A leadership change is happening at the Illinois High School Association later this month.

Cambridge native Craig Anderson takes over as the organization’s Executive Director on January 15th.

Anderson said things that happen after the school say are an important part of the development of kids and in his time as a coach, moving to an athletic director and his role as the assistant executive director shows him the value of extra-curricular activities to children.
Anderson replaces Marty Hickman, who’s been with the IHSA for 25 years.

In other State news, Chicago’s embattled mayor seems to have U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin’s support.
Durbin says he’s never seen Chicago as tense as it is now after Laquan McDonald shooting video sparked weeks of protests calling for policing reform and the resignation of Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel.

Durbin says these issues predate Emanuel, and feels the mayor is serious about addressing them. He said he’s not going to stand in judgment of any single incident the mayor has been involved in, but added his conversations with Emanuel in the last several weeks shows he’s focused on making the changes that will bring the city back together again.

Durbin is more critical of Cook County State’s Attorney Anita Alvarez’s actions in the McDonald investigation, questioning why it took 13 months to bring murder charges against police officer Jason Van Dyke after shooting McDonald 16 times.

Despite that criticism, Durbin isn’t joining other Democrats in endorsing one of Alvarez’s primary opponents. Durbin hadn’t formally endorsed Alvarez’s re-election bid, while he had publicly backed Emanuel’s campaign for a second term last year.