Chicago-area schools are by far the most segregated by income in the country, according to 1997 figures from the National Center for Education Statistics, compiled by Myron Orfield in his new book, American Metropolitics. In order for every elementary school in the Chicago region to have an equal proportion of students eligible for free lunches, 95 percent of these children would have to change schools. This “dissimilarity index,” a standard measure of segregation, is only 64 percent in Cleveland, the next most segregated region. Least segregated is Tampa, at 36. The average for the 25 largest U.S. metropolitan areas is 54.
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What’s up with the plants? Change, writes Steve Hill of the Illinois Natural History Survey in its newsletter, “Reports” (Summer). Some 64 native plants “have not been seen in Illinois for many years, despite searches, and…may no longer exist in the state.” Of these, “31 were at their continental northern range limits, 18 were near their continental southern range limits, 9 were at their central-western range limits, 1 was at its eastern range limit, and 5 were well within their expected ranges in Illinois. Despite our fears of global warming, the data reveal that more species (48% of the total extirpated) with southern affinities have disappeared from our flora in the past 20 years than species with northern affinities (28% of the total extirpated).” Then again, this finding may be an artifact, given that “there have been more field botanists searching for plants in the Chicago area than in extreme southern Illinois.”
Tariffs as taxes on the poor. According to a recent Progressive Policy Institute press release, last year the U.S. collected $331 million in tariffs on imports of $2.2 billion from Bangladesh (per capita GDP $370). From France (per capita GDP $24,000) the U.S. collected about the same amount in tariffs, $330 million, on imports 15 times larger, $30 billion. Free trade would have been fairer.
