This week I attended a conference featuring one of my favorite academics, Dr. Peter Philips, a University of Utah economist. … MORE
Category Archives: Opinion
WJBC Voices: Dream Big? Ridiculous!
Have you ever wondered where YOUR tax dollars go? Do you wonder why your rates for nearly everything are increased annually? Is YOUR money spent wisely? … MORE
WJBC Voices: Crooks are indigenous to Illinois
A modest proposal I made 11 years ago has gone unconsidered.… MORE
WJBC Voices: Back to School
It’s back to school time.… MORE
WJBC Voices: Labor Day – Unions mean community progress
This year’s Bloomington Labor Day Parade theme is “Union Labor – Working for Community Progress.” … MORE
WJBC Voices: BPD to be victim of “friendly fire?”
I hope the City Council’s postponement of action on a police oversight committee is a prelude to their killing it. … MORE
WJBC Forum: It’s July 4 every day in Madiganistan
Apart from the celebrations and the historical significance, what make July 4 different from any other day? That’s the day taxpayers watch their tax dollars literally go up in smoke. And on that day, they actually like it.… MORE
WJBC Forum: Municipal whiff
It’s too early to call it a slump, but the Bloomington City Council the other night whiffed on a softball issue.… MORE
WJBC Forum: Non-budget fever
How broke is Illinois? Let me count the ways.… MORE
WJBC Forum: I Hate Reruns
By David Stanczak An old saying holds that there are two things you don’t want to watch being made: laws and sausages. Many years ago, after my first opportunity to view the legislative process in action, I vowed I would never visit a sausage-making establishment. And that was back in the good old days, when…… MORE
Blogs
Labor Day – Expanding voting rights for all
By Mike Matejka Because of COVID, there is no Labor Day Parade this year. It’s always a great event for our everyday workers to march proudly down the street and enjoys the festive crowd. If there had been a parade, this year’s Labor Day theme was to be “150 years of struggle: your right to vote.” …
Is federal mobilization the answer?
By Mike Matejka As President Donald Trump threatens to send federal marshals into Chicago, over the objections of Illinois Governor J.B. Pritzker, recall another Illinois Governor who protested the incursion of armed federal personnel into the city. Those federal troops, rather than calming, escalated the situation, leading to deaths and violence. Illinois poet Vachel Lindsay…
In these troubled times, to my fellow white Americans
By Mike Matejka Our nation is at a unique watershed in human relations. African-Americans have been killed too many times in the past before George Floyd, but the response to this man’s death is international and all-encompassing. I was a grade-schooler during the Civil Rights 1960s. I watched Birmingham demonstrators hosed and the Selma – Montgomery…
Workers’ Memorial Day – Remember those whose job took their life
Looking around our community, when we say employer, most will respond to State Farm, Country, or Illinois State University. We too often forget those who are building our roads, serving our food, or our public employees. COVID-19 has made us more aware of the risk. Going to work every day for some people means…