Illinois

America’s digital divide: Startups fly, storefronts struggle

By Michael Lucci
09/26/2014
This article was written by Satta Sarmah and featured in Fast Company on September 26, 2014.  When 30-year-old Chicago native Sheyla Jarocz talks about how a brick and mortar storefront survives in the city’s North Center neighborhood, it sounds like a lonely mission. “I’ve tried to do promotions with nearby businesses,” said Jarocz, who opened Maash Boutique two years...

TAGS: Chicago, jobs

Bad blood makes for bad policy in General Assembly’s budget exemption

By Robert Steere
09/23/2014
Does bad blood between political leaders justify bad public policy? Most Illinoisans don’t think so, especially when the result is legislation that exempts their lawmakers from budgetary oversight. Earlier this year, at the midnight hour of spring session, Illinois’ legislative leaders carved out a special exemption for themselves from the state budgeting process. They enacted...

TAGS: taxes

What you aren’t being told about a state-based exchange in Illinois

By Naomi Lopez Bauman
09/23/2014
A recent piece in the Chicago Tribune shows that some in Illinois remain very interested in establishing a state-based health insurance exchange. Under the Affordable Care Act, or ACA, states have the option of applying for federal dollars to establish a state-based health insurance exchange instead of using the federal exchange, healthcare.gov. But not only...

TAGS: ACA: Affordable Care Act, health care

Body cameras for police a win for citizens, officers and taxpayers

By Bryant Jackson-Green
09/23/2014
What’s a low-cost way to improve police accountability in Illinois while saving taxpayer dollars? Some say body cameras for police officers. After the events in Ferguson, MO, several editorials have encouraged Illinois police officers to wear body cameras as a way to deter misconduct, and some departments have already signed on to the idea. But...

TAGS: Chicago, police, police body cameras, police misconduct

Who’s hurting in Illinois?

By Michael Lucci
09/22/2014
The effects of the Great Recession still linger in Illinois, the pain of which has been distributed unevenly. Youth and minority workers have been hurt most by the state’s ongoing policy errors. The Great Recession caused employment losses across all demographic groups. Illinois’ policy mistakes and weak recovery – the worst in the U.S. –...

TAGS: employment, Great Recession, unemployment

Addison, Algonquin and Mundelein earn high marks on government transparency audit, while 18 cities fail

By Brian Costin
09/22/2014
The towns of Addison, Algonquin and Mundelein earned high marks for online government transparency in a recent survey of Illinois municipalities. The current project evaluated 25 towns with populations ranging from Oak Forest’s nearly 28,000 to Calumet City’s 37,000 residents, the 51st– through 75th-largest municipalities in the state. The towns were graded using the Illinois...

TAGS: good government

Bloomington enacts online transparency ordinance based on Illinois Policy guidelines

By Brian Costin
09/21/2014
In late October, the city of Bloomington enacted one of the most comprehensive local government online transparency ordinances in the state, and taxpayers should be celebrating their officials’ commitment to open honest governing. By adopting an online transparency ordinance, largely based on the Illinois Policy Institute’s 10-Point Transparency Checklist, Bloomington is taking the strongest possible action...

TAGS: good government, transparency

Is pension reform dead in Illinois?

09/19/2014
In June 2014, in response to attempts by the state to reform government-worker health-care costs, Illinois’ Supreme Court found these benefits to be protected by the state’s pension clause ­– even though retiree health-care benefits are nowhere to be found in the state pension code. As a result, many assume that if the state can’t...

TAGS: budget, pensions, taxes

Federal numbers show Illinois remains last in post-recession recovery

By Michael Lucci
09/19/2014
A day after the Illinois Department of Employment Security reported that Illinois’ workforce shrank by 19,000 people in August, driving Illinois’ labor-force participation rate to a new 35-year low, new data from the Bureau of Labor Statistics confirms the severity of the state’s labor-force dropout crisis. The labor-force participation rate measures the share of Illinois’...

TAGS: Chicago, IDES: Illinois Department of Employment Security, jobs

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

Occupational licensing requirements present one of the steepest barriers to low-income Illinoisans starting careers in beauty services. Illinois requires anyone seeking to become a barber, cosmetologist, nail technician or hair braider to obtain a state license, essentially a permission slip to work. Unlike 45 other states, Illinois offers only one pathway to licensure for each...

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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