Editorial Roundup: Illinois
Arlington Heights Daily Herald. October 6, 2022.
Editorial: Campaigns expose specific examples of folly of partisan political boundaries
The run-up to the Nov. 8 election serves as a reminder of the need for redistricting reform to put an end to political gerrymandering in Illinois.
'œThe Fair Maps Amendment,'ť a bipartisan proposal that would have put the question of an independent map commission on the November 2020 ballot, didn't get a vote in the General Assembly by a May 3 deadline because of the pandemic disruption that spring.
Powerful party chairman and House Speaker Mike Madigan always opposed it, but his resignation in disgrace in early 2021 over the ComEd bribery scandal opened the door again. Yet new Speaker Emanuel 'œChris'ť Welch, Gov. J.B. Pritzker and other Democratic lawmakers who previously supported an independent commission kept the remap process in partisan hands.
The result will be felt through 2030, the year of the next census.
The issue of fair maps came up in a recent endorsement interview a representative of our editorial board conducted with the candidates in the 69th state House District. Where is the 69th state House District, you ask? That's a good question, because it was never part of the Daily Herald coverage area before.
Rockford Republican Joe Sosnowski has represented the district since 2011. When he was first elected, his district covered parts of Boone and Winnebago counties, curving in the path of a reverse 'œC'ť from Woodcrest in the south to Belvidere in the east to Rockton in the north.
Now, the boundaries have shifted dramatically to the east, leaving out large swaths of Belvidere but stretching to Richmond, Huntley and Lake in the Hills.
Both Sosnowski and his challenger, Marengo Democrat Peter Janko, support fair maps.
Janko lived in the 63rd state House District until the remap, and he has seen his congressional district change radically as well. In 2018, he was elected as a Democratic state central committeeman for the 14th Congressional District. In 2022, post-remap, he was elected as a Democratic state central committeeman for the 11th Congressional District.
How the Illinois congressional districts were redrawn truly is confounding.
To wit, the 14th District, represented by Naperville Democrat Lauren Underwood, used to form a large 'œC'ť in parts of DuPage, Kane, McHenry and Lake counties. Now, the district's northeastern edge is near Lemont, and it sprawls west through parts of Kane, Will, DeKalb, Kendall, LaSalle, Bureau and Putnam counties -- barely in the Daily Herald's coverage area.
The 11th District, represented by Democrat Bill Foster, previously had Naperville and Aurora at its northern border. Now, the 11th's territory is largely what the 14th's was.
Even maps drawn in a non-partisan system could create dramatic boundary changes, of course, but at least they wouldn't have the added sting of knowing they were done just to help or hurt one party or the other rather than to truly represent the interests of voters from a specific region.
In May 2021, the Democrats released their remap plan after business hours on a Friday. That's a maneuver known as 'œthrowing it out with the trash'ť -- scheduling an unpopular announcement to ensure it won't get scrutiny for days.
'œTrash'ť also is an apt assessment of the entire partisan redistricting process.
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Chicago Sun-Times. October 3, 2022.
Editorial: The best fix for road-rage shootings is gun legislation
Loose cannons like the suspect who killed Mateo Zastro aren't likely to have a light bulb go off in their heads if they come across a flyer that tells them a minor traffic-related dispute isn't worth pulling the trigger.
Anxiety and depression around the globe increased by a whopping 25% during the first year of the pandemic, according to the World Health Organization.
Not surprisingly then, in a country like ours where firearms can be easily acquired, more people on edge means more gun violence. In 2020, gun-related homicides surged by 35%, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported.
Children haven't been spared. Gun violence is now the leading cause of death for American children, research by the New England Journal of Medicine and the CDC revealed.
The evidence of those sobering statistics is heartbreakingly clear in the murder of 3-year-old Mateo Zastro over the weekend. The tragedies will only continue to mount, as long as adults with raging tempers can keep getting their hands on a gun.
Mateo was shot in the head as he sat in the back of his mother's sport utility vehicle in a road-rage incident in West Lawn Friday night, Chicago police said.
There were three other children in the SUV with Mateo and his mother when a male passenger in the backseat of a red car allegedly fired a volley of shots at the SUV. Minutes later, the surviving children could be heard crying on a police radio.
It's unclear what prompted the initial confrontation between Mateo's mother and those in the other car. What is clear, according to police, is that Mateo's mother did try to get away and the gunman, who is still at large, was relentless.
He didn't care that he could potentially hurt children when he unleashed his ire. He wasn't concerned about hitting a passerby or a resident. His intent was to harm - and having a gun made that sinister objective easy.
Loose cannons like the suspect who killed Mateo aren't going to have a light bulb go off in their heads if they come across a flyer that tells them a minor traffic-related dispute isn't worth pulling the trigger.
