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Home alone

Jeffrey Schwab, Staff Attorney at the Liberty Justice Center, joined John Howell on WLS 890AM to discuss the current law that restricts Illinois parents from leaving children under the age of 13 at home alone.

New BLS jobs report: Decline in manufacturing jobs hurts Illinois economy

CHICAGO (April 21, 2015) – Today, the U.S. Bureau of Labor Statistics released jobs data on Illinois that showed the following: Illinois’ workforce shrunk by more than 10,000 people in March, and a continued decline in the state’s manufacturing sector is hurting the state’s overall economic recovery. Today’s data release offers a more detailed look...

State jobs report for March mostly bad news: Employment losses, few sector gains

CHICAGO (April 16, 2015) – New state jobs numbers released this afternoon by the Illinois Department of Employment Security showed mostly bad news for Illinois during the month of March. According to IDES, Illinois lost 1,800 net payroll jobs last month, the unemployment rate for March stayed unchanged at 6 percent. Michael Lucci, director of...

Illinois’ spending problem

Our Director of Jobs and Growth, Michael Lucci, joined “Bishop on air” on WMAY-AM to discuss the state’s spending problem.      

Pending legislature would allow ex-felons to work for schools

This article was written by Dusty Rhodes and originally featured on Peoria Public Radio on April 14. Current state law prohibits people with felony records from working in a school, or volunteering, or even driving a truck that makes deliveries to a school. IPR’s Dusty Rhodes has a report on a measure pending in the...

Illinois workers file lawsuit to end mandatory union dues

The future of public and private unions in two big labor-friendly states may be at stake as foes mount aggressive legal challenges over the long-controversial practice of mandatory dues. The court cases in Illinois and California revolve around so-called “fair share” payments, or the dues unions extract from workers whose jobs stand to benefit from...

Unions battle for survival in key strongholds as court cases challenge forced dues

Watch the latest video at video.foxnews.com This interview was originally featured on Fox News on April 6, 2015.  The future of public and private unions in two big labor-friendly states may be at stake as foes mount aggressive legal challenges over the long-controversial practice of mandatory dues. The court cases in Illinois and California revolve around...

A benefit for taxpayers

State government distributes income tax revenue automatically to local governments, with almost no scrutiny. It’s a guaranteed handout to local entities, whether they deserve it or not. No requirement to justify need for the money; all local governments must do is find ways to spend it. Last month, Gov. Bruce Rauner proposed reducing the amount...