by Brian Costin Residents of Oak Lawn may soon get a much-needed dose of government transparency. Sandra Bury was recently sworn in as the new Mayor of Oak Lawn, a village in the southwest suburbs of Chicago. As one of her first priorities in office, Bury intends to implement the Illinois Policy Institute’s 10-Point Transparency Checklist,...
by Paul Kersey In my last post, I called attention to the contract between the Cleveland Teachers Union (an affiliate of the American Federation, just like the union that represents Chicago teachers) and the Cleveland Municipal School District. The union and the district both deserve credit for releasing their contract to the media just two days after reaching...
by Brian Costin The story of the Internal Revenue Service targeting conservative-leaning organizations for special scrutiny in nonprofit status is one of the biggest scandals to hit Washington, D.C., in my lifetime. Even U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin – an Illinois Democrat – has weighed in with outrage about the IRS scandal. From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:...
Obamacare imposes a new 40 percent excise tax on high cost or “Cadillac” health insurance plans, effective in 2018.
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...