By KRISTIN RAE I’m the founder of a small specialty luggage business based in Bloomington-Normal. I’m also a small-business advocate who helps entrepreneurs across the country navigate policy issues that may threaten their growth and success. For months, Illinois small-business owners have told me they’re struggling with rising costs, supply chain disruptions, and economic uncertainty…
By CHARLES MOONEYHAM In one of my last pieces, “Art in the Age of Disillusionment,” I mentioned “The Exodus from the Machine,” a phrase echoing the idea of The Great Unplugged. It’s a cultural undercurrent pulling Gen X away from the digital noise and back into the arts. And it’s not just them. Young Millennials, Zoomers, and even the…
By DENNIS GRUBAUGH Until it became a magnified political pawn, redistricting used to come around only once every 10 years. The decennial Census count would be conducted, and a group of state legislators or state commissioners would redraw their electoral boundaries to reflect changing population patterns. Congressional districts were apportioned to have equal numbers of…
“CRGA is the only bill under consideration in veto session that can reduce rates” On Oct. 14, 2025, lawmakers, consumer advocates and renewable energy industry members joined a broad coalition of organizations urging immediate passage of the Clean and Reliable Grid Affordability (CRGA) Act during the fall veto session. This legislation responds to the…
By DENNIS GRUBAUGH Now that the simmering sauce pot in the corporate kitchen at Cracker Barrel has cooled down, it’s a good time to consider just what was learned in the branding brouhaha this summer. Did the company take its customers for granted? Did a political firestorm evolve out of basically nothing? Did a company…
By STATE SENATOR ERICA HARRISS and STATE REPRESENTATIVE AMY ELIK Granite City has always been a steel town. Its factories and workers are the heartbeat of our community – providing strong union jobs that support families and fuel the local economy. That’s why the recent decision to continue steel slab production at Granite City Works…
U.S. Senate Candidate Dr. Pamela Denise Long submitted the following commentary recently, in her words, “to sound the alarm about a maximum 62 percent to 75 percent increase in health insurance costs for Illinoisans as elected officials fail to act before open enrollment.” Dr. Long further noted that one of her first legislative priorities will…
Governor JB Pritzker signed Senate Bill 328 into law, legislation that will greatly increase frivolous lawsuits, into law. State Representative Kevin Schmidt (R-Millstadt) says the bill is not good for the business climate in Illinois. “Illinois is struggling with population loss and job growth, and this law will impede economic development even more,” Schmidt said. “This…
By DENNIS GRUBAUGH Most people tend to agree there is no privacy in public. Fewer agree whether we have any privacy in private. I’m afraid our so-called “right” is fading away, if a right ever really existed at all. People demand it, but privacy is not called for in the U.S. Constitution and certainly it’s…
Illinois Federation of Teachers President Dan Montgomery issued the following statement today in response to news reports that the Trump administration is deploying the National Guard to Chicago. “The Illinois Federation of Teachers strongly condemns the decision by the Trump administration to send the National Guard into Chicago. There is no basis for sending soldiers…