We’re number five! We’re number five! Illinois jumped from sixth to fifth among states in dollar value of foreign exports between 1994 and 1996, according to the summer edition of “Export Matters,” published by the International Trade Center on West Bradley Place. State exports rose from $26.4 billion in 1994 (5.1 percent of the U.S. total) to $34.7 billion in 1996 (5.6 percent). None of the top four exporting states–California, Texas, New York, and Michigan–are in any danger of being overtaken.
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“The mayor has consolidated his control over all of the patronage-rich offices in local government,” completing his sweep with Richard Devine’s upset of Jack O’Malley last fall, write Victor Crown and Karen Nagel in Illinois Politics (June). “Without any local opposition from independents or Republicans, and with his victory in the Chicago ward remap case (Barnett v. Daley), the mayor is now poised to make a power play in the state capitol,” with friends or relatives aiming at the offices of governor, comptroller, and secretary of state.
Shortcut to heaven? Kathy Coffey in the Chicago-based U.S. Catholic (August): “Oddly enough, traveling beside a 15-year-old boy with a new driver’s permit doesn’t get much play in classic works on spirituality.”
Advice least likely to be appreciated by parents, quoted in the Chicago-based newsletter “Bringing Religion Home” (August/September): “If one of your child’s grandparents is deceased, ask your child where he or she thinks grandma or grandpa is. Be ready to offer a thoughtful explanation.”
