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Top 10 pension facts

10/20/2014
Here are the top 10 facts you need to know about Illinois’ pension crisis: 1) Illinois’ state pension funds have only 41 cents for every dollar they need to pay out future benefits. 2) Illinois has the nation’s worst pension crisis. Taxpayers are officially on the hook for more than $100 billion in unfunded Illinois pension debt,...

Top 10 facts about local government transparency in Illinois

10/20/2014
One of the best protections against government corruption is transparency. And in today’s digital age, one of the easiest ways for government to be open and accountable is through posting public documents on the Internet. Illinois needs to strengthen online transparency standards to fight government corruption and wasteful spending practices, especially given its troubled history...

TAGS: good government, local government, transparency

Post-recession pain points in Illinois: a breakdown

By Michael Lucci
10/20/2014
From the beginning of the Great Recession in January 2008 through August 2014, Illinois is still down 157,100 payroll jobs, more than any other state in the U.S. Some sectors of Illinois’ economy have recovered completely, while others remain dramatically below pre-recession levels. Manufacturing and construction have had it the worst through the recession era,...

TAGS: jobs, private sector, public sector

Chicago taxi reforms don’t make up for lack of business freedom

By Bryant Jackson-Green
10/17/2014
On Sep. 30, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s office announced the “2014 Taxi Driver Fairness Reforms,” which purport to be major improvements that “[put] thousands of dollars back into [Chicago taxi drivers’] pockets” and “[cut] bureaucratic red tape” these drivers have to navigate. The reforms, some of which will need to be passed in a new...

TAGS: jobs

Emanuel budget fails to plan for $550 million increase in city pension costs

By Benjamin VanMetre
10/17/2014
Missing from Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel’s recent 2015 budget proposal is a plan to prepare for a massive increase in the city’s pension costs. The city’s required pension payment is slated to more than double next year. The increased cost wasn’t included the 2015 proposal because the city won’t have to pay for the full...

Mayor Emanuel’s minimum wage executive order doesn’t apply to political pals

By Brian Costin
10/11/2014
With great fanfare, Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel recently announced an executive order requiring city contractors and concessionaires to pay their employees no less than $13 per hour. The move was highly touted in both the Chicago Sun-Times and Chicago Tribune, as well as a number of other publications and television news broadcasts. None of these...

TAGS: Rahm Emanuel, transparency, unions

Months after new regulations imposed, pedicabs struggle

By Bryant Jackson-Green
10/10/2014
Four months ago, Chicago passed an ordinance regulating the city’s burgeoning pedicab industry. What’s been the effect so far? By many accounts, business has taken a major hit. Before the ordinance, it was estimated that Chicago had as many as 400 pedicabs operating throughout the city. But since the ordinance took effect, the city has...

TAGS: jobs, pedicabs

WARN report: amidst 600 layoffs, state picks phone favorites

By Austin Berg
10/09/2014
Nearly 600 Illinois workers will be laid off come 2015, according to notices filed in accordance with the Workers Adjustment and Retraining Notification Act, or WARN. Among the layoffs – which include 123 workers at Dixon, Illinois-based Anchor Coupling Inc.; 82 workers at plastics products-maker Pp Il LLC; and 58 workers at Jim’s Formal Wear,...

TAGS: EDGE: Economic Development for a Growing Economy, Jim’s Formal Wear, Microsoft, Motorola, Nokia, WARN

Chicago grifts drivers with shorter yellow lights

By Austin Berg
10/09/2014
The Chicago Tribune released findings from their ongoing investigation into the city’s red-light camera program on Thursday, revealing that with the city’s transition to a new camera vendor came a “subtle but significant lowering of the threshold for yellow light times.” The new vendor, Xerox State & Local Solutions, took over the program in 2013...

TAGS: Chicago, Redflex Traffic Systems

Federal judge: Pensions not as protected as you think

By John Klingner
10/08/2014
Contrary to popular belief, government-worker pensions are not untouchable, at least according to the federal courts. The federal judge in charge of the bankruptcy proceedings of Stockton, California, has ruled that city-worker pension debt must be treated like any other form of debt and could be adjusted under federal bankruptcy law. The ruling is a...
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FAQ: How the federal scholarship program would help Illinois students

Illinois students could soon benefit from scholarship money to help them find a tutor, attend ACT or SAT prep sessions, pay tuition, get special education services or assist with other academic needs. That will happen in Illinois only if Gov. J.B. Pritzker lets the state’s schoolchildren benefit from the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit program, established...

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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