CBS Local: 2 Million Illinois Residents On Food Stamps Is “Extremely Embarrassing”
The Illinois Policy Institute, which bills itself as an independent government watchdog, has said the state of Illinois should be ashamed by the latest figures regarding how many people rely onfood stamps.
According to data provided by the Illinois Department of Human Services, 1,053,277 Illinois households relied on the state’s Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP) in November. In all, 2,039,353 Illinois residents used SNAP benefits in November.
“This is extremely embarrassing. In fact, Illinois is the only state in the entire Midwest that has put more people on food stamps than into payroll jobs since the Great Recession ended,” said Michael Lucci, managing director of jobs and growth at the Illinois Policy Institute, a conservative policy and research group.
TIME: Red Light Cams Linked to Increased Rear-End Collisions in Chicago
A new Chicago-focused study links red light cameras to a coinciding rise in rear-end collisions, casting doubts on claims that the mounted cameras improve safety at intersections.
The study’s findings,published by the ChicagoTribune Friday, found that while traffic cameras appeared to reduce injuries by 15% for collisions at right angles, where one car crashes head-on into the side of another car, those improvements were overshadowed by a 22% increase in injuries from rear-end accidents. Taken together, the study shows a statistically insignificant increase of injuries by 5%.
The results come amid Chicago mayor Rahm Emmanuel’s push to mount cameras on traffic lights city wide. The programs have attracted a growing backlash from critics who question its safety benefits and worry the program will lead to a swelling of ticket payments.
WirePoints: Wisest and Dumbest Quotes on Illinois’ Economy and Government in 2014 –
Don’t expect many laughs in this because less-than-entertaining topics like pensions and budgets dominate in Illinois, but here are some of the notable quotes for the year about our economy and government:
Women can tell, so don’t bother lying: “When it comes to pension promises made, for years Illinois politicians have been like the guy who tells you, ‘I’ll call you in the morning.’ Neither is going to come through on their promise.” – Suzanne Devane, GOP 49th Ward Chicago Committeewoman.
Scary: “The call to action for these floundering entities will be, ‘Screw the bondholders’… just refuse to purchase these bond issues. After all, the yields on Illinois, Chicago, Puerto Rico and New Jersey municipal bonds don’t even reflect the obscene risk they pose to investors.” – Forbesinvestment team opinion writer. If that sentiment eventually prevails, borrowing costs will skyrocket.
Daily Herald: Employers must allow off-hour access to email
Companies can’t stop their employees from using work email during nonworking time, according to a ruling from the National Labor Relations Board.
The 3-2 decision, awaited by labor and employment lawyers, reversed a 2007 ruling that permitted employers to restrict email use in employees’ off hours under Section 7 of the National Labor Relations Act. That section essentially protects the right of employees to unionize or take collective action.
In an opinion by Chairman Mark Gaston Pearce, joined by members Kent Hirozawa and Nancy Schiffer, the NLRB held Thursday in Washington that “employee use of email for statutorily protected communications on nonworking time must presumptively be permitted by employers who have chosen to give employees access to their email systems.”
Washington Post: Investors who can’t bet on Uber are betting instead on the death of taxi medallions
The 23-page market report warns of “financial ruin” for Medallion Financial Corp., a 70-year-old company that has long lent money to drivers and investors in New York, Chicago and Boston looking to buy expensive taxi medallions. The coveted assets give owners the right to operate taxicabs, and for decades they have been the best investment in America, providing a steady business for a company that goes by the ticker symbol TAXI.
But the market report, released to the media on Thursday at a time when transportation companies Uber and Lyft are threatening established taxi markets across the globe, predicts a much darker future. “Medallion Financial,” it reads, “has left itself and its shareholders exposed to an economic reckoning rarely observed in free-market economies – the collapse of an asset class propped up by decades of government-sponsored, monopolistic entry barriers with the sudden, unconstrained introduction of new supply.”
The research was produced by HVM Capital, a small, opaque hedge fund with no Web presence and no history of weighing in on a publicly traded company. The fund has sold short shares of Medallion Financial, a fact disclosed in the last sentence of the report.
Pantagraph: Illinois in good spot for more Cuba trade
Illinois agribusiness is well positioned to benefit from improved relations and trade with Cuba, according to farm leaders.
Access to transportation as well as years of work developing relationships were cited as factors that favor Illinois.
The immediate impact of President Barack Obama’s normalizing of relations with Cuba could be a bump of $6 million or $7 million more a year in sales of Illinois corn, soybean, pork, beef and related products to Cuba, according to Tamara Nelsen, senior director of commodities for the Illinois Farm Bureau.
CNBC: High-paying charter school shows big results
A New York City charter school offers a whopping $125,000 salary to staff its classrooms with top-tier teachers. A new study suggests the model has worked.
The study shows that students attending the Manhattan middle school, called The Equity Project, progressed more quickly than similar children attending traditional city schools, the Wall Street Journal reported. The contrast is stark—students’ test scores jumped the equivalent of an extra year and a half of schooling in math, with a half-year progression in both English and science.
The school skimps on administrative staff and maintains larger class sizes than city schools, 31 compared to an average of roughly 27 students, in order to afford lofty teacher salaries.The $125,000 salary nearly doubles the average of city school districts, and the school’s highest-paid teacher took in almost $140,000 with bonuses last year, the Journal said.