Only 1 Illinois metro area fully recovered its pandemic-related job losses

By Bryce Hill

03/24/2022

Bloomington is the only metro area to recover jobs lost during the COVID-19 pandemic and statewide mandated shutdowns. Illinois is still missing 200,100 jobs as of January 2020.

TAGS: Bloomington, COVID-19, economic recovery, jobs, unemployment

‘Home Alone’ in real life could land you in an Illinois jail

By Dylan Sharkey

12/13/2021

Illinois sees leaving a child younger than 14 ‘Home Alone’ as a crime, one that state employees have vigorously applied.

TAGS: home alone, Illinois, negligence

Chicago budget hands $500 monthly to some, higher property taxes to others

By Brad Weisenstein

10/27/2021

Chicago will spend $32 million on the nation’s largest test of universal basic income. What happens after that year is one question, as is whether handing out cash will truly fix anything.

TAGS: budget, Chicago, Lori Lightfoot, property taxes, UBI: Universal Basic Income

Chicago may hand $500 monthly for a year to 5,000 low-income families

By Adam Schuster

10/12/2021

Chicago might spend $32 million on the nation’s largest test of universal basic income. What happens after that year is one question, as is whether handing out cash will truly fix anything.

TAGS: Chicago, Lori Lightfoot, UBI: Universal Basic Income

Rural areas lose to cities amid Illinois’ historic population loss

By Bryce Hill

08/13/2021

Chicago and other urban areas in Illinois gained people compared to the rural areas, with 87 of 102 counties losing people in the 2020 U.S. Census.

TAGS: Chicago, Illinois, population, U.S. Census Bureau

Here’s how IEA, NEA unions said they spent teachers’ money in 2020

By Mailee Smith

08/12/2021

The Illinois Education Association and National Education Association filed federal reports showing how they spent money in 2020. Little was spent on what most assume is a teachers union’s central mission – representing teachers.

How does your teachers union spend money? Here’s what AFT, IFT reported in 2020

By Mailee Smith

08/12/2021

The Illinois Federation of Teachers and National Federation of Teachers filed federal reports showing how they spent money in 2020. Little was spent on what most assume is a teachers union’s central mission – representing teachers.

Chicago’s speed cameras start churning out $35 tickets March 1

By Patrick Andriesen

03/01/2021

Chicago’s mayor said speed cameras will enforce a lowered tolerance March 1 as a way to curb traffic fatalities. Critics see the $35 tickets as a money grab when residents are still reeling from the COVID-19 economic downturn.

TAGS: Chicago, Lori Lightfoot, speed limit, ticketing

Illinois home price growth slowest in nation last year

By Bryce Hill

02/03/2020

Home price appreciation in Illinois was the slowest in the U.S. between the third quarter of 2018 and the third quarter of 2019, federal data showed.

TAGS: Chicago, Chicagoland, Cook County, government spending, Great Recession, home values, homeownership, household income, housing, housing market, ILGA: Illinois General Assembly, Illinois, income tax, Indiana, investment, JB Pritzker, Lake County, mortgage, recession, spending, Springfield, tax hikes, tax increase

Pritzker gas tax to help fund $205.5M ‘exit to nowhere’

10/25/2019

Gov. J.B. Pritzker just bumped up funding for road construction to a non-existent airport to $205.5 million, paid in part with his doubled gas tax. The airport remains a distant idea, but the road will soon be concrete.

TAGS: airport, gas tax, JB Pritzker, Peotone, taxes

Chicago metropolitan area

Only 1 Illinois metro area fully recovered its pandemic-related job losses

‘Home Alone’ in real life could land you in an Illinois jail

Chicago budget hands $500 monthly to some, higher property taxes to others

Chicago may hand $500 monthly for a year to 5,000 low-income families

Rural areas lose to cities amid Illinois’ historic population loss

Here’s how IEA, NEA unions said they spent teachers’ money in 2020

How does your teachers union spend money? Here’s what AFT, IFT reported in 2020

Chicago’s speed cameras start churning out $35 tickets March 1

Illinois home price growth slowest in nation last year

Pritzker gas tax to help fund $205.5M ‘exit to nowhere’

4 ways to break out of Illinois’ pension trap

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