Illinois

Illinois out-migration a reflection of mistrust in state politicians

By Jim Long
05/09/2014
Half the Illinoisans surveyed in a recent Gallup poll said they’d like to move to another state. This attitude isn’t a new trend. Between 1995 and 2009, the state lost on a net basis more than 806,000 people to out-migration. As Illinois lost residents, it also lost out on a net of $26 billion in taxable...

Illinois to lose nearly 800 jobs in coming months

By Hilary Gowins
05/09/2014
Illinois is bracing to lose another 776 jobs in the next few months. OfficeMax Inc. reported that it will lay off 137 workers in Ottawa. Naperville-based OfficeMax Inc. and Office Depot Inc., based in Boca Raton, Fla., merged in late 2013, and the company chose to locate its headquarters in Florida – not Illinois. Last...

Another state-funded ObamaCare health exchange goes up in smoke

By Naomi Lopez Bauman
05/06/2014
Before ObamaCare, there was RomneyCare, the Massachusetts model upon which ObamaCare was built. This week, Massachusetts announced that it is scrapping its failed state-funded exchange website. The state will simultaneously merge with the federal healthcare.gov site and attempt to build another state exchange website before open enrollment season for 2015 coverage which begins in the...

Illinois’ Corruption Hall of Shame, April 2014

By Brian Costin
05/06/2014
April was a very busy month for public corruption stories in Illinois. In total, there were 45 different public corruption-related news stories in just 30 days. A full list of those stories can be found here. Here are the April inductees to the Illinois Hall of Shame: 5. The city of Chicago spent more than...

Quinn’s three-step plan to increase taxes

By Benjamin VanMetre
05/05/2014
In 2011, the Illinois General Assembly passed a record income tax hike. The higher rates are legally required to partially sunset in 2015. That means all Illinois taxpayers are less than one year away from tax relief. But Quinn is back for more. He wants to increase taxes again on Illinois’ middle-class residents instead of...

U-Haul moving rates shine a light on out-migration

By Michael Lucci
05/05/2014
Illinois has a domestic migration problem. The state is losing too many people. Illinois has lost more people to other states than it gained in every single year since 1985 . And in every year, the people who left earned more money than the people who entered. The Internal Revenue Service released new migration data...

U.S. payroll gains leaving Illinois behind

By Michael Lucci
05/02/2014
The Bureau of Labor Statistics reported a gain of 288,000 payroll jobs nationally for the month of April, better than consensus expectations of a gain of 218,000. The national jobless rate dropped to 6.3 percent from 6.7 percent. The month-over-month gain in payroll jobs was the best since January 2012. However, the entire decline in...

There’s an alternative to Rahm’s proposed $750M in property tax increases

By Benjamin VanMetre
05/02/2014
Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel is calling for a $750 million property tax increase on Chicago residents over the next five years in his recent pension proposal. And his proposed “reform” plan covers only the city’s municipal and laborers pension funds. That doesn’t include whatever tax increases he’s got planned to fund the pensions of teachers,...

Looming AFSCME negotiations means big battle for Illinois’ next governor

By Justin Hegy
05/01/2014
With everyone arguing about the minimum wage, taxes and pension reforms, many people may not realize the most important battle Illinois’ next governor will face: negotiating the state’s largest government union contract. Whoever is elected governor will be stuck with a partisan and bitter legislature, making his ability to push through bold legislative reforms extremely...
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Fighting poverty with employment: Chicago block clubs

Leaders of these organizations on the South and West sides connect residents to jobs and engage youth to build safer neighborhoods.

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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