Sean Crawford talks withState Journal-Register Business Editor Tim Landis.
This week:
* Viper Mine coal-waste - More than two years after Arch Coal sought approval for expanded waste storage at Elkhart mine the permit has been approved by DNR. A group of residents has asked for administrative review...which is kind of a regulatory long shot. Arch, of course, filed for and emerged from bankruptcy in the interim.
* Population - Sangamon County population basically flattened out from 2010 through 2016 - increased by 37 residents. But every county around it lost population, as did Illinois, continuing the long-term trend with all the implications for economy, jobs, taxes.
* Kansas wildfires: Cass-Morgan young farmers took 10 semi-trailer loads of hay and other supplies to Kansas over the weekend, traveling 10 hours each way.
* UCB-Illini: Merger of two of the area's oldest banking companies should be completed this summer, when Illini will take on the United Community Bank name.
