WSIL: Great Recession lingers among Illinois' blue collar workers
For many blue collar workers in Illinois, it’s as if the Great Recession never ended. The state is still 67,000 jobs in the hole, compared to when the recession began in 2008, according to theIllinois Policy Institute.
The think tank points to federal Bureau of Labor Statistics numbers released this week that show Illinois is suffering the “worst economic recovery of any state in the country.”
The state lost another 1,900 manufacturing jobs in October and has shed a total of 14,100 manufacturing jobs in 2015 and the year isn’t quite over.
Forbes: Rahm Emanuel Rolls The Dice On A Government-Owned Casino In Chicago
There is a reason doctors are so concerned about the dosage of the medications they prescribe.
Counterintuitively, it is not the case that by prescribing double the dose you get double the health benefits. In fact, double a dose that is beneficial to a patient may in fact be fatal.
This principle—called nonlinearity—is known across multiple disciplines but apparently is unknown to Illinois politicians. Example: In recent years politicians of both parties in the Land of Lincoln have encouraged legalized gambling as a way to boost tax revenue.
PJStar: Task force on Illinois government consolidation winding down; union provision passes
A group of state lawmakers, representatives of local governments and others has been meeting for months to find ways to consolidate Illinois’ glut of local governments and ways for them to operate more efficiently.
After holding hearings around the state, the group is entering the home stretch before its Dec. 31 deadline to issue a final report to Gov. Bruce Rauner and the General Assembly.
The group already has adopted a number of recommendations that will be included in the report, such as allowing local governments to opt out of a requirement to publish public notices in newspapers and imposing a four-year moratorium on creation of new units of local government.
Fox Chicago: Budget deadlock affecting winter preparations in Illinois
Illinois’ budget mess is leaving some towns without money for snow response.
Every time a motorist buys gasoline in Illinois, he or she pays the Motor Fuel Tax, which is millions of dollars that the state is supposed to pass along to local governments. However, not a penny’s been paid since June because of the budget stalemate in the State Capitol. That means some rural township highway departments may not be able to patch potholes this winter.
DNA Info: Chicago 'Thinking Big' As 3 Ambitious Developments Clear Key Hurdle
Three of Chicago’s most ambitious developments proposed since the recession are one step closer to reality.
The Chicago Plan Commission on Thursday signed off on the supertall Wanda Vista Tower on Wacker Drive, a pair of of high-rises that would bookend the southern tip of Grant Park, and a group of eight buildings including more than 3,600 new homes on a riverfront field blocks from Willis Tower that’s sat vacant for decades.
If built, the three projects promise to transform the way people see and live in Downtown Chicago:
Sun-Times: Boom in parolees hits Chicago
Back when he was a student at Orr High School in West Humboldt Park in the 1980s, John Hilton says he was on the baseball team and played French horn in the marching band.
But to fit in, he says he also started drinking and doing drugs — marijuana, cocaine, eventually heroin.
He’d once hoped to go on to play in a college marching band. By his early 20s, though, he says he was dealing crack cocaine to support his own habit.
Fox 32: Employee of Dorothy Brown charged by feds
Federal prosecutors have charged an employee of Cook County Clerk Dorothy Brown with lying before a federal grand jury that is investigating the purchasing of jobs and promotions in Brown’s office, the Chicago Sun-Times is reporting.
Sivasubramani Rajaram of Glenview was hired by Brown’s office after he allegedly gave a $15,000 loan to a company controlled by her husband. He allegedly lied twice under oath when testifying about the matter to a grand jury, federal prosecutors alleged Friday.
Politico: Biss to drop out of comptroller race, making way for Mendoza
State Sen. Daniel Biss is pulling out of contention in the Democratic primary for Illinois Comptroller, making way for Chicago City Clerk Susana Mendoza, two top Democratic sources told POLITICO Illinois.
Biss’ move comes even as he rounded out the last fundraising quarter with nearly $1.5 million in donations, topping Mendoza, a close political ally of Mayor Rahm Emanuel.
The Democratic primary winner will face Gov. Bruce Rauner’s hand-picked Illinois Comptroller Leslie Munger in the 2016 general election.
WSJ: Where Construction Jobs Are Booming
Construction employment increased in 43 states including the District of Columbia since last year, the Labor Department said Friday, a bit of good news for a sector still struggling with the effects of the Great Recession.
The West and the South led the way: Arkansas, Idaho, Kansas and Nevada have posted double-digit percentage growth in construction employment since October 2014, while California added the most construction jobs overall.
While broad gains in construction jobs were spread nationwide in October’s data, for the year, the Pacific region stood out. Ken Simonson, chief economist for the Associated General Contractors of America, said high-tech industries are driving activity in Silicon Valley and San Francisco, while the Gerald Desmond bridge replacement project has been a boon to the Los Angeles area.
Chicago Tribune: Where have all the Chicago-made toys gone?
Odds are that the dolls, toys and games wrapped and placed under Christmas trees nationwide next month will be imports. And the likelihood that they were made locally has never been lower.
The Chicago area’s toy-making industry continues to shrink. Employment in doll, toy and game manufacturing in the metro region fell to 174 in 2013 from 253 in 2011. The number of locations making such products has dropped to 24 from 28, according to a Tribune analysis of annual census data.
That’s because, although many toys sold in the United States are designed and developed stateside, their manufacturing has shifted overseas. Toy imports accounted for more than 90 percent of playthings bought in the U.S. in 2013, according to the U.S. Commerce Department.
Sun-Times: Trips, steak dinners for officials of poor suburban school district
For years, tiny General George S. Patton School District 133 in the predominantly black, largely low-income south suburb Riverdale has struggled financially, routinely spending more than taxes brought in.
Last year, Supt. Carol Kunst said the one-school district had to make “difficult decisions,” including staff cuts, to reduce expenses and “rectify our financial situation.”