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State Stix


Top five 1990 Illinois stories: Associated Press

1. Illinois National Guard and other reserve units leave for the Middle East.

2. Tornadoes kill 29 near Joliet.

3. An earthquake predicted for December arouses fear but doesn't happen.

4. Jim Edgar is elected governor.

5. Charles Walker is put to death.

Source: The State Journal-Register, December 30, 1990.

Top five world news stories in 1990: . . . Compass News Features, London

1. Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.

2. Political and economic crisis in U.S.S.R.

3. Release of Nelson Mandela.

4. German reunification.

5. World economic slowdown.

Source: "World Press Survey," World Press Review, February 1991.

. . . Asiaweek, Hong Kong

1. Invasion of Kuwait and allied response.

2. Turmoil in Soviet Union.

3. Reunification of Germany.

4. Democracy in Eastern Europe.

5. Negation by the military of a landslide opposition victory in Burma.

Source: Same as above.

. . . Caretas, Lima

1. Soviet Communist Party relinquishes monopoly on power.

2. Iraq's invasion of Kuwait.

3. Reunification of Germany.

4. Lithuania proclaims independence.

5. Latin America, except for Cuba, discards dictatorships.

Source: Same as above.

. . . China Daily, Beijing

1. Gulf crisis.

2. German reunification.

3. Drastic change in U.S.S.R.

4. Diplomatic breakthrough by China.

5. Changes in South Africa.

Source: Same as above.

. . . Newswatch, Lagos

1. U.S. and allies arm against Iraq.

2. Saddam Hussein's invasion of Kuwait.

3. U.N. approval of the use of force.

4. Reunification of Germany.

5. The release of Mandela from prison in South Africa after 27 years.

Source: Same as above.

Earthly cities: the top 10

(defined as population clusters of continous built-up areas of at least 50,000 people per square mile)

Population

People per

in millions

square mile

Tokyo-Yokahama, Japan

26.952

24,463

Mexico City, Mexico

20.207*

37,314

Sao Paulo, Brazil

18.052*

38,528

Seoul, South Korea

16.268*

45,953

New York, USA

14.622

11,473

Osaka-Kobe-Kyoto, Japan

13.826

27,833

Bombay, India

11.777

120,299

Calcutta, India

11.633

54,607

Buenos Aires, Argentina

11.518

21,233

Rio de Janeiro, Brazil

11.428

42,894

*Projected to grow by more than 30 percent by the year 2000.

Source: World Almanac and Book of Facts, 1991.


The 25th city

Population

People per

in millions

square mile

Chicago, USA

6.526

8,560

Source: Same as above.

The 48th

Population

People per

in millions

square mile

Baghdad, Iraq

3.941*

39,304

*Projected to grow by more than 30 percent by the year 2000

Source: Same as above.

Serving in Saudi Arabia

Nearly 38 percent of the U.S. infantry, artillery and support troops in Desert Storm are people of color.

Source: Public Broadcasting Service, "All Things Considered," January 30, 1991.

Chicago area soldiers

A U.S. Department of Defense zip code study obtained by The Chicago Reporter shows that in Chicago and six nearby communities — Cicero, Elmwood Park, Evergreen Park, Harwood Heights, Niles and Riverdale — 80 percent of 2,623 recruits in 1990 were minorities. The breakdown was 65 percent black, 12.4 percent Hispanic, 19.9 percent white and 4.3 percent other.

Source: Rachel L. Jones, "80 percent of Chicago area recruits are minorities," The Chicago Reporter, January 1991.

Downstate soldiers

Also sending a high proportion of their young men and women to war are Illinois' small towns and rural counties. For instance, the 135 members of the Illinois National Guard's 1244th Transportation Company are mostly from Alexander and Pulaski counties. The 119 members of the 1544th Transportation Company are from Clark, Coles and Edgar counties, with some recruits from Vermilion County.

An informal poll of five Illinois towns the last week of January showed the following.

Population

Soldiers in

(1990 census)

Desert Storm

El Paso

2,499

10

Fulton

3,698

13

Pinckneyville

3,372

22

Raymond

820

6

Virden

3,635

28

Source: Support groups, newspapers, city halls.



General funds

The general funds end-of-month balance for January was $136.229 million. This positive balance was possible only because the comptroller delayed $147 million in transfers and payments. The average daily available balance was $149.644 million.

Source: Office of the Comptroller.

Unemployment rates

In January the nation's seasonally adjusted unemployment rate was 6.2 percent, up from 6.1 percent in December. Illinois' rate jumped to 6.8 percent from a revised 6.0 percent. The state's civilian work force consisted of 6.050 million people; 5.641 million people had jobs and 409,000 were looking for work.

Final unemployment rates in November for the state's metro areas were:

Aurora-Elgin, 5.9 percent.
Bloomington-Normal, 3.9 percent.
Champaign-Urbana-Rantoul, 3.6 percent.
Chicago, 5.7 percent.
Davenport-Rock Island-Moline (Illinois sector), 6.1 percent.
Decatur, 6.9 percent.
Joliet, 5.9 percent.
Kankakee, 6.8 percent.
Lake County, 4.4 percent.
Peoria, 5.7 percent.
Rockford, 6.3 percent.
Springfield, 4.0 percent.
St. Louis (Illinois sector), 6.2 percent.

Source: Department of Employment Security.

Margaret S. Knoepfle

6/March 199 I/Illinois Issues


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