October 7, 2014

QUOTE OF THE DAY

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WSJ: A Calpers Comeuppance

A major political battle line these days is between public-union pension funds and taxpayers who pay the bills. Taxpayers won a major victory late last week when federal judge Christopher Klein ruled that the California Public Employees’ Retirement System (Calpers) isn’t protected from cuts in the city of Stockton’s bankruptcy trial.

This is big and hopeful news because pension costs are partly responsible for driving Stockton broke. Pensions equal nearly 40% of the city payroll and are growing. The San Joaquin Valley city will spend $28 million next year on pensions—twice as much as in 2012 when it declared bankruptcy—and $36 million by 2020. That’s one in every five tax dollars.

Yet everyone is taking a hit in bankruptcy except Calpers. The city last year raised its sales tax by 0.75% to cover rising labor costs and hire more police. Creditors are taking big haircuts. Assured Guaranty, which insures about $121 million in pension obligation bonds, will recover about 50%. Franklin Templeton Investments has been offered a penny on the dollar for $35 million in bonds for public works.

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Reuters: Chicago pedicabs run into rough headwinds from City Hall

T.C. O’Rourke has encountered plenty of nasty weather in his years as a Chicago pedicab operator – rain, snow and steamy summer heat.

But he has never pedaled into a headwind as rough as this year’s blast from City Hall, which has imposed some of the toughest rules in the nation against the foot-powered tricycle taxis.

A city ordinance that passed in June, just at the start of pedicabs’ busiest season, bans them from downtown Chicago during rush hour, and from Michigan and State streets, which are home to dozens of stores and restaurants, at all times.

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Chicago Tribune: No school Monday in Waukegan as talks resume in teachers strike

There will be no school again Monday for Waukegan students as negotiators for striking teachers and District 60 head back to the bargaining table.

In a statement issued Friday, the Waukegan District 60 board apologized for the inconvenience caused by the strike, which began Thursday. The board also said the union’s demands would bankrupt the district.

“That’s what’s at stake here –- the financial solvency of the Waukegan school system,” the release stated. “While the union has spent much time talking about a surplus, the 9 percent salary increase the teachers propose this coming year and the 7 percent increases they have asked for next year and the following year would bankrupt the district.”

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Chicago Tribune: Divvy membership discount offered to many college students

Students at some Chicago colleges will be able to get cheaper annual memberships to the city’s bike rental program under a plan being launched Monday.

Students at DePaul University, Northwestern University, Columbia College, City Colleges of Chicago, Rush University Medical Center and the University of Illinois at Chicago can now go online and sign up for a $55 one-year membership for the Divvy program. Annual memberships are normally $75.

Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration said “more schools are expected to sign on to the program in the coming months.”

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Huffington Post: Philadelphia Schools Ax Teachers’ Contract

The cash-strapped Philadelphia school district abruptly canceled its teachers’ contract Monday, a bold move designed to force health care contributions and make other benefit cuts.

The announcement came at a hastily-called meeting of the state-run School Reform Commission and followed nearly two years of stalled labor talks.

District officials said they have no plans to cut wages of the 15,000 teachers, nurses and other members of the Philadelphia Federation of Teachers. The American Federation of Teachers called the decision “a well-planned Hail Mary ambush” by Republican Gov. Tom Corbett, who faces a tough re-election fight next month.

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Chicago Tribune: Ald. Burke calls Great Chicago Fire festival a ‘fiasco’

An influential alderman today called the Great Chicago Fire festival “the fiasco on the river” after a disappointing debut last weekend in which floating model houses failed to ignite.

Ald. Ed Burke, 14th, the dean of the City Council and chairman of the Finance Committee, noted that hundreds of thousands of dollars in city funds “went to this fiasco” and requested Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s administration provide a full accounting to the Budget Committee.

“I’d like to see how much taxpayer money was devoted to it,” Burke said later. When asked why it was “a fiasco,” he spoke a Latin phrase meaning “the thing speaks for itself.”

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CBS Local: Day 3 For Waukegan Teachers Strike; Hinsdale Teachers Next?

Teachers and school district officials in Waukegan planned to meet on Monday in an effort to reach a contract agreement that would end a strike entering its third day.

WBBM Newsradio’s Regine Schlesinger reports, after a weekend with no talks, negotiators for Waukegan Community Unit School District 60 and the Lake County Federation of Teachers Local 504 were going back to the bargaining table Monday morning.

The dispute revolves around pay, health care benefits, and working conditions.

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Huffington Post: Food Stamp Enrollment Underscores Illinois Jobs Crisis

In Illinois, people are more likely to end up on food stamps than they are to find a job.

Nearly five years since the end of the Great Recession, Illinois is lagging behind the rest of the Midwest in job creation, creating an environment where opportunity and hope for a better future seem out of reach for those who are down on their luck.

Today, there are nearly 300,000 fewer Illinoisans working than in January 2008 – on top of that, there are 157,000 fewer payroll jobs in the state.

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CARTOON OF THE DAY

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