Dimitrios Kalantzis: Gambling addicts deserve more help from Illinois

Video gaming is a multimillion-dollar business.

That was true even before the state dipped its paw in the honey jar. Just the other day in a bar in Manteno, a patron made a case for the "old machines." He told the bartender they paid out better. I don't know if that's true. It's probably an argument impossible to prove.

The point is this: People in this county and throughout the state had been pumping cash into bright, noisy boxes for years before they ever became legitimate.

So, when some readers commented on a recent story about video gaming, that the state should not be cashing in on the vices and vulnerabilities of problem gamblers, I couldn't help but think that some portion of that population already had been at risk.

Their lost wages just didn't make it into the state's coffers.

Still, gambling addiction counselors are calling video poker machines the "crack" of gambling.

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Dimitrios Kalantzis: Early school dismissals ... and the livin' is easy

Dimitrios Kalantzis: Early school dismissals ... and the livin' is easy

The Daily Journal finally got me. Never mind that for the nearly four years I've been here I've been privy to the April Fool's joke before it hit the paper. But this time they finally got me.

On Monday, we ran a story about local school districts dismissing students early because of excessive heat.

I didn't even know there was excessive heat this week.

And April is eight months off.

Still, half-a-dozen schools are giving students a reprieve from temperatures soaring into the 90s. Do you know what classrooms, not air conditioned, feel like when it's 90 degrees? They feel like it's 90 degrees.

Like many of you, I read the comments some readers of daily-journal.com left on the story with a little bit more interest than usual.

"It's not that hot. Suck it up. Test scores suck," one regular posted. "Kids need all the school they can get!

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Dimitrios Kalantzis: It's time to be honest about drug use

So there is a breaking point after all.

On Monday, the nation's chief law enforcement officer came out in favor of undoing mandatory minimum sentences for non-violent drug offenders.

A mandatory minimum sentence is exactly what it sounds like. If a defendant is found guilty of possessing a certain amount of drugs (and yes, it's got to be quite a bit of dope) a judge must sentence him to at least five years. No parole, no questions and no judicial discretion.

That's just for first-time offenders. Those with prior drug felonies face 10 years to life.

Meanwhile, 1.53 million people in the U.S. were arrested for non-violent drug offenses in 2011. And ultimately, one in 100 adults is behind bars, the highest incarceration rate in the world.

In Illinois, about 38,000 people are arrested on drug charges each year.

Opponents of mandatory minimums argue that the explosion in the country's prison population during the past 30 years is a direct result of what they call "draconian" drug laws.

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Dimitrios Kalantzis: Gambling addicts deserve more help from Illinois

Video gaming is a multimillion-dollar business.

That was true even before the state dipped its paw in the honey jar. Just the other day in a bar in Manteno, a patron made a case for the "old machines." He told the bartender they paid out better. I don't know if that's true. It's probably an argument impossible to prove.

The point is this: People in this county and throughout the state had been pumping cash into bright, noisy boxes for years before they ever became legitimate.

So, when some readers commented on a recent story about video gaming, that the state should not be cashing in on the vices and vulnerabilities of problem gamblers, I couldn't help but think that some portion of that population already had been at risk.

Their lost wages just didn't make it into the state's coffers.

Still, gambling addiction counselors are calling video poker machines the "crack" of gambling.

View the original article here