Job growth was healthy across the nation in November with a gain of 227,000. Illinois’ metropolitan areas lost 3,400, with Peoria losing at the fastest rate.
Nearly 9 in 10 of the Illinois job losses announced in November resulted from businesses closing. Chicago led the state for layoffs, followed by Rockford.
Chicago gang crime declined to its lowest level in the past two decades in 2023, but the numbers may be more about gangs fracturing and police losing their gang database. Still, more than 1-in-5 homicides were suspected of being gang related.
Illinois House Bill 5896 would require more detailed reporting of how Springfield spends taxpayer money. It improves transparency, which is a step toward fiscal restraint.
Chicago Transit Authority Green Line riders were the most likely to be crime victims for the 12 months ending in September. The most dangerous CTA stop had nearly 7 crimes per 100,000 riders compared to 1.3 systemwide.
The nation’s longest-serving legislative speaker, a woman who called herself “super mayor” and a collection of other self-serving public servants are among the highest-profile corruption cases in decades. Here’s the naughty list for 2024.
The Chicago Teachers Union played a long game with Acero charter schools: unionizing them, undermining them and then taking them over. Now students and parents are left without the charter schools they chose.
Chicago’s public pension contributions remain lower than what actuaries say is needed to pay benefits despite a nearly six-fold increase in spending since 2014. Pension problems are driving high property taxes ever higher.
Sales taxes up to 11.5% will greet some Cook County shoppers this holiday season. Illinois averages 8.85% in sales taxes statewide, slightly more than last year and the seventh highest nationwide.
A current dispute with SEIU and militant stances against police are just two reasons other city unions have reason to believe the Chicago Teachers Union cares little about solidarity and a lot about its own interests.
The “gift room” scandal, a botched police raid and a smokestack implosion underscore how the head of Chicago’s Law Department, also known as the corporation counsel, too often lacks independence from the mayor’s office. Chicago’s corporation counsel is appointed by the mayor and can be removed at the mayor’s discretion. Experience in other major cities...