· Dan Ryan wins Sox opener

· Fun with numbers: On Wednesday, at two minutes and three seconds after 1:00 in the morning, the time and date will be 01:02:03 04/05/06. That won’t happen again for a hundred years.

· The Northern Star newspaper has two quotes from NIU political leaders that are underwhelming, to say the least:

Andrew Bogda, secretary of the College Republicans and freshman geography major, said the issue of corruption will be in Topinka’s favor. People will see Topinka as the least dishonest, he said. […]

Paul Stoddard, faculty advisor for the College Democrats, said people make the accusations that Blagojevich and Illinois politics in general are too corrupt, however the same can go for any state.

· The U.S. Census Bureau says Illinois residents paid $2,060 in state taxes per capita in 2005, the 29th highest amount in the country. The Census Bureau says the national average last year was just over $2,192.

· Letter: Gov. Rod Blagojevich’s proposed budget for 2007 ignores the needs of abused and neglected children in northern Illinois by omitting any cost-of-living adjustment for the agencies that serve most of this vulnerable population and for the foster parents who directly provide care in their homes. […] Child welfare agencies are subsidizing the state at the rate of $23 million a year through the diversion of privately raised dollars to support state contracts.

· Editorial: Compromise needed on state’s capital budget

· Finke: Blagojevich and U.S. Sen. DICK DURBIN had an event recently at an East St. Louis high school. As usual, students were used as props. Blagojevich and Durbin were more than an hour late, meaning the kids were still hanging around school on a Friday afternoon after 5 p.m.

· Marin: Is Gov’s budget borrowing trouble?

· Sneed has learned that Ald. Ed Burke (14th) and three other aldermen fighting to halt $16 million in payments to the Venezuela-owned voting machine company that was at the center of the recent ballot-counting debacle plan to ante up their threat.

· Sweet: Ducking the border

· Ald. Tom Tunney (44th) is trying to make it easier for clubs featuring male and female impersonators by changing zoning laws that peg them as adult entertainment.

· The Illinois Attorney General’s Office says the Peoria Park Board violated the law by holding two closed-door discussions in March about its land partnership with School District 150.

· Tongue firmly planted in cheek: Rather, the skinny is that Gov. Rod Blagojevich actually ordered the flying of the Iowa flag so he could familiarize himself with its colors in anticipation of a future visit to the Iowa presidential caucuses.

· blueollie: “However, when I look around and see the vast majority of the rest of the population (mostly overweight and out of shape people, many who smoke) I can see why Topinka’s persona might have more widespread appeal. That thought sickens me, but seems to be reality.”

· Low-key dismissals of 2 city employees weren’t made public

· Another thing that won’t happen at Wrigley: “By the time the festivities began, there was enough energy in the park to light the Vegas Strip.”

· Way too late, but still pretty witty.