Unemployment rate drops as Illinois workforce shrinks by 33,600 during summer moving season

By Michael Lucci

08/19/2016

Manufacturing weakness driving Illinois unemployment up; dropout and out-migration driving unemployment down.

TAGS: BLS: Bureau of Labor Statistics, IDES: Illinois Department of Employment Security, jobs, manufacturing, unemployment

A mother’s will to win

By Austin Berg

06/02/2016

It’s easy to get cynical about Illinois politics. Frustration is the norm in Springfield. Optimism is an emotional liability. But Lisa Creason doesn’t play by those rules. When it comes to politics in the Land of Lincoln, the single mom from Decatur just pulled off the biggest underdog story of 2016. She drove to Springfield...

TAGS: criminal justice reform, Lisa Creason, occupational licensing

Illinois House votes to reform health care licensing for ex-offenders

By Bryant Jackson-Green

05/26/2016

If Gov. Bruce Rauner signs SB 42, ex-offenders would gain the chance to prove their rehabilitation and earn the right to work in medical occupations.

TAGS: criminal justice reform, occupational licensing

Madigan lawyer sues to block fair-map amendment

By Austin Berg

05/12/2016

In Illinois, politicians pick their voters.

TAGS: fair maps, gerrymandering, Mike Madigan

Want to crush Illinois’ small businesses? Pass a progressive tax

By Austin Berg

05/03/2016

State Rep. Lou Lang’s progressive tax would hurt the middle class by making Illinois home to the second-highest small-business tax rate in the U.S.

TAGS: graduated income tax, progressive income tax, small business

The debt never paid: Re-entry reforms for Illinois

By Bryant Jackson-Green

03/31/2016

How to reform a broken criminal-justice system that prevents ex-offenders from achieving self-sufficiency

In Friedrichs case, First Amendment freedom must trump federalism

12/04/2015

The states are the laboratories of democracy, but their experiments can’t violate citizens’ constitutional rights to free speech and freedom of association under the First Amendment of the Constitution.

Most Illinois cities are shrinking, according to U.S. Census Bureau

By Michael Lucci

06/07/2015

Illinois’ statewide out-migration crisis is backed up by city-level data.

TAGS: outmigration

Full text: Gov. Rauner’s State of the State address

By illinoispolicy

02/04/2015

Gov. Bruce Rauner's State of the State Address. February 4, 2015

Act locally: Right-to-Work zones can spark IL comeback

By Michael Lucci

02/02/2015

For Illinois’ downstate communities that have felt the pain of out-migration and need to revitalize their industrial base, a local Right-to-Work ordinance can be their first step to a comeback.

TAGS: jobs, labor, right to work, unions

Decatur

Unemployment rate drops as Illinois workforce shrinks by 33,600 during summer moving season

A mother’s will to win

Illinois House votes to reform health care licensing for ex-offenders

Madigan lawyer sues to block fair-map amendment

Want to crush Illinois’ small businesses? Pass a progressive tax

The debt never paid: Re-entry reforms for Illinois

In Friedrichs case, First Amendment freedom must trump federalism

Most Illinois cities are shrinking, according to U.S. Census Bureau

Full text: Gov. Rauner’s State of the State address

Act locally: Right-to-Work zones can spark IL comeback

Pathway to a Profession: How Apprenticeships Could Reshape Illinois’ Beauty Service Industry

Report Archive

Diana Graham

Process for unionizing non-state workers raises red flags

CBS Chicago: Illinois’ highest-paid superintendent receives $400K per year to oversee 1,200 students