Tuesday, March 02, 2010

Illinois' problems getting notice in Britain

Things are so bad in Illinois even the British are noticing. From Ambrose Evans-Pritchard in the Telegraph:

Barack Obama's home state of Illinois is near the point of fiscal disintegration. "The state is in utter crisis," said Representative Suzie Bassi. "We are next to bankruptcy. We have a $13bn hole in a $28bn budget."

The state has been paying bills with unfunded vouchers since October. A fifth of buses have stopped. Libraries, owed $400m (£263m), are closing one day a week. Schools are owed $725m. Unable to pay teachers, they are preparing mass lay-offs. "It's a catastrophe", said the Schools Superintendent.

In Alexander County, the sheriff's patrol cars have been repossessed; three-quarters of his officers are laid off; the local prison has refused to take county inmates until debts are paid.

Alexander County is at the southern tip of Illinois, I was visited in 2008, and before Detroit-style "ruin porn" became the rage, I took a lot of photographs in Cairo, the county seat.

Hat tip to the New Editor.

Related post:

My Mississippi Manifest Destiny: Cairo, Illinois--Slum Town

Technorati tags:

No comments: