* The setup…

A Peoria political reporter will remain in a hairy situation as long as Illinois legislators are deadlocked on a budget.

Journal Star reporter Chris Kaergard says he won’t shave his beard until lawmakers reach a deal.

He says it started as a bit of a gag in May when lawmakers adjourned in the spring without a spending plan in place. But now Republican Gov. Bruce Rauner and the Democrat-controlled Legislature are still at an impasse nearly two months into the new fiscal year.

I did that a few years back. Never again.

* The “before” photo…

* The “after” photo…

* The Question: Caption?

       

100 Comments - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:07 pm: “If the Burgermeister saw you, we would all be in real danger!” - Anonymous - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:08 pm: At least it gives bobcats a place to hide! - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:11 pm: “Next on ‘Duck Dynasty ‘…” - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:11 pm: “It only itches when I’m asleep or awake.” - Ace Laredo - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:12 pm: Who cares about social services? I want the budget solved so that we can get that raccoon off Chris’s face! - cover - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:12 pm: I hope he gets to shave before the 2015-2016 Blackhawks… - Amalia - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:13 pm: Touch of Grey on Shakedown Street - PublicServant - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:15 pm: Prepping for his part in the new star wars movie as a wookie reporter. - Bluefish - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:15 pm: His face will stay nice and toasty warm this winter. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:15 pm: “No. I’m Doc. The other guy is Sleepy” - Jocko - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:15 pm: If Just For Men® can make Santa look like this…just think what it can do for you! - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:15 pm: ===hope he gets to shave before the 2015-2016 Blackhawks=== I hope he gets to shave before he looks like ZZ Top - somewhere around 2019. lol - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:16 pm: “… but his back is waxed weekly… “ - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:17 pm: “Wilson!… Oh Wilson… Wilson?!?… Wilson!!” - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:18 pm: Even the chia-pets get nervous when they see it - Mama - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:18 pm: Life is really getting hairy at the state capitol now. The poor workers can’t afford to buy a razor. - Team Sleep - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:18 pm: “I’ve gotten used to the birds living in my beard. They’re kinda nice, but they don’t pay rent. It’s a double-edged sword.” - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:19 pm: “Tie or no tie?” - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:20 pm: “… my pots and pans have never been cleaner… “ - illini - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:21 pm: I can remember when my beard looked like the “after” photo. I keep it much, much shorter now. And I started mine on a whim over 30 years ago. I shaved Thanksgiving morning and decided that if it looked good and I was still comfortable with it by Christmas that I would keep it. So many years ago. - Michelle Flaherty - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:22 pm: That beard will really set him apart from all his former PJS colleagues in the unemployment line. There are better odds of Gatehouse folding that paper than there are of a state budget deal anytime soon. - Hyperbolic Chamber - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:23 pm: PJ Star reporter Chris Kaergard is preparing for hell to freeze over. Projected temperature in hell is 451 degrees F for the foreseeable future. - Mich Willar - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:23 pm: “Want some candy little boy?” - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:24 pm: “After I got done rung-ing, I bee-came a ree-porter, you know one of those people askin’ quest-yons, writin’ down things, Mama was so proud. Now Jen-nee, I had heard from her in a long time… “ - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:25 pm: “When the beard moves upward, that’s when I’m smiling” - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:26 pm: “Mayor Ardis, he started his own satire Twitter of my beard…” - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:26 pm: “Contacts or glasses?” - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:29 pm: “No, I’ve been eating lunch alone lately, why?” - Stones - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:30 pm: Dude, bad year to make a vow like that! - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:30 pm: When the hair starts going out the ears, you may want to rethink this… - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:31 pm: “Sir, we’ll charge you for the haircut, but if you want, we all chipped in for a shave.” - Ahoy! - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:31 pm: Illinois is in a Grizzly situation. