Chicago

2016: Chicago’s year of the tax hike

12/31/2016
To address the city’s worsening financial crises, Chicago politicians turned up the dial on their usual answer to budgetary woes: raising taxes.

Our regrettable shrinking state

By Austin Berg
12/30/2016
The U.S. Census Bureau released new migration data Dec. 20, and it’s frightening. Illinois has a massive people problem. From July 2015 to July 2016, the state’s population declined by more than 37,000 people. That’s the worst population loss in the nation, and will likely mean the loss of a seat in the U.S. House...

TAGS: outmigration, population, U.S. Census Bureau

2 million Illinoisans struggle to put food on their tables

By Madelyn Harwood
12/25/2016
Recent data from the Illinois Department of Human Services show nearly 2 million Illinois residents need government assistance to put food on the table this holiday season, as the state continues to hemorrhage manufacturing jobs and other blue-collar opportunities. Each year’s end is a time for reflection.

TAGS: food stamps, jobs, SNAP

State’s record-breaking budgets make Illinoisans poorer

By Ted Dabrowski
12/25/2016
For each percentage point drop in the private sector’s share of the state economy, Illinois household incomes fall by over $3,000 on average. Unfortunately for Illinoisans, the private sector’s share of the Illinois economy has dwindled as government’s share – enabled through tax-funded spending – has risen to 25 percent.

TAGS: budget, household income, income tax, taxes

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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