Almost all metropolitan areas across Illinois saw an increase in their unemployment rate in July. According to the latest seasonally adjusted unemployment numbers from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics, eight of Illinois’ 10 Metropolitan Statistical Areas, or MSAs, saw their unemployment rates increase. The only region to experience a drop was Chicago, while the...
On the same day he gave a speech celebrating Martin Luther King Jr.’s life on the steps of the Lincoln Memorial, U.S. Attorney General Eric Holder instructed the Justice Department to file a motion to prevent 34 predominantly black school districts in Louisiana from allowing families to utilize the state’s voucher program. And the Justice Department’s reasoning...
If Illinoisans needed any more proof that the state’s defined benefit pension systems are unmanageable and dysfunctional, they got it on Aug. 26. Dick Ingram, head of the Teachers’ Retirement System, or TRS, informed Illinois’ pension conference committee that TRS’s actuaries made a mistake in calculating the expected savings of House Speaker Mike Madigan’s proposed pension...
In a recent interview to commemorate the 50th anniversary of Martin Luther King Jr.’s March on Washington, President Barack Obama managed to plug the ObamaCare program by encouraging people to sign up for coverage on a government website. Few can disagree with the goal of affordable health care coverage, especially for the medically needy and poor. While...
In January, the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, or HFS, began a new project verifying eligibility for Illinois’ 2.7 million Medicaid enrollees. For years, state workers had failed to take adequate steps to ensure the people receiving Medicaid benefits were actually eligible for the program. As an Auditor General report noted, state workers...
Much to the delight of many Chicago beer enthusiasts, the city’s craft beer market has grown in recent years. New Chicago breweries such as Revolution Brewing, Half Acre Beer Company and PipeWorks Brewing are making inroads on traditional brewers. The craft beer revolution is taking root throughout the rest of the state as well. Rolling Meadows Brewery in Springfield and Destihl Brewery in Bloomington...
Illinois’ competitive flat rate income tax is protected in the state’s constitution. But there is a growing movement to increase income taxes in Illinois by swapping out the state’s flat-rate income tax for a progressive tax. The progressive tax plan is being sold as a tax on the rich. But the data tell a different...
As the 2013-2014 school year begins in Illinois, results from last year’s standardized tests reveal that public schools across the state have a long way to go in improving education outcomes. Recent scores showed that: Overall, only 25 percent of the state’s juniors were considered college-ready in all four subjects last year – the exact percentage as...
The lowest-performing public school students are the most likely to use and benefit from school choice programs according to a new study on Florida’s Tax Credit Scholarship Program. In fact, 27.9 percent of students who participated in the program were in the bottom fifth of their prior public school’s mathematics test score distribution. These findings fly in...
President Barack Obama promised Americans that under the Affordable Care Act, commonly referred to as ObamaCare, “If you like your health plan, you can keep your health plan.” The unfortunate reality is that only a lucky few can keep their health plan. As the new law is implemented, many employees will be left with less...
U.S. Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius recently announced a video contest offering cash prizes to young people for pro-ObamaCare videos. According to Sebelius: “Soon the Health Insurance Marketplace will give uninsured young people the opportunity to enroll in affordable health insurance, and the Healthy Young America video contest will help them tell their stories to other young...
The more that unions get to see of ObamaCare, the uglier it gets. At its annual convention the Nevada State AFL-CIO passed a strongly-worded resolution calling for changes to the “Affordable Care Act”. They aren’t the first, but the Nevada group’s statement might be the sharpest critique of ObamaCare to come out of the union movement yet. It...
Here in Chicago it would be rather awkward if a local union were to go out of its way to criticize President Barack Obama or his signature achievement, Obamacare – he’s a Chicagoan after all. But there is at least one area union that is having a little trouble on account of the national health...
In January, the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, or HFS, began a new project verifying eligibility for Illinois’ 2.7 million Medicaid enrollees. For years, state workers had failed to take adequate steps to ensure the people receiving Medicaid benefits were actually eligible for the program. As an auditor general report noted, state workers...