of Avignon and Rome, battling for years for papal supremacy around the end of the 14th century.”

More cutbacks at Tribune, Sun-Times and WBEZ. Comment: Criticize their failures when you see them, but be mindful of the crisis in finding a business model for journalism that can sustain quality.

Comment: If Scott Santis doesn’t win a Pulitzer, there is no justice in the world.

Comment: Really? You don’t say. Whodathunkit?

Mounting fiscal stress in Illinois, Detroit’s bankruptcy and the financial troubles coming to a head in Puerto Rico demonstrate the importance of developing better financial policies, according to a new report from the Volker Alliance (full text of report linked here). The municipal bond market where states and local governments raise money does not fully reflect shoddy state budgeting, Mr Volcker said. “There is a hidden agreement between issuer and buyer – neither has had an interest in exposing it,” he said. “

The speaker and his compatriots have yet to even acknowledge the enormity of the problems facing our state or the fact that serious, fundamental reforms are required to fix what’s so badly broken.

The McLean County clerk said the special election will cost an extra $300,000 in part because of the law mandating voters be able to register on July 7th, the primary election date.

Gov. Rauner created a task force to find ways to get rid of Illinois’ vast number of small, local governments. Four months into their meetings, the panel headed by Rauner’s running mate, Evelyn Sanguinetti, appears to be hitting the same roadblocks that have stalled consolidation efforts in the past.

Both the Illinois Film Tax Credit and EDGE tax credits allow for tax breaks on income, which is a perk that small businesses and regular taxpayers do not enjoy. If the state realizes that industries won’t set up shop in Illinois without a lowered cost of doing business, then why doesn’t it address the underlying problem instead of handing out piecemeal tax breaks?