Topic: Government

Earlier this week, we looked at the political situation around the sequester. Now, the economic impact. While some legislators say the automatic budget cuts won't be as bad as the President is suggesting, economist Elizabeth Powers warns they might be worse than expected. She joined us to discuss how the sequester will impact Illinois.

Is the federal government really going to let $85-billion in budget cuts take hold at the end of this week? Lynn Sweet, the Chicago Sun-Times Washington bureau chief, has been monitoring the sequester debate, and gives us an update.

Tom Kacich, Champaign News-Gazette Enterprise Editor
Guest Host: Jeff Bossert

A new poll in Illinois’ 13th Congressional District shows Democrat David Gill with a slim lead over Republican Rodney Davis, 40 to 39-percent, when Gill led by 6-percent just over a month ago. The survey of 400 registered likely voters paid for by the Gill campaign was taken September 26 and 27. Champaign News-Gazette Enterprise Editor Tom Kacich weighs in on what this poll means on November 6th.

Kent Redfield, Professor Emeritus, Political Science, University of Illinois at Springfield
Guest Host: Craig Cohen

In recent weeks, Dr. David Gill, the Democratic candidate for Illinois’ 13th district Congressional race, has been endorsed by the Sierra Club, and by fellow Democrat and U.S. Senator Dick Durbin. Gill’s GOP opponent, Rodney Davis, recently received the endorsements of Illinois State Treasurer Dan Rutherford, and ACTIVATOR, the political action committee of the Illinois Farm Bureau. Less than 90 days from the election, it would appear we’ve entered political endorsement season. Do political endorsements matter? Kent Redfield, Professor Emeritus of Political Science at the University of Illinois at Springfield tells Illinois Public Media's Craig Cohen that endorsements matter, but not really all that much.

Candace Clement, Campaign Coordinator, Free Press

The Urbana-Champaign Independent Media Center this week is hosting the 2012 Grassroots Radio Conference. It’s an opportunity for community radio stations to gather and discuss a variety of issues. WILL is a media partner for the conference. Another key organization in the endeavor is the media reform organization Free Press. Candace Clement manages Free Press’s initiatives on community media, and advises on the group’s efforts to expand support for public media. In her role with Free Press, she has also advocated for greater transparency when it comes to commercial TV stations’ public files. She'll tell us about those efforts.

Michael Schlosser, Interim Director, Police Training Institute
Margaret Gray, Graduate of PTI’s 10-week Adult Citizens Academy course

State and university officials have been working on a plan to keep the University of Illinois’ Police Training Institute open. The state’s Law Enforcement Training and Standards Board unanimously agreed earlier this month to re-certify courses there, after initial discussions about closing the facility led to vocal support from area legislators and Urbana Mayor Laurel Prussing, among others. While all involved are working to determine what shape PTI will take in the months ahead, we thought it might be helpful for you to learn a bit more about what the Police Training Institute already does now. Craig Cohen will talk with Michael Schlosser, Interim Director of the Police Training Institute, and Margaret Gray, a recent graduate of the PTI’s 10 week long Adult Citizens Academy course.

Mark Jurkowitz, Associate Director, the Project for Excellence in Journalism; Journalist and Writer

Next week, the Supreme Court is expected to issue its ruling on some aspects of the Affordable Care Act, including whether a federal mandate to purchase health insurance is Constitutional. The legal challenge to so-called "Obama Care" has brought the debate over health care back into the national spotlight. According to new research conducted by the Pew Research Center’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, most of the coverage of the health care debate by mainstream media since 2009 has been focused on the politics surrounding the legislation, and not the substance. Craig Cohen talks with Mark Jurkowitz, Associate Director of Pew’s Project for Excellence in Journalism, about the results of the research.

Gordy Hulten, Champaign County Clerk

Tom Kacich, Enterprise Editor, The News-Gazette

Kim Schultz, Playwright, Comedienne, Actress