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:32 pm: “Frodo and Gandolf will be here shortly, I love ComCon.” - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:33 pm: “Nope, not a bet, I’m choosing to do this…” - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:34 pm: “Sure it’s movie quality, but I’m suppose to be an Ewok… “ - Excessively Rabid - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:38 pm: Celebrating the centennial of Illinois’ last budget. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:38 pm: “… and since then I’ve stayed clear of Velcro… “ - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:40 pm: “… Now? Now I just tell them what want from the salad bar and they bring it to me… “ - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:41 pm: “This is my 3rd Press ID since January…” - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:42 pm: “I use to be a ‘Summer’ complexion before the beard, now I’m a Fall/Winter, depending on the lighting… “ - AC - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:43 pm: Mother Earth News welcomes its new editor - Jeff Trigg - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:43 pm: Maybe now that the Mayor can’t recognize me, I can get away with saying something critical of him without my home getting raided by the police. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:44 pm: “I know, I know, I KNOW! The Blackhawks won, got it, thanks. I’m doing this because of… oh, never mind… “ - Liberty - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:45 pm: Insider stuff- no one cares except those around you. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:46 pm: If things work out, I’ll be the face of the Peoria Rivermen by… What?… Seriously?… “ - A guy - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:48 pm: PJR Reporter Cousin Itt… - A guy - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:49 pm: If it doesn’t end before the next Westminster Show, I’d say we’ve got a contenda’ - A guy - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:50 pm: Might want to warn Oscar by the way… - Tammy - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:50 pm: A non-caption aside: Did I hear Jim Oberweis is growing an overtime beard too? If so, can we see those pics? - AC - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:51 pm: New study links unmanaged state budget with unmanaged facial hair growth, razor Industry stocks drops 10% - Blago's Hare - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:51 pm: In a few more years, and if I get a little more white hair, I know I can win the “Oscar” look-a-like contest. - AC - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:51 pm: The governor, the speaker and the beards they control - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:53 pm: “Wait. Let me comb it… “ - Educated in the Suburbs - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:54 pm: If I were his wife I’d kill him. It’d be like sleeping next to bigfoot, especially when you woke up in the night and rolled over expecting to see your husband and GAAAAAAH BIGFOOT. - Educated in the Suburbs - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:55 pm: (*or his husband. The point is, that beard breaks marital vows.) - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 1:59 pm: “I haven’t buttoned a top button in weeks… “ - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 2:02 pm: “We loved you in Teen Wolf… “ - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 2:03 pm: This IS the before… “ - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 2:05 pm: “Please welcome Alan Garner to Springfield… “ - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 2:07 pm: “Be careful with that; it’s a Lewis Vitton Notepad.” - @MisterJayEm - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 2:10 pm: More like Lycanthropy-oria Journal Star reporter Chris Kaergard, amirite? – MrJM - Wildcat D - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 2:11 pm: Ch, ch, ch, chia - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 2:19 pm: Ladies and gentlemen of the General Assembly, I’m just a caveman. I fell on some ice and later got thawed out by some of your scientists. Your Chambers frighten and confuses me! Sometimes the ringing of your voting bells make me want to get off my Twitter feed on my iPhone.. and… run off into the hills, or wherever.. Sometimes when I get a text on my cell phone, I wonder: “Did little demons get inside and type it?” I don’t know! My primitive mind can’t grasp these concepts. But there is one thing I do know - when a budget isn’t passed and I find myself on the sidewalk in front of the Capitol, I’m entitled to no less than two outstanding quotes from Leadership and the Governor, and two million clicks on the column. Thank you. - illini - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 2:44 pm: Willy, you are really having some fun with this today. Always enjoy your comments when it comes to some light humor and a little “snark”. - zatoichi - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 2:48 pm: Two months to ZZ Top length. - The Colossus of Roads - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 2:53 pm: Getting ready for that reality TV show, ” Bush Political Reporters”. - Evil T - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 2:56 pm: I’m trying to look cool, like Rich Miller…… - Precinct Captain - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 3:06 pm: I should be wearing the Carhartt! - D.P.Gumby - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 3:10 pm: Plus, I always have my lunch w/ me…just comb it out. - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 3:15 pm: Next time? Clean shaven, no haircut. (Tips cap to - illini -) - anon - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 3:17 pm: Hi—Do you play outfield for the Colorado Rockies??? - Ducky LaMoore - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 3:19 pm: Josh Duggar escapes notice with his new Bruce Vilanch style. - Skid Lid - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 3:22 pm: Inspired by Peoria’s own, Willie York. - 47th Ward - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 3:26 pm: Hipster check list: Facial hair? Check Bicycle to work? Check Skinny jeans? Check Microbrew fan? Check Ironic sense of humor? Check Tattoos? OK, I don’t really want to know. - the Patriot - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 3:33 pm: IL passes balanced budget on 1-0 vote by “The Last Man on Earth.” - Go Huskies - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 4:27 pm: Governors own beards. Always have. Beard is Rauner’s fault. OR: It is all Madigan’s fault. That beard would be shaved by now if it weren’t for the corrupt common denominator. - A guy - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 4:35 pm: If this budget gets passed in December or January and this cat shaves his beard then, he’s gonna have a whole new understanding of the effect of the wind chill factor. Whoa. - A guy - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 4:36 pm: That beard’s gettin’ so big, his ties no longer fit him. - Jake From Elwood - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 4:36 pm: The beard makes him look about 15 years older, so maybe is just seeking some gravitas. - Anonymous - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 5:27 pm: Muck dynasty - Rich Miller - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 5:28 pm: Because… Madigan! - Anonymous - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 5:31 pm: Post office wall paper - Anonymous - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 5:33 pm: Medical marijuana test subject - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 5:50 pm: Growing a beard, in the extreme - Anonymous - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 5:52 pm: Folk duo Harry whiskers and son - Vote Quimby! - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 6:01 pm: This is the Illinois budget. This is the Illinois budget on drugs. - Anonymous - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 6:16 pm: I think the biscuit madigan sent over has rogaine in it ? - Anonymous - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 6:18 pm: Great now I need a new iD for big Al’s - Anonymous - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 6:30 pm: Annual peoria wooly caterpillar lookalike contestant - Arthur Andersen - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 6:43 pm: Hairy Potter - Oswego Willy - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 7:12 pm: Mr. Kaergard, I wish you the best in you continuous bearded state. I have no sage advice or an old wives’ tale when it comes to the keeping of a beard, but a weight will be lifted from your face, and the state too, once that pesky budget is signed. Good luck, OW - Anonymous - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 7:37 pm: The new trump combover - downstate commissioner - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 8:43 pm: I think it looks good on him, but what do I know? I’ve had a beard for over thirty years… cooler in the summer, warmer in the winter, and none of that blood or time wasted shaving… - A Citizen - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 9:27 pm: OW said the Look was Cait J, but I just don’t see it. - @MisterJayEm - Tuesday, Aug 25, 15 @ 9:45 pm: “Listen: It’s not a cult. It’s a spiritual system. And Father Yod has some pretty good ideas if you’d just give them a fair hearing. But you can’t do that because you’re too afraid they upset your precious System. You’ll never understand until you free your mind, man.” – MrJM - My FiNgErS HuRt - Wednesday, Aug 26, 15 @ 9:07 am: Grow up - Beardless in Illinois - Wednesday, Aug 26, 15 @ 9:10 am: He may change his mind when the tip of his beard starts tickling his ankles. - mcb - Wednesday, Aug 26, 15 @ 9:19 am: I remember during Ron Turner’s first year coaching Illinois some folks from a Champaign radio station had a stunt to sleep on top of their station every night until the team won a game. Illinois went 0-11 that year. - GA - Wednesday, Aug 26, 15 @ 9:29 am: Jumanji, Jumanji, juman… - Let'sMovetoNorthDakota - Wednesday, Aug 26, 15 @ 9:56 am: I want to look like Rich Miller! Sorry, comments for this post are now closed.