It has them? Illinois bicentennial logo shows its strengths

Next year Illinois will celebrate its bicentennial, which I bet you didn't know. That's because like a birthday for a coma patient, there's not much to celebrate. Illinois has $11 billion in unpaid bills, it has the worst credit rating of the states, it has unsustainable pension debt, and the state House just reelected its funeral director in all-but-name as speaker, Democratic boss Michael Madigan, who has held that job for 32 of the last 34 years.

On the positive side--and there isn't much good news in Illinois, voters elected a Republican reformer as governor three years ago, Bruce Rauner. He made an announcement about the bicenntenial yesterday.

From AP:

Illinois Gov. Bruce Rauner kicked off planning for the state’s 200th birthday Thursday by unveiling the bicentennial logo at the historic Old State Capitol in Springfield, where Abraham Lincoln once served in the Legislature.

Rauner showed off the gold-and-blue symbol with its designer at the first meeting of the Illinois Bicentennial Commission, which was formed to organize the festivities in 2018. “We reflect virtually every aspect of America,” he said. “We are a crossroads of the nation.”

The logo, which was designed and donated by Ben Olson of the Schaumburg-based public relations firm 3 Monkeys and an Aardvark Studios, reflects those strengths, bicentennial organizers said.

Twenty-one gold stars — marking Illinois’ 1818 entry into the union as its 21st state — surround a blue outline of the state. In the middle of the bicentennial logo is a gold-colored “200” in a white sunburst with rays emanating in all directions.