Virtually all parts of state government would be forced to cut spending under a budget outline approved by the Illinois House. The measure requires cutting Medicaid by $2.7 billion, or about 14 percent. Spending on services from schools to prisons would fall by about $900 million. The House approved it 91-16 yesterday. Now it goes to the state Senate. The measure calls for paying about $1.3 billion in overdue bills, or about 16 percent of the backlog. It also increases the state's annual contribution to government retirement systems. Democratic Rep. Greg Harris supports the plan but calls it "truly, truly unpleasant."
Todd Hatton hails from Paducah, Kentucky, where he got into radio under the auspices of the late, great John Stewart of WKYX while a student at Paducah Community College. He also worked at WKMS in the reel-to-reel tape days of the early 1990s before running off first to San Francisco, then Orlando in search of something to do when he grew up. He received his MFA in Creative Writing at Murray State University. He vigorously resists adulthood and watches his wife, Angela Hatton, save the world one plastic bottle at a time.
