government

It's one of those statistics that you don't think about a lot, but if you count how many counties each state has, only a handful have more than Missouri.

I wish I was making this up, but it's actually a real thing. There's a report that the IRS is looking for gun-carrying agents for every single state and yes, that includes both Missouri and Illinois.

You may sometimes hear anecdotal stories of Illinois population on the decline, but now there is actual data showing people are leaving Illinois by the thousands. The ratio of negative population decline is among the highest in America according to US Census data.

In the tri-state area, Chicago ends up being the butt of a lot of jokes. That's no big surprise since it's one of the biggest metros in the country and most of our area are smaller communities built on agriculture. It's obvious that many love the idea of Chicago separating from Illinois, but you should know there is a very big catch.

President Trump has signed the dotted line to give approval to another round of stimulus checks during the on-going COVID-19 crisis.