Nearly 5,000 Chicago city workers make six-figure salaries, driving up the payroll and pension costs overtaxed city residents must pay.

Under the stopgap budget, Illinois will spend $8 billion more than it collects in tax revenues; Illinois needs to enact major reforms to rein in its out-of-control spending and avoid billions in tax hikes.

Illinois lawmakers earn base salaries of nearly $68,000 for what is essentially part-time work.

The Illinois comptroller warns Illinois' backlog of unpaid bills will reach $10 billion by December.

The stopgap budget passed by the General Assembly provides six months worth of funding for government services such as road construction, as well as a full K-12 education budget for the 2016-2017 school year, property-tax-raising authority for Chicago, and more state funding of pensions for Chicago Public Schools teachers.

Until CPS passes necessary spending and pension reforms, giving any additional money to the system will only reward officials’ mismanagement and reckless behavior.

The pension problem was created and has been fueled by weak politicians – men and women who decided their next elections were more important than the next generation.

Illinois House Speaker Mike Madigan’s insistence that Chicago Public Schools receive more than its fair share of state education funding is putting any stopgap budget deal at risk.

A representative from the state-worker union called for collective action from governments of prison towns to force Gov. Bruce Rauner’s hand in the budget debate, which could expose thousands of incarcerated Illinoisans to squalid, dangerous conditions.

If Springfield politicians do not pass a budget by June 30, the state will be forced to stop payments to winning lottery ticket holders, Illinois’ comptroller has warned.