Illinois’ comeback story starts here.

Unemployment rate falls to 6.7% in December on Americans leaving the work force

The national unemployment rate declined to 6.7 percent in December, down from 7 percent a month earlier, according to the latest report from the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics. Payroll jobs increased a paltry 74,000, below consensus estimates of 200,000. November payroll gains were revised up from 203,000 to 241,000. Despite the huge miss in...

By Michael Lucci

Illinois’ sputtering population growth

The U.S. Census Bureau announced that Illinois had the sixth-lowest population growth in the nation in 2013. The state’s population growth was just 0.11 percent, adding only 14,000 people to its population of nearly 13 million people. Other large states such as Georgia, North Carolina, Florida and Texas grew seven to 13 times faster than...

Illinoisans one year away from tax relief

This weekend marks the three-year anniversary of the 2011 state income tax increase. But the anniversary also marks another milestone for taxpayers: we are just one year away from tax relief. Illinois taxpayers currently fork over 5 percent of their paycheck to the state. Politicians like to say that 5 percent of your household income...

By Benjamin VanMetre

ObamaCare: A ‘catastrophic’ plan by any other name is still bronze

According to a recent Crain’s Chicago Business analysis, the cost of some “catastrophic” health insurance plans offered under the ObamaCare health insurance exchange in Illinois actually cost more than the supposedly more generous plans in 13 counties across the state. That should not be surprising as the improperly named “catastrophic plan” offered on the exchange...

By Naomi Lopez Bauman

Halfway through review, Illinois Medicaid eligibility error rate at nearly 60%

Illinois’ Medicaid program has long been plagued with wasteful spending. The U.S. Government Accountability Office designates Medicaid as a high-risk program, largely because it is “particularly vulnerable to fraud, waste, abuse and improper payments” and has inadequate oversight to prevent wasteful spending. Indeed, the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS, reports an improper payment...

By Jonathan Ingram

Illinois drowning in debt: $127 billion and counting

Illinois is often used as the poster child for how not to run a state. Money-hungry politicians perpetuate the state’s spending problem with higher taxes and more borrowing. Meanwhile, the state’s tax base continues to erode as tapped-out families and businesses move to states with more opportunities and friendlier business environments. Illinois’ debt has grown...

By Benjamin VanMetre

State attorneys general school Obama on constitutionality when it comes to ObamaCare

Eleven state attorneys general are coming out against the unconstitutionality of changes in implementing President Barack Obama’s Affordable Care Act. This group – not including Illinois Attorney General Lisa Madigan – lambasted the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services, or HHS, for proposed regulations they say “[compound] illegal executive action” and “[fail] to protect...

By Bryant Jackson-Green

Wisconsin senator files lawsuit over congressional exemption from ObamaCare

Republican Senator Ron Johnson of Wisconsin is filing suit today “to make Congress live by the letter of the health-care law it imposed on the rest of America.” According to Johnson: “By arranging for me and other members of Congress and their staffs to receive benefits intentionally ruled out by the Patient Protection and Affordable...

By Naomi Lopez Bauman

Family of entrepreneurs makes hospitality, brewery dreams a reality

Despite the ups and downs associated with doing business day-in and day-out, the Conns are in Illinois for the long haul.

By Hilary Gowins

New Year’s resolution for ObamaCare: #ComeClean on enrollment numbers

The Obama administration’s Centers for Medicare & Medicaid Services announced that 2.1 million have enrolled in a private insurance plan in the ObamaCare exchanges and at least another 3.9 million are eligible for Medicaid and Children’s Health Insurance Program, or CHIP. While the announcement was thin on details, it is safe to assume that these...

By Naomi Lopez Bauman

Chicago Public Schools’ overcrowding dilemma

Chicago Public Schools’ plan to alleviate overcrowding in schools on the city’s west and north sides is a costly, jumbled mess. Its initial decision to provide $20 million to Lincoln Elementary to alleviate overcrowding at the school, even though it’s the 17th most overcrowded school in the city, was met with fierce resistance. Teachers and...

Chicago Public Schools’ school closings: too many mistakes

Chicago Public Schools, or CPS, displayed plenty of bad judgment last year: in the way it managed its budget, the school closings fiasco and the adoption of a new promotion policy that pushes students to the next grade even when they’re not ready. More recently, CPS continued its poor decision-making by providing $20 million to...

Illinois has a dirty little secret buried in its tax history

Illinois has a dirty little secret buried in its tax history – the first income tax approved in Illinois was a progressive tax. Fortunately, the progressive tax was ruled unconstitutional and was never implemented. But now the threat of a progressive tax hike is back again. Originally, Illinois didn’t have an income tax. When the...

By Benjamin VanMetre

Enacting Right to Work would help halt business exodus from Illinois

There is a virtual caravan of businesses leaving Illinois. Office Depot, which announced that it would be setting up its headquarters in Boca Raton, Fla., rather than Naperville, Ill., is only the latest. A string of smaller companies, mainly manufacturers such as Modern Drop Forge or Food Warning Equipment Company have been relocating – sometimes...

By Paul Kersey

Donate and be a part of Illinois’ comeback story

Illinois’ comeback story starts here