Chicago Tribune: Waukegan schools closed because of teachers strike
Teachers in Waukegan Community Unit School District 60 announced they will strike, according to the school district.
All schools in the district are closed, according to the district’s website.
Superintendent Donaldo R. Batiste wrote in a letter that ongoing negotiations are at a standstill over the issues of salary, healthcare benefits and some working conditions.
Taxpayers United of America (TUA) today released the results of a new study of the pensioners of Naperville municipal, Naperville Police and Firefighters, and DuPage County government teacher pensions.
“836 of the DuPage County government teacher pensions are over $100,000 which places them in the top 6.6% income level nationally,” stated Rae Ann McNeilly, executive director of TUA. “This is not what they are getting paid to educate our youth, but what they get paid to do absolutely nothing.”
“The average retirement age for these $100,000 pensioners is only 57. Not only does that exceed the area’s average household income of $73,000, but the average Social Security pension is only about $15,000 and in most cases, you must wait until you are 67 to collect full benefits.”
Crain’s: Illinois has 1,431 townships. It’s time to get rid of all of them.
Illinois’ 1848 Constitution gave voters in each county the right to organize townships for the “management of the fiscal concerns of the county.” The framers’ decision for our then-30-year-old, largely agrarian state was a no-brainer: As the most local of local governments, townships would be directly accountable to residents of unincorporated rural areas whose interests might not be considered in distant county seats, let alone the state or federal capital.
Despite radical shifts in demographics and advances in technology, today’s township supervisors defend hyperlocal government, arguing that public services always should be administered by elected officials closest to the people. Fiscal federalism, they argue, serves the state’s residents democratically, efficiently and effectively.
But Illinois’ townships, now numbering a staggering 1,431, aren’t delivering on their promise to the 8 million people they serve and tax. Townships should be abolished, with their functions assumed by cities and counties that can get the job done better, cheaper and more fairly.
Crain’s: Are Edge tax credits really keeping businesses in Illinois?
Edge tax credits are in the spotlight again, most recently with recent news that Baxter International Inc. is considering an out-of-state move.
The Edge tax credit program generates income tax credits for large companies for the incremental state income tax generated from jobs created and/or retained. However, as the Chicago Tribune noted in January, it is unclear whether Edge tax credits are working and their goals are being met by individual companies.
Proponents are correct that our state needs to work hard to retain and attract large businesses. Detractors correctly state that these tax credits further skew an already unfair playing field tilted toward the infamous “1 percent.” But has anyone determined whether Edge tax credits effectively stimulate Illinois’ economy? Or to ask the question in business-speak: What is Illinois’ return on its investment?
Daily Herald: Pace of U.S. factory activity slipped in September
The pace of U.S. manufacturing growth slowed in September, as expectations for hiring and new orders slipped from their August levels.
The Institute for Supply Management, a trade group of purchasing managers, says its manufacturing index fell to 56.6 from 59 in August. Anything above 50 signals that manufacturing is growing.
The index’s measure of new orders fell to 60 from a reading of 66.7, while the employment component fell to 54.6 from 58.1. The one upside is that customer inventories continue to remain low, suggesting that there will be continued demand from factories.
Chicago Tribune: Emanuel won’t rule out fee hikes in 2015 budget
Mayor Rahm Emanuel said Wednesday he will balance the 2015 city budget without increasing property, sales or fuel taxes, but did not rule out raising other fees.
With his new spending plan a few weeks away, the mayor pointed out he has stayed away from making the politically dangerous decision to hike any of those three taxes in his prior budgets. Ahead of the city election in late February, Emanuel promised to do so again, following a similar pledge by his budget director during the summer.
“We balanced three budgets in a row (while) holding the line on property, sales and gas tax, and finding efficiencies and reforms in the system,” the mayor said at an unrelated news conference. “On my fourth budget, we will hold the line on property, sales and gas tax, and put money back in the rainy day fund, and continue to look at the system as a whole to find efficiencies and reforms and things that were duplicative where you can do better.”
Fox Business: ADP: Small Businesses Add 88,000 Jobs in September
Small business hiring picked up slightly in September, according to private payroll processor ADP.
Businesses with fewer than 50 employees added 88,000 jobs last month, up from 82,000 in August. Small businesses created 41% of all new jobs in the private sector in September, with 213,000 total jobs added.
“September’s jobs added number marks the sixth straight month of employment gains above 200,000,” said Carlos Rodriguez, president and chief executive officer of ADP.
“It’s a positive sign for the economy to see the 200,000-plus trend continue.”
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