The origins of Memorial Day. | Fred Klonsky

The origins of Memorial Day. | Fred Klonsky:

The origins of Memorial Day.

by Fred Klonsky

PopoutSemi-officially Memorial Day starts the summer season.
And honors those who have died in too many wars.
I’m not a pacifist. Still, I know that there have been way too many stupid wars, including this country’s past 50 years of military adventures.
But the idea of a Memorial Day dates back to 1866, in the aftermath of a war of liberation: The Civil War.
A post on the website of the Congressional Black Caucus reminded me:

Standard history tells us that Memorial Day was officially proclaimed on May 5, 1868 by General John Logan, the national commander of the Grand Army of the Republic and 

The in box. Pensions, Springfield and the week to come.

by Fred Klonsky

This coming week is the final week of the current Illinois General Assembly.
Bob Lyons, retiree and TRS board of trustee members considers the current session and the week ahead.

At the start of the 98th General Assembly in early January I thought that this time they would pass a pension reduction bill  and more likely than not retirees’ benefits would be included.  Given that reducing the benefits of both active and retired public employees had been the major topic of the Lame Duck Session at the start of January ending the last General Assembly, I feared that they would move quickly on the issue rather than letting it get caught in the end-of-session log-jam of bills.   Well, now here we are in the last week of the session with both the House and Senate due back in Springfield tomorrow afternoon and no pension bill has passed both chambers.  Madigan’s SB1, a bill that