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Good morning!
Tuesday, Sep 23, 2025 - Posted by Rich Miller * Myself and my younger brother Denny Ray were posed on our dad’s Indian motorcycle sometime in the summer of 1965 at our house just outside the Kankakee city limits and very close to my dad’s best friend from First Grade Larry Enz…  Are these the good old days? Make each one of them yours. * Arlo… And I don’t want to die * What’s going on in your town?
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- Yooper in Diaspora - Tuesday, Sep 23, 25 @ 7:47 am:
Here’s a comment responding to one of Rich’s comments yesterday (I often read Capitol Fax late at night–too late to jump into a thread).
Rich suggested that Governor Pritzker may be turning to 4-year degrees at community colleges because of the shrinking of some of the regional public universities. If that were the case, re-investing in existing public universities would make more sense. But Pritzker has been quoted a while back here on Capitol Fax as saying that there are unmet workforce needs, and this is why he wants to expand what community colleges offer. The emerging IBHE reports on workforce development speak to this as well. Many faculty I know at both community colleges and universities think partnerships between community colleges and 4-years make more sense. But there seems to be a hope to spark more local people to pursue degrees in nursing and other high-need areas without having to travel or relocate at all (hence, by doing everything at their CC). One other challenge, though, is that earning that degree can make one more mobile. For example, once a nurse earns a 4 year degree, they qualify for a higher salaried position that the rural hospitals cannot always pay. Another challenge is that someone will have to pay for the investment in infrastructure and faculty at CC’s–replicating what already exists at the 4-years.
- Red Ranger - Tuesday, Sep 23, 25 @ 8:21 am:
Another day, another miserable Metra trip. There is part of me that just wants to see the whole system collapse because Ive been around too long to know how things will play out this fall; RTA will get their $500-$800 million, big press conferences will be held and nothing will change. Rinse and repeat since the 1980s. Alas, collapse would be horrific for the state, so rinse and repeat it will be. I should only have one more good RTA crisis in me before retirement.