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John Tillman, Anders Lindall and Madeleine Doubek join Carol Marin on Chicago Tonight to provide analysis of the Nekritz-Biss pension fix passed by an Illinois House committee in the final days of the lame-duck session.
By Dennis Sullivan Village government in Orland Park, Tinley Park and Homer Glen get high marks for transparency, according to a spokesman for the fiscally-conservative Illinois Policy Institute. The institute examines and grades the websites of local villages, schools and other taxing districts on how clearly they present information about village board and committee meetings,...
In Evanston, Ill., Chicago’s neighbor to the north, you can’t operate a food truck at all unless you also own a brick-and-mortar restaurant. Like Chicago’s restrictions, this rule exists for one reason: to protect restaurants from competition. That’s why the Liberty Justice Center filed a lawsuit this week challenging Evanston’s law in the Cook County...
By Brian L. Cox James Nuccio and Gabriel Wiesen want to sell gourmet doughnuts and coffee from their colorful food truck on the streets of Evanston. But a 2010 ordinance only allows businesses that have “bricks and mortar” restaurants in Evanston to venture onto city streets with a food truck. Nuccio and Wiesen, the owners...
When Lombard Village Trustee Peter Breen was elected in April 2011, he made transparency in village government a priority. It’s no wonder then that Lombard now is a model for the rest of the state. Only when our government leaders emphasize the importance of transparency in all they do will taxpayers truly benefit. It’s simple...
By Kimberly Pohl The director of Americans for Prosperity’s state chapter said Thursday that he doesn’t often quote Pat Quinn in a positive light, but he’ll gladly relay the governor’s calculation of what the legislature’s inaction is costing Illinois taxpayers. “It costs our state $12.6 million a day every day that we don’t reform pensions,...
John Tillman, state Rep. Greg Harris and John Bouman join Eddie Arruza on Chicago Tonight to discuss Gov. Pat Quinn’s $2.7 billion in Medicaid cuts after a committee he appointed falls short of a plan.
Should a government bureaucrat have the power to arbitrarily decide who’s allowed to start a business and who isn’t? Most readers of this website — and most Americans — have a ready answer to that question: No. But in many cities and states, government officials have the power to do just that. Consider the case...