More than a third of Illinois’ largest cities shrinking in population

10/03/2017

Twelve of the 29 Illinois cities with over 50,000 in population are losing residents.

TAGS: outmigration, population, U.S. Census Bureau

Black students in suburban, downstate Illinois benefit from amendatory veto of education bill

By Ted Dabrowski, John Klingner

08/16/2017

Gov. Bruce Rauner’s amendments to Senate Bill 1 would bring nearly $25 million more to the 10 Illinois school districts with the highest black student enrollment outside of Chicago.

TAGS: budget, CPS: Chicago Public Schools, Senate Bill 1

Illinois has 63,000 government workers making over $100K

07/27/2017

High-priced government workers cost taxpayers in Illinois $10 billion a year, with municipal managers in areas surrounding Chicago reaping the most benefits.

TAGS: Chicago, DuPage County, Kane County, Lake County, LGDF: Local Government Distributive Fund, McHenry County, municipal government, Will County

Illinois has some of the highest paid mayors in the world

03/22/2017

State and local tax hikes in Illinois have hurt economic growth, lowered the standard of living, and contributed to out-migration.

TAGS: Brad Stephens, LGDF: Local Government Distributive Fund, mayor, property taxes, Rosemont

Local government transparency bill clears Illinois House

04/18/2016

House Bill 5522 would require local governments and school districts in Illinois to maintain websites with links to vital public information such as budgets, expenditures and officials’ names and numbers.

TAGS: corruption, local government, transparency

Nearly 1,700 Illinois workers hit with layoffs, hundreds in manufacturing

By Austin Berg

03/07/2016

Illinois’ manufacturing meltdown and weak jobs growth are pummeling workers.

TAGS: jobs, manufacturing

The Chicago squeeze: Property taxes, fees and over 30 individual taxes crush city residents

By Ted Dabrowski, John Klingner

12/08/2015

Chicagoans are the most-taxed residents of any major city in Illinois and pay the 10th-highest property taxes compared to taxpayers in other large U.S. cities.

Busting the myth that Chicago taxes are low

By Ted Dabrowski, John Klingner

11/15/2015

An analysis of Chicago’s taxation and revenue in perspective

Illinois Corruption Watch, October 2014

By Brian Costin

11/01/2014

In October, we found 52 different stories of potential public corruption in Illinois, including a trio of stories related to the election. An Illinois Policy investigation into emails from a group of Kankakee County superintendents revealed potentially illegal activities to pass a countywide sales-tax hike for school facilities. Documents obtained suggest illegal actions by superintendents...

TAGS: good government, waste

Illinois’ largest cities show wide disparity in online transparency, Chicago fails

By Brian Costin

12/19/2013

A new report looking at the state’s 25 largest municipalities shows a wide disparity in citizens’ access to basic government information online from community to community. In places such as Evanston, Skokie and Orland Park, citizens have excellent access to basic financial and participatory information online, but the same isn’t true in many other areas....

TAGS: good government, transparency

Bolingbrook

More than a third of Illinois’ largest cities shrinking in population

Black students in suburban, downstate Illinois benefit from amendatory veto of education bill

Illinois has 63,000 government workers making over $100K

Illinois has some of the highest paid mayors in the world

Local government transparency bill clears Illinois House

Nearly 1,700 Illinois workers hit with layoffs, hundreds in manufacturing

The Chicago squeeze: Property taxes, fees and over 30 individual taxes crush city residents

Busting the myth that Chicago taxes are low

Illinois Corruption Watch, October 2014

Illinois’ largest cities show wide disparity in online transparency, Chicago fails

Fighting poverty with employment: Chicago block clubs

Report Archive

Diana Graham

Process for unionizing non-state workers raises red flags

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