April 29, 2017
(Arlington Heights) Daily Herald
Campaign against road rage
A little more than a week ago, 43-year-old truck driver Eduardo Munoz of Northlake was shot to death during the afternoon rush hour on the I-88 Reagan Tollway in Oak Brook.
Last week, 34-year-old tow-trucker driver Anthony Tillmon of Lansing was charged with first-degree murder in the case.
There’s likely a long trial ahead and it would be inappropriate to rush to judgment on Tillmon’s guilt or innocence.
But let’s reflect for a moment on the depth of this tragedy — one life ended and his loved ones’ lives forever altered and haunted by grief and loss; and another life at the least traumatized by a lengthy court prosecution and at the worst all but ruined by a conviction that would lead to decades in prison, his loved ones also suffering in myriad ways for incalculable time.
And for what?
For a spur-of-the-moment altercation during a random traffic encounter?
For someone’s surge of impatience or uncontrollable anger? For someone’s inability to let a perceived slight or mistake go?
For this, irretrievable lifetimes of pain and sorrow are the exchange? Would anyone who has a chance to pause and let cooler heads and common sense prevail reasonably agree to such a trade?
There is little doubt that road rage is a growing scourge on our highways. A study reported by Wright State University professor Randy Sansone in a 2010 issue of the Psychiatry peer-review journal observed, “Up to one third of community participants report being perpetrators of road rage, indicating that various forms of road rage are relatively commonplace.”
The AAA Foundation for Traffic Safety describes aggressive driving as “a major concern of the American public and a real threat to the safety of all road users”
An AAA Foundation study last year found “many drivers admitted having let their anger and frustration get the best of them at least once in the past year, engaging in behaviors such as yelling, honking, gesturing at or purposefully tailgating another driver … The same study found that nearly 8 million drivers had gotten out of their car to confront another driver or even bumped or rammed another car on purpose.”
And yet, where is the public campaign against road rage, the crackdown on road rage, the all-out educational efforts to teach all of us how to properly respond to our emotions when we’re behind the wheel?
It is time that we as a society give the same effort to combating road rage that we’ve given to campaigns to address drunken driving and that we’ve started to give to strategies to fight the menace of distracted driving.
It is time for a war on road rage.
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April 29, 2017
The (Springfield) State Journal-Register
We want to believe
Gov. Bruce Rauner and House Speaker Michael Madigan sat down together last week and discussed the state budget.
Seeing as the two haven’t met to talk about the budget since December - or if they have, they didn’t make it public - this might seem like a promising, desperately-needed step toward resolving the 22-month budget impasse that has left social service agencies, universities and vendors dangling as they wonder what financial crumbs the state might throw at them this week.
Cynics that we have become when it comes to most issues decided in the Capitol, we can’t help but fear it was just the latest act of political theater. We’d love to be proven wrong, but all we have to go on is statements issued after the closed-door, private meeting - and they sounded all too familiar.
Madigan: “I requested a meeting with Governor Rauner to ensure he understood my desire to pass a full-year budget and discuss the urgent need for a resolution to the state budget impasse. Throughout the governor’s time in office, we have agreed to seven compromise budget bills when negotiations are allowed to focus on the budget. Schools, human service providers, rating agencies and thousands of others have asked us to do one thing - pass a budget. I ask the governor to turn his focus to the budget.”
Our translation: The only budget getting out of the House is one that doesn’t include the reforms the governor wants, and it’s Rauner’s fault if that doesn’t happen.
The Rauner Administration: “For the first time in more than two years, Speaker Madigan today hinted that he may be willing to enact a truly balanced budget with changes that will help create jobs, properly fund our schools and lower property taxes. It’s too soon to tell if the Speaker will ultimately agree to follow through, but the governor remains optimistic that all sides can work together to enact a balanced budget with changes that fix our broken system and restore balanced budgets for the long-term through strong economic growth.”
Our translation: The only budget getting my signature is one that includes reforms, and it will be Madigan’s fault if that doesn’t happen.
First time they’ve met in nearly five months, and all we got was a rerun? Those statements could have been issued at any time in the last year.
Imagine the gasps of shock that would come from an abrupt plot twist if Madigan and Rauner announced they reached a compromise on a full-year budget. There would be thunderous applause from the agencies, organizations and businesses that for nearly two years have wondered if they will have the funding to open the next day.
Of course, that enthusiasm would have to be tempered by the acknowledgement that an agreement on a plan is only the start. Any state budget needs to be balanced (a word we note was missing from Madigan’s statement). Spending needs to match revenue. And that’s just for the next year. Illinois does not become fiscally stable without long-term reforms to pensions, education funding and business regulations, among other changes.
We’re not as optimistic as some who saw Thursday’s meeting as a sign of hope that Rauner and Madigan can forge even a tentative truce. We’ve seen too many starts go off the rails to start applauding yet.
But governor and Mr. Speaker, you have no idea how badly we want to be mistaken on this. We’re begging you, please prove us wrong.
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April 29, 2017
Belleville News-Democrat
Springfield disconnect can be fixed by laying off lawmakers
Radio Shack. HHGregg. Gander Mountain. Gordmans. Payless Shoesource. Aeropostale.
All these retailers are in bankruptcy, with some closing completely.
Now news that the granddaddy of retailers is about to fail. Sears created shopping at home with delivery to your home 131 years ago, with brick and mortar stores a relatively recent addition in 1925. Online retailers took their model and are burying them.
Sears is based in the Chicago suburbs. They once were housed in Chicago’s tallest building. You’d think our state leaders would be familiar with them and their woes.
Instead, state leaders demonstrate again just how disconnected they are from reality. They decide now is the time to push for a $15 minimum wage, up from $8.25 at present.
Never mind that our minimum wage is already higher than every state we border, or that we lost 114,144 residents last year - including 1,000 here in St. Clair County. If we really want to do some serious damage to the service economy, push all those brick and mortar stores off the edge of the cliff by significantly increasing their labor costs.
At least Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner seems to get it: “That’s not gonna happen. Companies will just leave.”
For more evidence of how the Springfield bubble acts like the Cone of Silence, turn to the recent report on just how rarely state lawmakers pay attention to cost.
Of 938 bills passed by lawmakers during 2015 and 2016, only 27 had fiscal notes telling lawmakers the financial burden created by their new laws, according to an analysis by the Illinois Policy Institute.
“They’re passing bills left and right without a clue as to how much they will cost - or considering whether Illinois even has enough money to pay for them,” said Kristina Rasmussen, president of the Institute. “No private citizen, family or business can afford to act this way. It’s unacceptable that our elected officials are allowed to get away with this.”
Sears would be just fine if only shoppers acted like state lawmakers and ignored the price tags.
So how do you burst the bubble and get those who spend your money to pay closer attention to the real world?
Term limits: Get behind an effort to turn career politicians into citizen public servants. Dethrone His Majesty Mike Madigan, because no one should be in control for 34 years.
Or, we can continue waiting for Springfield to fix itself. Waiting… still waiting… still out here waiting….
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