Allegheny Technologies to modernize retirement benefits with 401(k)-style plan

By Benjamin VanMetre

12/18/2014

Allegheny Technologies is making the switch to a 401(k)-style plan despite the fact that the company’s defined-benefit plan is currently 87 percent funded. Regardless of how well funded some defined-benefit plans can be, the plans are no longer affordable or sustainable.

TAGS: 401(k), pensions

Rauner named most important pension player in the nation

By Benjamin VanMetre

12/16/2014

There’s a reason Bruce Rauner topped Institutional Investor’s Pension 40 list – he has the potential to fix the nation’s worst pension crisis.

TAGS: 401(k), Bruce Rauner, pensions, Senate Bill 1

Jobs serve as a stopgap for Chicago teen violence

By Austin Berg

12/15/2014

But Chicago’s minimum-wage hike is a stopgap for jobs.

TAGS: Chicago, jobs

Chicago minimum-wage timing could spell disaster

By Michael Lucci

12/14/2014

Chicago City Council claims that over 400,000 workers in Chicago will get pay hikes. What lawmakers should be studying is how many tens of thousands of those workers are going to be unnecessarily thrown out of work the next time the economy slows down, property taxes go up or a new technology comes along that can replace human labor.

TAGS: Chicago, minimum wage

Harvard study ranks Illinois among most corrupt states

By Brian Costin

12/13/2014

The state’s entrenched culture of cronyism is blindingly clear, especially to those who report on it for a living.

Police body cameras, ban on chokeholds may be coming to Chicago soon

By Bryant Jackson-Green

12/12/2014

City officials don’t get very much right. But if public pressure makes them act to ensure greater police transparency and more protection of individual rights, we may have good reason to be optimistic.

TAGS: Chicago, police body cameras

IL Supreme Court expedites pension battle

By Benjamin VanMetre

12/12/2014

The expedited hearing is good news. It means the state will know specifically what it can do to address its $111 billion unfunded pension debt sooner rather than later.

TAGS: pensions, Senate Bill 1, U.S. Supreme Court

With costs on the decline, 401(k)s increasingly attractive

By Ted Dabrowski

12/11/2014

The list of reasons for denying government workers the benefits of 401(k)-style plans in favor of politician-controlled pensions is short at best, and it’s growing shorter every day.

TAGS: 401(k), Chicago, pensions

Downers Grove sign ordinance harms local business

By Jeffrey Schwab

12/11/2014

Leibundguth Moving & Storage has been in Downers Grove, Illinois, since 1928, and for over 70 years it has had a hand-painted sign on the back of its building facing the Metra commuter rail tracks.

TAGS: Downers Grove, ordinance, regulations

Rest in peace, Judy Baar Topinka

12/10/2014

Judy Baar Topinka was larger than life.

Illinois

Allegheny Technologies to modernize retirement benefits with 401(k)-style plan

Rauner named most important pension player in the nation

Jobs serve as a stopgap for Chicago teen violence

Chicago minimum-wage timing could spell disaster

Harvard study ranks Illinois among most corrupt states

Police body cameras, ban on chokeholds may be coming to Chicago soon

IL Supreme Court expedites pension battle

With costs on the decline, 401(k)s increasingly attractive

Downers Grove sign ordinance harms local business

Rest in peace, Judy Baar Topinka

FAQ: How the federal scholarship program would help Illinois students

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