Illinois

Illinois’ penalty for borrowing now 7 times higher than when Quinn took office

12/14/2013

This week Illinois borrowed $350 million to pay for projects including roads, bridges and schools. The state issued 25-year taxable general obligation bonds, the first borrowing by Illinois since the state passed its pension “fix” in early December. But not unlike someone with a terrible credit score, Illinois must pay the highest penalty rate of...

TAGS: credit rating, pensions

Illinois employers warn of nearly 1,800 layoffs

By Hilary Gowins

12/13/2013

Nearly 1,800 workers will be laid off throughout Illinois in the next two months. This unfortunate holiday news will affect nearly 500 Dominick’s employees as the company prepares to close up shop in Illinois. The latest round of notices includes 141 workers from the company’s Oak Brook headquarters and another 332 workers at its Northlake...

Illinois added 100 people to food stamps for every net new job created during past decade

By John Klingner

12/13/2013

The number of Illinoisans enrolled in Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program, or SNAP, remained above 2 million in September. This is the 12th month in a row enrollment has remained above 2 million people. That means one-sixth of Illinoisans have spent more than a year relying on government handouts for their next meal. And it should...

TAGS: jobs, SNAP, unemployment

Current government retirees turn sick days into pension dollars

By Benjamin VanMetre

12/12/2013

The pensions that government workers receive in Illinois are often based upon more years of service than these employees actually worked. That’s because, among many other perks, government workers can apply unused sick days to their pensionable service credit. In the Teachers’ Retirement System, or TRS, Illinois’ largest state pension fund, a 55 year-old teacher...

Illinois has 43% of the country’s public pension plans

By Brian Costin

12/11/2013

Illinois has 43 percent of the nation’s public pension plans, according to a 2012 study published by the Commission on Government Forecasting and Accountability, or COGFA, conducted by Marquette Associates on local police and fire pensions in Illinois. According to publicly available data, there are 1,511 public pension plans in the United States. With 657...

TAGS: pensions

7,000 Illinoisans enrolled in ObamaCare plans in the first 2 months

By Naomi Lopez Bauman

12/11/2013

Almost 365,000 Americans have “enrolled” in the ObamaCare exchanges, according to the U.S. Department of Health and Human Services. That number is far below the Obama administration’s impending goal of enrolling 3 million people by the end of December and 7 million by the end of March. But the true number of people who have...

TAGS: enrollment

Chicago backs off e-cigarette ban

By Bryant Jackson-Green

12/10/2013

Last month, Chicago was poised to become the second city in Illinois to impose burdensome new restrictions on e-cigarettes, threatening to regulate them like tobacco products even though they contain no tobacco. But after facing strong opposition at the City Council’s joint Finance and Health Committee hearing on Monday, a much weaker version of the...

Pension bill’s accounting gimmicks ignore $6-$8B in debt

By Jonathan Ingram

12/10/2013

House Speaker Mike Madigan and proponents of the temporary pension “fix” enacted last week promised taxpayers that it would immediately reduce the state’s unfunded pension liability by about $20 billion. But despite these promises, the credit rating agencies have indicated that they would be waiting for actuarial analyses before making any decisions on how the new law...

TAGS: pensions

Government union power cracking as support wanes

By Paul Kersey

12/10/2013

While teachers unions hold tremendous power, cracks are starting to appear in their foundations. As Stephanie Simon reports in Politico, both the National Education Association and the American Federation of Teachers are dealing with new challenges: declining membership, the growing popularity of Right-to-Work laws and a loss of support among the public. As Simon describes...

TAGS: AFT: American Federation of Teachers, lobbying, unions

Delaying the day of reckoning

12/06/2013

While the media and politicians across Illinois celebrate the state’s “landmark,” “monumental” and “courageous” pension fix, for most Illinoisans nothing has changed. Taxpayers will continue to hear calls for higher taxes to keep the state’s pension systems afloat. Government workers and retirees are still trapped in a pension system that gives them no voice, no...

FAQ: How the federal scholarship program would help Illinois students

Illinois students could soon benefit from scholarship money to help them find a tutor, attend ACT or SAT prep sessions, pay tuition, get special education services or assist with other academic needs. That will happen in Illinois only if Gov. J.B. Pritzker lets the state’s schoolchildren benefit from the Federal Scholarship Tax Credit program, established...

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Illinois

Illinois’ penalty for borrowing now 7 times higher than when Quinn took office

Illinois employers warn of nearly 1,800 layoffs

Illinois added 100 people to food stamps for every net new job created during past decade

Current government retirees turn sick days into pension dollars

Illinois has 43% of the country’s public pension plans

7,000 Illinoisans enrolled in ObamaCare plans in the first 2 months

Chicago backs off e-cigarette ban

Pension bill’s accounting gimmicks ignore $6-$8B in debt

Government union power cracking as support wanes

Delaying the day of reckoning

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