Chicago

Illinois Forward: A 5-year plan for balanced budgets, declining debt and tax relief

By Adam Schuster
02/15/2020
The years 2010 through 2019 will go down in Illinois history as a decade of public policy failure and economic decline. High fixed costs for pensions and government worker health care have prevented the state from balancing its budget in any year since 2001. Since the Great Recession in 2008, the state’s fiscal imbalance has...

Bipartisan bill would block ‘revolving door’ from lawmaker to lobbyist

02/10/2020
Illinois is one of the few states that lets lawmakers or state agency chiefs become a lobbyist the day after leaving office. A new ethics bill would stop that.

TAGS: cooling off period, corruption, FBI: Federal Bureau of Investigation, federal investigation, ghost payroll, Heather Steans, ILGA: Illinois General Assembly, Illinois, lawmakers, lobbying, Michael McClain, Mike Madigan, Mike McClain, Paul Schimpf, revolving door, Scott Bennett, Springfield, Suzy Glowiak-Hilton

Bill to remove nearly 100 red-light cameras advances to House floor

02/06/2020
The proposal to limit red-light cameras in Illinois is making progress as another bill’s sponsor believes she can garner the votes to ban them entirely.

TAGS: bribery, Chicago, corruption, David McSweeney, FBI: Federal Bureau of Investigation, federal investigation, home rule, IDOT: Illinois Department of Transportation, ILGA: Illinois General Assembly, Illinois, Illinois House of Representatives, Jonathan Carroll, Martin Sandoval, Oakbrook Terrace, red light cameras, SafeSpeed, Springfield, Susana Mendoza

Former state Rep. Arroyo pleads not guilty to bribery charge

02/05/2020
Arroyo resigned from his seat in the Illinois General Assembly after his arrest in October on bribery charges. He now faces up to 10 years in prison for bribery.

TAGS: bribery, corruption, fair tax, FBI: Federal Bureau of Investigation, federal investigation, graduated income tax, ILGA: Illinois General Assembly, Illinois, Illinois House of Representatives, Illinois Senate, IRS: Internal Revenue Service, JB Pritzker, lobbying, Luis Arroyo, Martin Sandoval, progressive income tax, red light cameras, Springfield, tax fraud, Terry Link

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

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4 ways to break out of Illinois’ pension trap

Causes, costs, how to set the state free

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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