See what’s a pass and what’s a fail as judged by Perspective Columnist Abby Zaccaria.

Pass

WNIJ recently provided public forum to discuss medial marijuana in Illinois.

Community members who participated in Context: Medical Marijuana and Illinois had the opportunity to discuss the benefits marijuana could give to patients who need it. There was also a question and answer session at the end.

This was a good idea because Sycamore approved a special use permit for a medical marijuana dispensary in April. Everyone should understand more about medical marijuana before forming an opinion.

Fail

Illinois is at an impasse on the state budget with no compromise in sight.

This is having a negative effect on state colleges. Larger state colleges like NIU have enough money to last for a few more months without state funding, but smaller state colleges are getting desperate — even the larger universities will have to rethink their budgets if the budget is not resolved soon.

If this issue is not resolved in the next few weeks, the financial situation could become critical for some of the smaller universities.