Illinois Is Trying. It Really Is. But the Most Corrupt State Is Actually . . .

On a related note, Calvin Trillin on a certain New Yorker tradition that involves much rhyming of names: "It was very shrewd of Roger to get his poem done before Rod Blagojevich had his spot of bother."

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From Margalit Fox's obituary of Richard Topus:

In all, more than 50,000 pigeons served the United States in the war. Many were shot down. Others were set upon by falcons released by the Nazis to intercept them. (The British countered by releasing their own falcons to pursue German messenger pigeons. But since falcons found Allied and Axis birds equally delicious, their deployment as defensive weapons was soon abandoned by both sides.)