10 Worst Places to Live in Illinois

Happily Carbondale did not make the list.  Benton, Salem and West Frankfort did, though. Rather surprised to not see Cairo on the list,  Carbondale doesn't make the list of top places to live in Illinois, either. That's Hinsdale.

Video Poker and Slot Machine Growth

Good story on WSIU this morning about the growth of video slot machines in Illinois. Not sure how many of the 21000 are located in Carbondale but, given that 3 establishments devoted to them have opened in the last year within the city limits, know more about the impact of them on the state's economic is a good idea.

What the Assembly Got Done

With all the squabbling from the statehouse, it might not seem as if the state assembly got anything done this year, but this column in Illinois Issues by Charles Wheeler points out that they did manged to pass several criminal justice reforms.

Area's Greatest Challenge

Caught this morning's Talk of the Town with Gary Williams interviewing Jeff Doherty from Jackson Growth Alliance and found Doherty's response to Williams' question about the greatest challenge the area faces. Doherty's response:  Illinois.

Between the amount of money owed various businesses and organizations by the state, the possibility of a 20% funding cut to SIUC and the pension liabilities the state still owes and has imposed upon local municipalities, I think he has a point.

Lt. Gov. Post

Eliminating the post of lieutenant governor seems penny wise and pound foolish to me.  By eliminating it, the state would save an estimated $2 million per year.  However, since the governor and lt. governor run on the same ticket, maintaining the office as it is ensures that, should the governor stop down or be removed from office (cough, cough Blagoyevich), the person who replaces them would be of the same political ideology.  Since the office of attorney general is an elective one, there is no guarantee that the holder of that office would have the same leanings as the governor.  The people of the state elected a representative of one political party to the office and shifting to someone of a different political persuasion would appear to go against their votes.  From what I remember, about half of the time that a Republican held the office of Governor in recent years, a Democrat held the office of Attorney General, meaning a definite switch in political ideology without the vote of the people.

Any thoughts?

Muffler Men

Just because I have a soft spot for Route 66, here's a collection of Illinois Muffler Giants you can still find along the Mother Road.

Luchtefeld Again

Got the opportunity to sit in on an hour long conference call with Sen. Dave Luchtefeld last night. MOst of what he had to say repeated his comments from the Chapber of Commerce lunch yesterday i.e. the state is in lot of financial trouble, we need serious budget reform, a good chunk of it is Michael Madigan's fault for focusing on staying in power rather than doing things that might cause the Democrats to get voted out.

I was bemused to hear several of the callers ask him questions and comment about getting out of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan and not touching Social Security, since he has nothing to do with either of them. Guess some folks just wanted to vent. State pensions were another popular topic, with several people asking what could be done, if anything, about reducing them.

Unemployment Rates

As D. Gorton pointed out in a email earlier this week, surprisingly Jackson County has among the lowest unemployment rates of all counties in the state. We rank 99 out of 102. Our unemployment rate is 7.3%, while Brown County at 4.5%, is the lowest. Williamson County, our neighbor to the east (and home to the Hub of the Universe) ranks 59 with 9.6%, while Perry and Randolph Counties have rates of 11.9 and 9.4%, respectively. And Franklin County? #3 in the state, with an unemployment rate of 14.6%. At least they're no longer #1 like they were a year ago.

Yeah, sales tax collections are down and SIUC is having problems, but our economic underpinnings, at least measured by this metric, look good, especially compared to the rest of the state.

Unemployment Map

According to this map, Illinois is at the low end of states with high unemployment. We're doing about as well as most of the states in the southeast and way better than the states with high unemployment out west. Nowhere neare as good as the states in the Great Plains, though.

Illinois Economy

Interesting article in the current Economist on the state of the economy in Illinois. Of course, as with most media sources from outside the state, Illinois is made up of Chicago and Springfield, and in this case, Peoria. Nary a mention of this part of the state.