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Playing "chicken" is never a good idea. On the schoolyard, it can lead to bloody noses and in the Illinois General Assembly it's often the precursor to legislative gridlock.

So we can only wonder what Gov. Rod Blagojevich was trying to do last week when he sent a message to a House committee saying he would veto a bill for a school tax swap in our state.

That proposal, House Bill 750, would raise personal income taxes from 3 to 5 percent and corporate income taxes from 4.8 to 8 percent while ending some business tax breaks and imposing a sales tax on services like haircuts and lawn care. About $9 million would go to public schools and higher education, help pay off the state's massive pension debt and provide property tax relief to homeowners and businesses.

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The governor of Illinois has stated that he wants to strengthen the economy of the state by raising taxes on businesses. If that isn't a perfect example of an oxymoron, what is? The more business you do, the more tax you will pay and not a little more but a giant increase. Not a tax on profit, which businesses already pay, but on gross revenue. Businesses create jobs, products, food, clothing, homes, entertainment, transportation and everything you touch.

By what margin did the current administration earn the right to punish businesses? Five percent of the eligible voters? Illinois businesses can operate just fine in Indiana, Iowa, Missouri and India. That's if the legislature puts a pencil to what this means --1.8 percent on gross revenues.

Highway contractors, who could not be competitive without many, many millions of dollars in equipment, need a large volume of business to earn a very modest profit, on which they are currently taxed. Most of their projects are in the millions of dollars. A typical year might be generate $35 million in gross revenue, which would cost the business $630,000 in additional taxes besides the state income taxes on gross profit. Add the taxes together and they would equal more than their net profit. Is this the governor's brainstorm or a nightmare?

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The Missouri Department of Transportation has named Kirk Juranas as district engineer for its Springfield region following the March 1 retirement of Dale Ricks.

Juranas, 48, will start April 1, the department said.

Juranas had been district engineer for the Hannibal region since August 2000; that district covers 13 counties in northeast Missouri. He has worked for MoDOT for 24 years, holding other management positions in Willow Springs, Jefferson City and Kansas City.

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Since 1996, 150 counties nationwide have prioritized land conservation with new or reconsidered conservation programs.

In that time, those counties have passed 247 ballot measures, generating $12.9 billion for open space, parks, watersheds, recreational lands, and wildlife preserves.

More than 77 percent of all county conservation ballot measures in the last decade have won voter approval.

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For The Associated PressCountry charm on the exterior and smart design on the interior make Plan RD-1440, by Homeplans, part of Move, a home that's easy to love. The floor plan covers 1,440 square feet of living space.The foyer leads to the spacious living room and out to the back porch. The nicely sized kitchen flows into a sunny, bayed dining nook that's perfect for chats over morning coffee or enjoying the view during any meal.A luxurious private bath with a corner marble tub is the highlight...

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