Illinois’ uneven recovery reflects national trends, but also raises important questions about the state’s economic future ahead of a key tax hike vote.
House Speaker Mike Madigan has built a substantial political army through taxpayer-funded promises.
Across all five state retirement systems, typical career workers pay for about 5% of the cost of their pension benefits. They receive an average of $1.7 million to $3.6 million.
Indiana has around half the population of Illinois. But its building new homes at a rate more than 60% higher.
Illinois Gov. J.B. Pritzker has used his private fortune to pay $3 million in state expenses, including boosting salaries of 16 top staffers. Some lawmakers want the ‘unethical’ practice to stop.
Illinoisans will soon cast a vote on the biggest ballot question in the history of Madigan’s record-breaking speakership.
The Illinois Tollway is spending $33 million on toll machines, some of which can’t make change. The state agency’s legacy is broken promises, political patronage and overcharging Illinoisans.
Amid Illinois’ population decline, Ald. Ray Lopez proposed taxing conception and licensing childbirth.
Only Mississippi has fared worse than Illinois in personal income growth since the Great Recession hit at the end of 2007. Analysis shows state income taxes matter.
Springfield lawmakers have yet to learn the lesson that money walks. And it’s not just to other states. Sometimes, it walks past the legal dispensary with a 40% tax rate and into a dealer’s house.
Silence on a rape and about ghost workers were evidence of political loyalty that should save a state worker facing discipline, according to an email uncovered in an open records request.
Mayor Lori Lightfoot is sponsoring a city ordinance allowing food trucks and other mobile entrepreneurs to operate with more freedom on Chicago’s streets.