2017 June Issue

By DENNIS GRUBAUGH    Illinois nonprofits taking it on the chin during the state budget uncertainty might consider going back to school.    Leaders looking for ways to strengthen their organizations have found some help in specialty programs like the ones at Washington University Olin Business School in St. Louis.    Dr. Stuart Bunderson, a professor at the…

By DENNIS GRUBAUGH    ALTON — A partnership led by attorney John Simmons hopes to transform a largely vacant, Alton landmark into a thriving professional building.    Simmons is the lead partner behind Giant City Properties, a property management firm that recently purchased the historic Millers Mutual building on East Fourth Street, between Easton and Alby streets.…

    IBJ: How is technology changing the banking business?    Toll: I use the word transformational. Banking is not alone in that regard but it is moving at warp speed. There is a lot happening. Not necessarily in the traditional banking space but in the periphery of the new entrants to the market and that change…

A conservative view: A switch to true user fees to fund transportation would have many benefits By R. RICHARD GEDDES    America’s surface transportation system faces a range of serious problems, which hamper its performance. Traffic congestion is a growing problem. Congested roads wasted 6.9 billion hours of motorists’ travel time and almost 3.1 billion gallons…

A progressive view: There are no shortcuts to building 21st century infrastructure By KEVIN DEGOOD     Infrastructure projects cost money. No amount of hand waving or fancy financial jargon can overcome this fact. Unfortunately, this hasn’t stopped the Trump administration from trying.     Throughout his presidential campaign, Donald Trump repeatedly vowed to spend $1 trillion…

By DENNIS GRUBAUGH    A top railroad executive says the St. Louis region’s development as a freight hub depends in part on America’s ability to address its major infrastructure shortcomings.    And the solution, says Matthew Rose, rests in the federal and state governments’ willingness to implement gas tax increases and user fees that are politically unpopular…

  By DENNIS GRUBAUGH    SCOTT AFB — At the region’s biggest employer, they are some of the biggest birds flying, yet their importance can be measured in about 16 feet.    That’s the tiny crucible of maneuvering distance between the mammoth KC-135 Stratotanker and the trailing aircraft it serves on refueling missions.    In baseball parlance, that’s…

  By DENNIS GRUBAUGH    It will take more than a governor’s signature to restore confidence among Illinois’ social service agencies that have suffered so much during the two years of a budget impasse.    It might take the sweep of a magic wand.    Some experts say it will take years, not just months, for a rebound…

  By ALAN J. ORTBALS    Nearly half of college-bound Illinois high school graduates leave the state to attend four-year institutions, according to the Illinois Board of Higher Education. And, the IBHE estimates that half of those who leave will not return to the Land of Lincoln.    Those figures are from 2015 before the state became…