Illinoislawmakers are again pushing to get rid of legislative scholarships. The House voted yesterday to end the program that allows each lawmaker to hand out tuition waivers to students from their district. The measure now goes to the Senate, which has backed the program in the past. Each legislator can award four-year waivers to two students or divide them among up to eight students. The program has received criticism after revelations some legislators awarded waivers to family members and the children of political allies. It also costs state universities millions of dollars a year. Governor Pat Quinn has urged the Senate to abolish the program and use the money for deserving students in financial need.
Todd Hatton hails from Paducah, Kentucky, where he got into radio under the auspices of the late, great John Stewart of WKYX while a student at Paducah Community College. He also worked at WKMS in the reel-to-reel tape days of the early 1990s before running off first to San Francisco, then Orlando in search of something to do when he grew up. He received his MFA in Creative Writing at Murray State University. He vigorously resists adulthood and watches his wife, Angela Hatton, save the world one plastic bottle at a time.
