by Diane Cohen According to reports by the Chicago Tribune, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel will finally do what he and other politicians should have done a long time ago: end costly health insurance benefits paid to city retirees. Starting next year, the mayor will begin a three-year phase out of the coverage, at which time affected...
Maybe you haven’t heard yet, but city of Chicago leaders have unveiled a plan to fund a new stadium for DePaul University – a private school. You may also not have heard of Chicago’s Metropolitan Pier and Exposition Authority, or McPier, but chances are if you have ever been to Chicago you’ve probably paid taxes...
The problem Illinois has the worst-funded pension systems in the nation. The structure of Illinois’ current defined benefit system coupled with the political unwillingness to reform has left the state’s pension systems in danger of running completely dry. Even the head of the Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System, or TRS, Dick Ingram, said the fund may...
From NBC’s Ward Room: Chicago Teachers Union President Karen Lewis on Friday earned a second three year term. The union said Lewis received an “overwhelming 80 percent of the votes” cast, according to a preliminary tally of the votes. “[Union members have] spoken … saying that they appreciate the direction that the union has gone in...
The Illinois Department of Employment Security, or IDES, announced today that the Illinois unemployment rate declined to 9.3 percent in April from 9.5 percent in March. Illinois’ unemployment rate is still nearly two percentage points above the national average, which declined to 7.5 percent in April. Source: Illinois Department of Employment Security The decline in the...
by Paul Kersey The Chicago Teachers Union has announced plans to file a lawsuit to prevent the closure of about 50 Chicago Public Schools buildings. The union is hoping to keep as many buildings as possible open, and in the process preserve its members’ jobs. Even if the lawsuit fails, the litigation could delay the implementation...
by Paul Kersey In Illinois we have gotten used to being kept in the dark about collective bargaining with government worker unions. Recently a bill to open up the process and have tentative agreements made open to the public before they are signed failed in committee. But it doesn’t have to be like this. In Cleveland of...
by Josh Dwyer When Chicago Public Schools first announced that it was closing schools, the primary justification it gave was to save money – upward of $500,000 to $800,000 per school. It needed the money to address the looming pension cliff the city is facing next year. When people began questioning those numbers, CPS’s story...
by Brian Costin Every once in a while, government in Illinois actually gets smaller. One recent example revolves around the Wildlife Prairie State Park, which will drop “State” from its name and will be run by the Forest Park Foundation of Peoria, a private, nonprofit group, effective immediately. Wildlife Prairie Park, located 10 miles west of...
by Ted Dabrowski Food-stamp use rose 2.7% in the U.S. in February from a year earlier, with 15% of the U.S. population receiving benefits. The number of recipients in the food stamp program, formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), reached 47.6 million, or nearly one in seven Americans. With more...
Earlier this month, Caterpillar Inc. announced an additional 300 employees will be laid off at the Decatur plant. The latest layoffs would take effect in July. The announcement comes a month after the manufacturer said 460 workers would lose their jobs effective in June. Unemployment in the Decatur metro area is 11.8 percent. Illinois has the...
by Brian Costin Property tax bills are hitting mailboxes this week for residents across the state. The average homeowner in Illinois has an effective property tax rate of 1.93 percent; this is the second-highest property tax rate in the country. Homeowners in Lake County pay a median effective property tax rate of 2.46 percent, which ranks...
by Paul Kersey The Internal Revenue Service has acknowledged that some of its agents targeted conservative and small government groups for unjustified scrutiny when they applied for tax-exempt status prior to the 2012 election: IRS agents singled out dozens of organizations for additional reviews because they included the words “tea party” or “patriot” in their exemption applications,...
HB 3411 known as Cross-Nekritz – the latest iteration of Nekritz-Biss – paints over Illinois’ pension crisis with more of the same broken policies that have pushed government retirement systems to the edge of collapse. This bill: Perpetuates unstable, unpredictable and unmanageable defined benefit systems – The key driver of Illinois’ pension crisis is the state’s defined...