While Violence Interrupters President Tio Hardiman meant well in his proposal urging officials distribute 100,000 handouts about the risks of guns and road rage following Mateo's murder, the reality is only stricter gun legislation - and enforcement - can make an impact.
If many of our lawmakers continue to behave as though the Second Amendment is more worthy of protection than the lives of Americans, shootings, including those spurred by road rage, will keep proliferating.
Here in Illinois, 35% of all expressway shootings this year through June were related to road rage, up from 12% last year, state police said.
Nationally, more than 500 people were injured or killed in road-rage incidents last year - the worst year on record for road-rage shootings, according to Everytown Research & Policy.
'œThe data is clear,'ť the gun violence prevention group stated when it released its report in April. 'œWith easy access to guns, road rage can turn deadly.'ť
The harsh truth is that any encounter can take a turn for the worst when a gun is involved.
Two days after Mateo was struck by a bullet, police said a man sitting in a parked vehicle that wasn't his shot and wounded a 7-year-old boy after the child's relative approached the would-be robber .
The boy and his family were on their way to church when they spotted the man in their car.
Like Matteo's killer, this gunman apparently wasn't bothered by the thought that he could put a child's life in danger with his rash actions. He was just mad that he was caught apparently stealing someone else's property.
That shooting wasn't a road-rage incident, but it is indicative of the terrible consequences that can play out when an angry person has his or her hands near the trigger of a firearm.
Angry confrontations are nothing new. They take place in every country around the globe.
But the easier it is to get a firearm, the more likely it is that a confrontation that might have ended with a fist-fight will instead turn deadly for a 3-year-old.
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Champaign News-Gazette. October 9, 2022.
Editorial: State's long-term financial picture looks pretty bleak
Illinois is close to leading the nation in the worst of ways.
A monthly report recently released by legislative financial overseers painted a relatively positive picture of Illinois' short-term finances.
Increases in state tax revenues were 'œamazing'ť last year and continue to be strong this year, according to the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability.
Unpaid bills to state vendors that once were in the billions have been paid. At the same time, the state's rainy-day cash fund, an account used to address short-term cash-flow problems, has been restored from less than $10 million to $1 billion and growing.
Given what Illinois has been through in recent years, that news comes as a breath of fresh air.
But, unfortunately, that's not the whole story. In fact, it's far from it.
Illinoisans may be able to catch their breath on the short-term financial front. But the long-term picture remains perilous, and that's putting a positive spin on it.
Illinois remains a state whose financial picture falls in the 'œworst'ť category.
In fact, in a status report published by Colossicus Content and based on research by the Chicago-based Truth-in-Accounting, Illinois ranks No. 3 on the list of the 'œWorst 10 State Finances.'ť
This, of course, is nothing Illinoisans haven't heard before. It's just that they haven't heard it recently, particularly from second-term-seeking Gov. J.B. Pritzker.
From his perspective, it's all seashells and balloons. Things are so good, in fact, that he sold irresponsible legislators on a nearly $2 billion election-year tax cut.
Illinois' sorry finances, of course, are not all his fault. He inherited a financial disaster, just like his predecessor (Bruce Rauner) inherited a financial disaster, just like... well, readers get the idea.
Illinois' financial woes have been built over the years.
'œThe Land of Lincoln likes to silently move into a worse financial position like a glacier, steadily and quietly,'ť the report states. 'œFor the year 2021, Illinois had also underfunded its pension funds and retiree health care funds. And once again, it's been like this for years.'ť
Illinois' negative financial standing stems mostly from its penchant for diverting money owed to its public pensions into other programs.
The report estimates the state's overall debt is roughly $236 billion, a burden representing $57,000 per individual taxpayer.
Hard times are coming in the form of tax increases, spending cuts or both. There's just no getting around financial problems this big.
The good news, of course, is that things could be worse for Illinois.
It could be Connecticut, which finished No. 1 in the 'œworst'ť category, or New Jersey, which finished No. 2.
The other seven 'œworst'ť states are No. 4 Massachusetts, No. 5 Hawaii, No. 6 Delaware, No. 7 Kentucky, No. 8 Vermont, No. 9 California and No. 10 New York.
Only one of Illinois' six neighboring states - Kentucky - made the top 10 'œworst'ť list. What have their elected officials got that Illinois doesn't, besides a sense of financial responsibility?
Although long-term finances are the worst problem Illinois faces, they don't seem to get much attention outside of those few who pay close attention to dollars and sense.
That's good for the politicians because it allows them to continue with business as usual in the hope the state will continue to muddle through. But denying reality doesn't work forever. There's a reckoning ahead - not before the November election, of course, but it's coming, and everyone is on notice.
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