Nearly 106,000 Medicaid enrollees in Illinois found ineligible for the program
Nearly 106,000 Medicaid enrollees in Illinois found ineligible for the program
For years, the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, or HFS, has failed to take adequate steps to ensure the people actually receiving Medicaid benefits are eligible for the program. In 2012, for example, somewhere between 15 percent and 20 percent of Medicaid files were overdue for their annual eligibility checks. The auditor general noted that...
By Jonathan Ingram
Detroit: Then and now
Detroit: Then and now
Back in the late 1980s I lived in northwest Detroit (at Seven Mile and Lahser) and worked downtown. I remember a t-shirt slogan that was very popular at the time: “I’m so bad I vacation in Detroit.” It was fitting. The few tourists who visited downtown saw a rundown commercial district with few shops or...
Illinois business moves headquarters to Wisconsin
Illinois business moves headquarters to Wisconsin
EMCO Chemicals Distributors Inc., a chemical manufacturer, packager and distributor, announced the grand opening of its brand new, 260,000-square-foot-facility in Pleasant Prairie, Wis. That’s bad news for Illinois, as the company’s headquarters was previously located about 20 miles south in North Chicago. EMCO earns more than $300 million annually in sales, and is now the...
By Hilary Gowins
Mother-daughter duo steals more than $530,000 from bankrupt Detroit Public Schools
Mother-daughter duo steals more than $530,000 from bankrupt Detroit Public Schools
Detroit is already in a severe economic crisis, with more than $18 billion in total debt. But it turns out that the city has lost even more funds – more than $530,000 – due to government worker fraud. According to a press release from U.S. Attorney Barbara McQuade: Sandra Campbell, 57, a former Detroit Public Schools contract accountant...
By Hilary Gowins
North Carolina ends teacher tenure
North Carolina ends teacher tenure
North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory signed a landmark budget bill last week – one that is full of education reforms, including the end of teacher tenure in the state. Tenure doesn’t guarantee a teacher a job for life. But it does make it much more difficult for a district to let go of a...
Court rules texts, emails sent during public meetings are public
Court rules texts, emails sent during public meetings are public
The Open Meetings Act is quite clear as to what a public meeting is. “Meeting” means any gathering, whether in person or by video or audio conference, telephone call, electronic means (such as, without limitation, electronic mail, electronic chat, and instant messaging), or other means of contemporaneous interactive communication, of a majority of a quorum...
Power to the parents: using parent trigger laws to change educational outcomes
Power to the parents: using parent trigger laws to change educational outcomes
As Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union continue to argue about the reasons for the district’s recent school closings, one thing is clear – parents have largely been excluded from the conversation. But they don’t have to be – a new law appearing in seven states across the country, if adopted in Illinois, would...
Congress gets an ObamaCare waiver
Congress gets an ObamaCare waiver
The Daily Caller reports: Reports indicate President Obama will soon confirm what many of us have long suspected, that Congress wants and will soon have a waiver from Obamacare. Read more…
Mercer County treasurer corruption case reveals red flags for county
Mercer County treasurer corruption case reveals red flags for county
Mercer County Treasurer Mike Bertelsen has been charged with stealing $13,000 from a county 911 fund. As reported by a local NBC affiliate: The County Treasurer in Mercer County, Illinois has been arrested. Michael Bertelsen, 53, faces a charge of felony theft. On the afternoon of July 31st, the Mercer County Sheriff made the arrest and...
By Brian Costin
$15 minimum wage would harm Chicago workers
$15 minimum wage would harm Chicago workers
This week, fast-food workers, retail employees and others have been protesting at McDonald’s restaurants and other fast-food restaurants and chain stores in Chicago and cities across the country. The protesters, who are being egged on and funded by the Service Employees International Union, or SEIU, and other union-affiliated groups, are demanding a $15-an-hour wage; a huge...
Credit union offers interest-free loans to Illinois lawmakers during pay freeze
Credit union offers interest-free loans to Illinois lawmakers during pay freeze
Illinois lawmakers stopped getting paid on Thursday. So did Gov. Pat Quinn, who on July 10 used his line-item veto power to halt lawmaker pay until the General Assembly reaches an agreement on pension reform. But a Rantoul-based credit union has come to their aid, offering interest-free loans to state legislators. According to the State Journal-Register,...
By Hilary Gowins
400 Illinoisans receive notice of impending layoffs
400 Illinoisans receive notice of impending layoffs
At the end of July, about 400 Illinois workers were notified that they might be losing their jobs in the next few weeks. Filings with the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity highlighted this number, which includes cuts at major companies throughout the state. According to the Chicago Tribune: Lake Forest-based Grainger Inc. said it...
By Hilary Gowins
Chicago’s dire finances highlight the city’s union problem
Chicago’s dire finances highlight the city’s union problem
About a year ago, the city of Chicago released its 2012 Annual Financial Analysis. Back then I noted that many of the city’s challenges, especially high employee costs and growing pension debt, were aggravated by a heavily unionized workforce. With a new year comes newer, more disturbing financial figures – and the same old union problem...
Chicago needs more than small gestures for small business
Chicago needs more than small gestures for small business
This week, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office issued a press release boasting of steps the city has taken to make it easier and faster for small businesses to get city licenses. According to the statement, visitors to the city’s Small Business Center can now take advantage of an express lane, a self-service station and additional “customer service”...