Paxton Mayor Jim Kingston: Leading the cities' battles with state ... Beverley Scobell 12 Embattled DCFS: The state of state services to children is awful, but can it get worse? Jennifer Halperin 15 DCCA under Edgar: Is downsized agency doing its job for jobs? Beverley Scobell 20 Nuclear neverland: After a $90 million mistake, the state has a new plan to find a home for radioactive trash Celeste Quinn 26

Columns Politics When the best is the enemy of the good Charles N. Wheeler III ______ 6 The state of the State Ethics reform moves slowly up the hill Jennifer Halperin _________ 8 Guest Column Task force shuns ideas to break drug-crime-jail-tax cycle James E. Gierach _________ 10 Chicago 'Very good theater' puts tax squeeze on legitimate theater Manuel Galvan __________ 36 Departments Letters _________________ 4 Legislative Action Suburban steamroller at the legislative tollgate Jennifer Halperin _________ 29 Esprit de Pol Is anybody happy? __________ 30 Judicial Rulings F. Mark Siebert __________ 31 Names James Pollock ___________ 32 Book Reviews Hurt redefines Illinois culture through its literature John E. Hallwas __________ 33 State Reports Anna J. Merritt ___________ 34 State Stix Down on the farm Donald Sevener __________ 38 Cover illustration: The state Capitol in Springfield appears as enchanting as a doge's palace in Venice in this photograph taken during the last moments of twilight. Appearances, however, can be deceiving when legislative days drag into evenings. That's when vehicle bills fly like magic carpets amidst wondrous 100-page conference committee reports, and about the only thing certain in their contents is the pink color of their pages. The photograph is by Terry Farmer/Showcase Photography.

May 1993/Illinois Issues/5

Readers:

Two state agencies frequently in the news are the Department of Children and Family Services (DCFS) and the Department of Commerce and Community Affairs (DCCA). Optimists might say these agencies are facing major challenges in a time of transition. Cynics might say these agencies are in bad shape.

We assigned staff writers Jennifer Halperin and Bev Scobell to find out what's really happening with these two highly visible agencies. DCFS has a new director in Sterling "Mac" Ryder, overseeing what even Gov. Edgar says is a broken system. DCCA under its director Jan Grayson has undergone some major downsizing forced by budget cuts since its heydey as the king of agencies under Gov. Thompson.

Most important to discover about these agencies is how their programs affect the people they are supposed to serve in communities around the state. That's what matters; that's what we wanted to find out.

So Jennifer Halperin spent time not only carefully checking into claims and cross-claims on how DCFS might fix its broken system but also on the front lines where its services are being delivered. Her report gives you both an inside and outside picture of DCFS as an agency in the cross-fire of budget battles, court mandates and incessant criticism of its failures.

In Bev Scobell's article on DCCA, she delves into its now refined role under the Edgar administration of focusing on smaller businesses in creating and maintaining jobs in Illinois and in providing job training. She investigates not only what the agency says it is trying to accomplish but also what people in communities such as Rockford, Danville, Peoria and Carbondale say that DCCA is doing for their economic development. Channeling government resources into economic development is no automatic guarantee that jobs will mushroom across the state, even if every political leader says he or she is in favor of economic development.

To be successful at creating jobs and truly improving the lives of children and families is a tall task. Complicating any analysis is that even the gauges used to measure economic performance and the social services are wide open to criticism and debate. The two articles in this magazine are important precisely because they shed some even light in a balanced way on two highly visible but tarnished agencies.

May 1993/Illinois Issues/3