Op-ed by Jim Dey, includes “… More disquieting financial news came Tuesday when Illinois became the first state to borrow from a new Federal Reserve lending program — Municipal Liquidity Facility — after it was unable to reach a similar agreement with its traditional lenders in the bond market. … the state’s finances are so poor that private lenders sought higher interest rates as protection against perceived risk than state officials wished to pay. Instead, Illinois will pay a rate of 3.83 percent to the Federal Reserve for the MLF loan.”