Students are scheduled to return to classrooms Feb. 1 for the first time in 10 months. The union is threatening that.
Illinois’ population decline has been accelerating during the past 7 years, while neighboring states gain from that loss.
Illinois lost 423,300 jobs from December 2019 through December 2020.
Most of CPS’s 340,000 students haven’t been in a classroom for 10 months, and a brewing CTU strike could keep them out even longer.
Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot said she wants Gov. J.B. Pritzker to give city residents more freedom to drink and dine out. Two other Illinois regions were just granted more liberty to do so.
Lame duck session was busy even when House Democrats weren’t focused on replacing Mike Madigan as speaker. Gov. J.B. Pritzker’s small business tax hike died as 23 bills were passed, including one making Chicago’s pension woes worse.
Over the objections of Chicago Mayor Lori Lightfoot, who called the legislation “irresponsible,” state lawmakers passed a bill to increase the cost-of-living adjustment for 2,200 Chicago firefighter pensions to 3% from 1.5%. Gov. J.B. Pritzker should veto it.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker could delay the $313 million in raises state workers have yet to receive, but instead he’s considering taking $75 million from their paychecks and leaving taxpayers without their services.
More people again in 2020 became former Illinoisans than new Illinoisans. The new General Assembly has the power to stop the moving vans.
“I went to appeal my property taxes and won. But that same year they increased the levy amount, so my taxes still went up."
Illinois unemployment numbers dropped for a week during the holidays, but they were back up last week as the state's hospitality industry remains out in the cold.
Illinoisans watched the politically impossible become the politically inevitable.