The Washington Post recently hosted a panel on reforming the criminal justice system, called “Out of Jail, Into Society.” It’s a nice thought, especially if it were that easy.

The more accurate phrase would be out of jail and into the unknown.

Leaving incarceration is arguably as tough as entering it. For many of us — whose past mistakes landed us in the criminal justice system — being released felt almost like entering a new type of jail.

GE is the gift that keeps on giving for Chicago.

The company will add tech jobs this year at two divisions that are based here.
GE’s transportation business—which builds engines for rail, ships, mining and drilling—will add 100 jobs in software development, engineering, analytics and other tech roles.

GE’s health care business, which recently decided to move its headquarters to Chicago, will add about 60 tech jobs. The division’s presence in Barrington, where it employs about 400 people, goes back a couple of decades.

After decades of mass incarceration, criminal justice reform is finally garnering widespread support. During the most recent legislative session, positive steps were taken in Springfield to rein in juvenile transfers to adult courts, expand certificates of good conduct and reduce length of jail stays for nonviolent offenders in Cook County, among other changes.

A reform commission formed by Gov. Bruce Rauner has released promising recommendations to give judges more discretion in sentencing, divert low-level offenders, and enhance rehabilitative programing in prisons.

But while proponents of criminal justice reform in Illinois are off to a great start, there’s still plenty of work ahead. Illinois’ prisons remain overcrowded at nearly 143 percent capacity — among the highest rates in the country, according to the Bureau of Justice Statistics.

Howard Marks of Oaktree Capital is one of the greatest investors and investment strategists of the past 20 years. In Howard’s first January memo, he reflected on the recent fall in asset prices and the rise in volatility. His conclusion is that, yes, much of this sell-down is deserved but it probably won’t be as bad as 2008, as there isn’t a current equivalent to subprime in fragility and magnitude.

This is a challenge to that assertion.

Before the financial crisis, financial institutions and consumers rapidly increased their debt levels. The outcome was failing banks and the subprime housing crisis. Since the financial crisis, governments have been rapidly increasing their debt levels. Developed markets, China and emerging markets all have government debt issues, though the problems are different for each group.

When volunteers with the “Malachi Dads” program first walked onto Division 9 at Cook County Jail, a SWAT team rushing to quell a cellblock disturbance greeted them.

It was an answer to prayer.

Tom Horton, the group leader, was meeting with Tarry Williams, chief of operations for the sprawling jail complex, and had just told the administrator they wanted “to go to the worst cell block you have.”

Illinois has one of the highest unemployment rates in the country.

In January, Illinois’ unemployment rate was 6.3 percent, far higher than the nation’s 4.9 percent for the same month, according to the latest information released Monday by the Bureau of Labor Statistics. Only three other states plus the District of Columbia have unemployment rates worse than Illinois: Mississippi at 6.9 percent; Alaska at 6.6 percent; New Mexico at 6.5 percent; and D.C. at 6.5 percent.

Over the last year, Illinois added 49,600 jobs, but there were not enough added to make up for those lost. In January 2015, the state’s unemployment rate was better at 6 percent.

From red-light cameras to a police dash cam, cigarettes to city checks, public schools to City Hall, 2015 was another black mark on the ethics record of Chicago government.

A new report from researchers at the University of Illinois at Chicago details public corruption across Illinois over the course of 2015, noting that Chicagoans “experienced a very active corruption scene.”

Among the city’s most notable corruption convictions in recent months:

Chicago Teachers Union leaders will ask its members to walk off their jobs April 1 for a one-day demonstration over contract talks and public education funding, Vice President Jesse Sharkey said Monday.

“We will not go to work on April 1. We will close the schools on April 1,” Sharkey said. “What we would hope is that the public joins us and that we see this as a one-day action to fight for school funding.”

On Saturday, CTU leaders met with a group of members to discuss a promised “Day of Action” amid halting contract talks with Chicago Public Schools. Sharkey called the one-day walkout an act of civil disobedience designed to marshal support for new taxes and revenue for public education.