Note that this is private debt, not share of government debt.

The new year brings a chance for voters to factor this accelerating decline into their choices come Election

Data also show nonfarm jobs increased in ten of the metropolitan areas and decreased in four.

While the median home price in the Champaign County area nudged upward year over year — $150,000 through November versus $145,000 a year ago — sales volume is down. Through November, local home sales stood at 2,681, down 4.45 percent from 2,806 sales through November 2016, according to the Champaign County Association of Realtors.

First, the state’s new evidence-based school funding formula will have schools figure out their adequacy target and their extra needs, and then ask the state to fill in the gap. Also, the new Every Student Succeeds Act (ESSA) for the first time requires individual schools, not just school districts as a whole, to let parents know how much they are spending on kids, administrators, teacher salaries and other expenses.