Chicago Public Schools

Chicago Public Schools prom slogan: ‘This Is Are Story’

By Hilary Gowins
06/06/2014
It’s hard to deny just how poorly Chicago’s public schools are performing when it hits you in the face. Such is the case with Paul Robeson High School’s 2014 prom theme: “This is Are Story.” That image came from veteran investigative reporter Chuck Goudie, who posted this image on his Facebook page. Some people might...

Chicago’s $63 billion debt burden

By John Klingner
05/12/2014
It’s no secret that Chicago is in a pension crisis and deeply in debt. Most of that debt comes from the city’s pensions, but health insurance and long-term debt are also a significant part of Chicago’s fiscal shortfall. In total, Chicago residents are officially on the hook for $63.2 billion in government pensions, health insurance...

Illinois Corruption Watch: April 2014

By Brian Costin
04/30/2014
45.  April 30, 2014 Sun-Times: Criminal probe of Quinn anti-violence plan rocks governor’s race A criminal grand jury has launched a probe into Gov. Pat Quinn’s troubled anti-violence program —  once likened to “a political slush fund” — delivering a major blow to the Democrat as he seeks re-election this fall. On Tuesday, the Quinn...

Chicago’s collar counties should get their welcome mats ready

04/16/2014
Expect Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s call for property tax hikes to be a boon for Chicago’s collar counties and Lake County, Ind. Cook County residents have been fleeing to neighboring counties for decades, and Emanuel’s proposed hikes – to prop up city pensions – will only increase the outflow. According to IRS data, Cook County lost...

TAGS: Chicago, property taxes

Saving Chicago: Pension reform without tax hikes

By John Klingner, Benjamin VanMetre
04/03/2014
Chicago politicians have exploited city-worker pensions for nearly two decades. They’ve used the city’s pension systems as slush funds and pension benefits as bargaining chips to further their own agenda, with seemingly no regard for Chicago’s fiscal health. Now those pension systems are nearly insolvent and the city is heading toward bankruptcy. Chicago is facing...

What Mayor Emanuel’s pension proposal does and doesn’t do

04/01/2014
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel has reportedly struck a pension deal with city employees who are members of the Municipal and Laborers pension funds. The deal only affects half of the city’s workers. Firefighters and policemen, as well as its teachers, park and transit workers, are not included. The deal, which calls for a five-year, $750...

TAGS: pensions

Rideshare drivers and customers to Chicago City Council: don’t kill these jobs

03/31/2014
I don’t usually enjoy sitting through Chicago City Council committee meetings. The ones I’ve attended have typically involved aldermen blustering about how the city needs to ban, restrict or control one thing or another, with no regard for individual rights or economic sense. But last Thursday’s meeting of the council’s Committee on License and Consumer...

Madigan’s Chicago bailout

03/25/2014
Illinois House Speaker Michael Madigan is calling for another big tax hike – one that conveniently funnels hundreds of millions of dollars each year to his home district of Chicago. He and his legislative colleagues will have collected more than $31 billion in new tax revenues by the time the temporary tax hike sunsets in...

TAGS: income tax, Mike Madigan, millionaire tax

Saving Chicago

03/22/2014
Chicago and state politicians have ignored the city’s growing pension crisis for nearly two decades. But with the recent onslaught of credit downgrades, billion-dollar budget deficits and comparisons to Detroit, the city’s problem has become impossible to ignore. Chicago’s slide toward bankruptcy now threatens the city’s status as an economic powerhouse, as well as the...

TAGS: Chicago, Rahm Emanuel

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Pathway to a Profession: How Apprenticeships Could Reshape Illinois’ Beauty Service Industry

Occupational licensing requirements present one of the steepest barriers to low-income Illinoisans starting careers in beauty services. Illinois requires anyone seeking to become a barber, cosmetologist, nail technician or hair braider to obtain a state license, essentially a permission slip to work. Unlike 45 other states, Illinois offers only one pathway to licensure for each...

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Diana Graham

Process for unionizing non-state workers raises red flags

By Paul Kersey
06/19/2014

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

By Ted Dabrowski
05/02/2016