The Problem Previous Institute reports have shown how officials within Illinois’s legislative and judicial branches are paid significantly higher than national averages. Illinois state representatives and senators earn a base salary of $67,836—the fifth-highest legislator salary in the country. Only California, Michigan, New York and Pennsylvania pay their legislators more. Judges serving on the state’s...

by Kristina Rasmussen We’ve written about the cost of the Governor’s entourage (you know, your standard retinue of butlers, housemen, and laundresses). Today’s State Journal-Register features a thoughtful letter to the editor on closing the Executive Mansion down as a residence for the governor: In times of economic distress, tough choices have to be made. A family might decide to forego a...

by Kate Piercy From S.T. Karnick at The American Culture: In case you missed it, LA Times reporters Jason Felch, Jason Song and Doug Smith used California’s public records law to obtain seven years of math and English test scores from the Los Angeles Unified School District. They asked Richard Buddin, a well-respected analyst at the RAND Corporation,...