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Reader Question on the Inevitable Los Angeles Bankruptcy; What About Chicago?

In response to LA Commission Studies Pension Crisis, Recommends New Commission; Bankruptcy Inevitable reader Daniel writes … Hello Mish, Can you please explain why a home owner in a place like Los Angeles would be concerned with their city’s future bankruptcy? Will whatever happens not be short lived? I understand that city workers will be...

Illinois Considers 3-Year Ban on Virtual Charter Schools

The Illinois House has approved a three-year ban on virtual charter schools, the moratorium coming shortly after a one-year ban expired. “It’s an amazing story about what they want to do here in Illinois. We are going absolutely backward in terms of education reform and education innovation,” said Ted Dabrowski, vice president of policy at...

Union, Dem Activists Protest for Income Tax Hike in Illinois

Members of the government employee union SEIU and a group of Democrat supporters protested an Illinois think tank for opposing efforts to push a hike in the Illinois income tax. The protests in the state capital were organized by a group calling itself the Community Renewal Society (CRS), a Chicago-based group that counts members of...

Rahm rejects idea of a city income tax

Our CEO John Tillman is quoted in the following article by Eric Zorn. He explains why Zorn calling for a Chicago income tax is a bad idea. “ I reject … the idea of a city income tax. I think that’s not the right way to go” — Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel, responding Wednesday to...

Illinois’ Sunday car sales ban should go

By EMILY K. COLEMAN Jack Cronan remembers when car dealerships used to be open on Sundays. “I missed the family picnics,” he said. “I missed the Little League games and all the other things on Sunday because I had to work. And on those days, we’d sell four or five cars that we would have...

VoteSpotter App Aims to Connect Voters with Lawmakers

This article was written by Katie Alexander and originally featured on KWQC on October 11, 2014. New technology is giving Illinois voters a new tool to help keep up with the lawmakers who represent them. The VoteSpotter app, released by the Illinois Policy Institute, allows Illinoisans to closely monitor which bills their representatives are voting...

Illinois Policy Institute: No need for increased property taxes

The Illinois Policy Institute has an alternative to avoid a property tax hike to fix Chicago’s pension problem. Mayor Emanuel says he needs a property tax increase to help bail out city pensions but Ted Dabrowski of the Illinois Policy Institute says there is no need if the Mayor puts the city workers into a...

Lombard, Wheaton earn high marks on government transparency audit while cities of Romeoville, Moline fail audit

 Village of Lombard earns perfect score for online transparency, eight local governments, including Rock Island, Urbana and Quincy, fail CHICAGO (April 8, 2014) – The towns of Wheaton, Lombard and Bartlett received high marks for online government transparency in a recent series of transparency audits conducted by the nonpartisan Illinois Policy Institute. Meanwhile, the towns...