On this week’s episode of Illinois Rising, host Dan Proft and Hilary Gowins, managing editor of the Illinois Policy Institute, broke down the numbers surrounding Monetary Award Program, or MAP, grants for higher education with the Illinois Policy Institute’s vice president of policy, Ted Dabrowski. Dan, Hilary and Ted discussed the startling statistics behind Illinois’ higher-education funding crisis, including bloated administrative costs at public universities.
Dan and Hilary also talked with Lisa Creason, a Decatur woman who was arrested for attempted robbery 20 years ago and has since turned around her life and become an advocate for criminal-justice reform in Illinois. Will County State’s Attorney James Glasgow joined the show to talk about the reforms he’s made in his county, which both save money and help nonviolent offenders get their lives back on track.
And Dan and Hilary discussed the Chicago Teachers’ Union’s, or CTU’s strike plans. How does CTU plan to strike on April 1 if the strike is technically illegal?
Finally, who is winning the rhetoric battle between Gov. Bruce Rauner and Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan over the budget stalemate? Are Illinoisans seeing Madigan as a “dictator,” as Rauner suggested last week?