Chicago

Madigan celebrates 35th anniversary as Illinois House speaker

By Austin Berg
01/12/2020
Illinoisans will soon cast a vote on the biggest ballot question in the history of Madigan’s record-breaking speakership.

TAGS: credit rating, Daley, debt, fair tax, FBI: Federal Bureau of Investigation, federal investigation, graduated income tax, house rules, House Speaker, ILGA: Illinois General Assembly, Illinois, Illinois Constitution, legislative map, lobbying, Mike Madigan, patronage, progressive income tax, property taxes, redistricting, Richard Daley, Springfield, tax burden, U.S. Census Bureau

Illinois comptroller calls red-light cameras ‘broken and morally corrupt’

01/07/2020
Traffic cameras collected more than $1 billion from drivers since 2008, but corruption probes are prompting state comptroller to stop acting as ticket collection agency.

TAGS: corruption, David McSweeney, federal investigation, IDOT: Illinois Department of Transportation, ILGA: Illinois General Assembly, Illinois, Jeff Tobolski, Lyons, Martin Sandoval, McCook, red light cameras, Redflex Traffic Systems, SafeSpeed, Springfield

Oak Lawn credit rating hits junk status amid skyrocketing pension costs

By Brad Weisenstein
01/07/2020
Massive increases in public safety pension contributions have failed to keep Oak Lawn’s credit from being downgraded to junk status. The Chicago suburb’s leaders are fighting cuts and tax increases, which are inevitable without pension reform in Springfield.

TAGS: credit rating, firefighter pensions, IDOI: Illinois Department of Insurance, Moody's Investor Service, municipal pensions, Oak Lawn, police pensions, public safety

2019-2020 Illinois corruption tracker

By Austin Berg
11/11/2019
Government corruption is nothing new for Illinoisans. Illinois is the second-most corrupt state in the nation, according to research by the University of Illinois-Chicago. And corruption costs the state economy more than $550 million per year. What is new? Powerful Illinois lawmakers, Chicago aldermen, local mayors and business interests are involved in what appears to be...

Illinois public services being cut to pay unsustainable pension cost

By Adam Schuster
09/08/2019
Public pensions are already eating away Illinois government services, increasing by more than 500% during the past 20 years as spending on core services including child protection, state police and college money for poor students has dropped by nearly one-third since 2000. At the same time the clock is running out on the state’s public...
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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