Repeal Day: Prohibition ended 86 years ago, but Illinois’ alcohol taxes, regulations remain sobering

By Vincent Caruso
12/05/2019
With the ratification of the 21st Amendment, 1933 marked the end of Prohibition in the United States. Illinois, however, has continued to serve a cocktail of prohibitive regulations on alcoholic beverages.

TAGS: alcohol tax, Associated Beer Distributors of Illinois, bootlegging, brewery, Bruce Rauner, capital plan, Chicago, cocktail, craft beer, distillery, Hospitality Business Association of Chicago, Illinois, Illinois General Assembly, JB Pritzker, licensure, Liquor Control Act, liquor laws, midwest, over-regulation, prohibition, regulation, repeal, Sara Feigenholtz, soda tax, taproom, taxes, Toni Preckwinkle, trade, vape ban, vaping, Wine & Spirits Distributors of Illinois, winery

Look past the faces of Illinois corruption to see the larger problem

By Amy Korte
12/02/2019
Focus too much on single aspects of Illinois corruption and the big picture will be lost, along with chances to fix the problems.

TAGS: Chicago, ComEd, corruption, Danny Solis, Ed Burke, ethics, ethics task force, federal investigation, Illinois, Illinois General Assembly, lawmakers, leadership, Legislative Inspector General, lobbying, lobbyists, Luis Arroyo, Martin Sandoval, politicians, recusal, revolving door, Rod Blagojevich, watchdog

Senate President John Cullerton set to collect $2M pension

By Austin Berg
11/27/2019
Due to a pension sweetener available only to veteran Illinois lawmakers, Cullerton’s annual pension will soon be more than he ever made from his Statehouse salary.

TAGS: Chicago, Emil Jones, Illinois, Illinois General Assembly, Illinois Senate, John Cullerton, Mike Madigan, pension benefits, pension costs, pension crisis, pension debt, pension reform, retirement, senate president, SERS: State Employee Retirement System, six-figure, Springfield, tax hikes, teacher salaries, TRS: Teachers’ Retirement System

Chicago’s 2020 budget proposal was never truly balanced

By Adam Schuster, Bill Reveille
11/26/2019
Faced with the impossible task of balancing Chicago’s budget without pension reform, Mayor Lori Lightfoot is forced to partially rely on phantom cuts and revenues.

TAGS: 2020 Budget Forecast, bonds, budget, budget gap, CAFR: Comprehensive Annual Financial Report, Chicago, Chicago City Council, chicago city hall, constitutional amendment, CTA: Chicago Transit Authority, CTU: Chicago Teachers Union, deficit, emergency fee, fire pensions, homelessness, housing market, Illinois General Assembly, interest rates, library, Lori Lightfoot, lyft, pension contributions, pension crisis, pension debt, pension obligations, policy pensions, property taxes, public safety pensions, Rahm Emanuel, real estate, real estate transfer tax, surplus, tax hikes, tax increase, TIF: Tax Increment Financing, Uber, vacancies, zero-based budgeting

Illinois cellphone taxes are highest in nation, average $374 a year

By Brad Weisenstein
11/18/2019
Taxes alone hike the average Illinois cellphone bill by 31%.

TAGS: 911 fee, 911 tax, amendment, cell phone tax, Center for Disease Control and Prevention, Chicago, Connecticut, constitutional amendment, emergency fee, excise tax, exit tax, Illinois, Illinois Constitution, JB Pritzker, Lori Lightfoot, middle class, municipal pensions, pension debt, pension reform, pensions, progressive income tax, Rahm Emanuel, sales tax, tax foundation, taxes, telecom, wireless tax

Where you can and can’t buy recreational marijuana in Illinois

By Ben Szalinski
11/15/2019
Many Illinois municipalities have voted to ban or restrict marijuana sales when it becomes legal for sale. Here’s a list of where pot will, won’t and might be legally bought.

TAGS: Arlington Heights, bolingbrook, Buffalo Grove, cannabis, carbondale, Carol Stream, Chicago, city of springfield, collar counties, Collinsville, counties, Danville, decatur, Downers Grove, DuPage County, edwardsville, elmhurst, ganja, grayslake, Highland Park, Joliet, Lake Forest, lake zurich, legalization, libertyville, Lombard, marijuana, mundelein, municipal government, naperville, northbrook, Oak Park, plainfield, prohibition, schaumburg, urbana, Waukegan, Wheaton, winnetka

Former Chicago official had side job with red-light camera company

By Ben Szalinski
11/15/2019
The former deputy aviation commissioner had an undisclosed position as a sales representative for SafeSpeed LLC. The red-light camera vendor keeps emerging in federal probes.

TAGS: board of ethics, Chicago, Chicago Board of Ethics, chicago city hall, Chicago Department of Aviation, Cook County, cook county commissioner, department of aviation, federal investigation, IDOT: Illinois Department of Transportation, Illinois General Assembly, investigation, Jim Edgar, Martin Sandoval, red light cameras, SafeSpeed, Springfield

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Power in payments: Illinois can help unbanked residents, save money by adopting best practices in payment methods

Each year, tens of billions of dollars flow through Illinois state government.1 These flows all depend on methods of payment. In deciding on those payment methods, policymakers must consider a number of important factors, including security controls, cost effectiveness, accessibility, speed and allowance for choice. This report shows that by adopting best practices across all...

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Ifeoma Nkemdi

Policy lessons from Illinois’ exodus of people and money

By J. Scott Moody, Wendy Warcholik
07/07/2014

CBS Chicago: Illinois’ highest-paid superintendent receives $400K per year to oversee 1,200 students

By Ted Dabrowski
05/02/2016