It’s becoming clear that teachers’ union bosses are doing a lousy job representing the best interests of their members. Case in point: Chicago Teachers’ Union President Karen Lewis. Not only did she organize a strike and agree to a contract that she knew would cost thousands of her fellow union members their jobs, but she...
In January, the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, or HFS, began a new project verifying eligibility for Illinois’ 2.7 million Medicaid enrollees. For years, state workers had failed to take adequate steps to ensure the people receiving Medicaid benefits were actually eligible for the program. As an Auditor General report noted, state workers failed to...
The American people are about to receive yet another ObamaCare trick in the coming weeks. While many small businesses thought they would be safe from the costliest provisions of the Affordable Care Act, or ACA, commonly referred to as ObamaCare, some of the nation’s small employers are finding out that they may be counted as “large employers”...
Dimitri has found that investing in good people makes the difference in an industry where the customer experience matters.
Judge John Sedia of the Lake County, Ind., Superior Court has held that the state’s Right-to-Work law violates the state constitution. While the Sept. 9 decision is disappointing, neither union officials nor union critics should put much stock in it. The state will appeal the case to the Indiana Supreme Court, which is very likely to reverse...
The total number of Illinoisans on food stamps increased to nearly 2.15 million in June. One-sixth of Illinoisans, or 16.7 percent, are enrolled in the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP. More than 100,000 people were added to the SNAP rolls in June. This is an artificially high number resulting from disaster-response programs deployed in...
If you want to criticize a politician, should you have to check with your lawyer first or get the government’s permission? You wouldn’t think so – at least not in America, where we have a First Amendment that’s supposed to protect our right to free speech. Unfortunately, laws enacted under the guise of “campaign finance...
Chicago has the highest gas prices of any major metropolitan area in the United States. A gallon of gas is now $4.06 on average in Chicago; the national average is $3.56. Though outside factors influence the raw price of gas, one of the reasons Chicago’s prices are consistently among the most expensive in the nation is the additional...
A year ago, schoolchildren throughout Chicago were returning to class as the Chicago Teachers Union, or CTU, and Chicago Public Schools, or CPS, officials reached an agreement, ending a bitter nine-day strike. Looking back on the strike and its aftermath, there were few clear winners; but there were many losers. In the wake of the...
If you were told that your health insurance premiums would be doubling next year, would you be celebrating? Only if you were expecting them to triple. A new study of ObamaCare health insurance premiums in 17 states and the District of Columbia suggests that the cost for consumers will be lower than the previous Congressional Budget Office...
A recent editorial in the Chicago Tribune criticized the state Department of Insurance for not publicly releasing health insurance premium rates for the health care exchange. The exchange is a central feature of ObamaCare in which individuals and small businesses will begin buying private insurance coverage Oct. 1. With rates expected to go up dramatically, it’s no...
Recording and publishing the audio of board meetings is an essential public good. This form of transparency creates an opportunity for the public to be informed about government bodies and elected officials that represent them, and gives the public an important tool to hold government accountable for its actions. Unfortunately, Belvidere Township in Boone County...
Labor law reform has been popular in a lot of neighboring states, with Wisconsin passing an overhaul of its government union law, and Michigan and Indiana adopting right-to-work. The move toward greater union accountability could pick up again if Missouri sets up a referendum on right-to-work, as it might as early as next year. Labor...
The Department of Justice is seeking a federal court order to halt Louisiana’s school voucher program. The order would apply to school districts still under federal desegregation supervision. Arguing that the implementation of the voucher system has caused “school wide racial demographics to stray further from district-wide percentages,” the DOJ seeks to put the program on hold...