By Hannah Meisel& Jerry NowickiCapitol News Illinoisnews@capitolnewsillinois.com Jim Edgar, Illinois’ 38th governor who served from 1991 to 1999, died Sunday after disclosing an aggressive cancer diagnosis earlier this year. He was 79. Though he’d been out of power for 26 years — more time than the two decades he spent
By Jim Edgar and John Shaw American politics is as contentious now as it has been in any recent period in our history. As a response to this acrimony and conflict, it is tempting to turn off the TV, stop reading the newspaper, put down the phone, and forget about
By Jim Edgar and John Shaw As we all know, the United States is in the midst of a bitterly contentious political campaign in which the presidency and control of Congress are in question. Analysts say that the United States faces graver threats to its national security than it has
By Jim Edgar and John Shaw Less than five years ago, Illinois was moving aggressively in the wrong direction, careening toward the fiscal precipice, lurching toward junk bond status. A brutal and counterproductive two-year budget stalemate had tarnished Illinois’ reputation, damaged our schools, battered our credit rating, and led to
Former Illinois governor Jim Edgar has created a program that might be the last great hope for struggling Illinois, yet his Edgar Fellows Program has yet to prove its potential. I propose that the nearly 400 Fellows take on the task, never before tried, of building a strong future for
By Jim Edgar and John Shaw We announced last Fall that we established the Paul Simon-Jim Edgar Award to celebrate statesmanship in Illinois. Although we have no formula to offer that magically ends partisanship in Illinois, quiets rancor, and forges a sense of shared destiny, we believe this award will
