“The availability of a casino within 50 miles (versus 50 to 250 miles) is associated with about double the prevalence of problem and pathological gamblers,” according to a recently released report on gambling by the University of Chicago’s National Opinion Research Center (www.norc.uchicago.edu/new/gambling.htm). Overall, the nation’s 5.5 million pathological and problem gamblers are estimated to cost society approximately $5 billion a year.
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“Even if Amtrak suddenly acquired a fleet of high-speed trains for service out of Chicago, there is nowhere we could run them safely for any distance,” according to a March 17 press release from the Midwest High Speed Rail Association. In the aftermath of the Bourbonnais crash, MHSRA wants more federal money devoted to building overpasses and underpasses at railroad grade crossings. “The longest stretch of continuous crossing-free railroad we have in this part of the country is the Illinois Central main line from downtown Chicago to University Park–about 26 miles.” That stretch ends just a few miles north of the crash site.
“Gen X lawyers aren’t disloyal,” writes Merrilyn Astin Tarlton in the Chicago-based Law Practice Management (March). “They’ve just accepted the realities of practice in the new millennium. Joining a law firm is no longer a lifetime deal. Even senior partners are dashing from firm to firm in pursuit of more money, quality of life, more associates, better work and marketing clout. . . Want to keep a really good young lawyer? Get her ready for her next job (either in your firm or another).”
