Illinois

$15 minimum wage would harm Chicago workers

08/04/2013
This week, fast-food workers, retail employees and others have been protesting at McDonald’s restaurants and other fast-food restaurants and chain stores in Chicago and cities across the country. The protesters, who are being egged on and funded by the Service Employees International Union, or SEIU, and other union-affiliated groups, are demanding a $15-an-hour wage; a huge...

TAGS: Chicago, minimum wage

Credit union offers interest-free loans to Illinois lawmakers during pay freeze

By Hilary Gowins
08/04/2013
Illinois lawmakers stopped getting paid on Thursday. So did Gov. Pat Quinn, who on July 10 used his line-item veto power to halt lawmaker pay until the General Assembly reaches an agreement on pension reform. But a Rantoul-based credit union has come to their aid, offering interest-free loans to state legislators. According to the State Journal-Register,...

400 Illinoisans receive notice of impending layoffs

By Hilary Gowins
08/03/2013
At the end of July, about 400 Illinois workers were notified that they might be losing their jobs in the next few weeks. Filings with the Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity highlighted this number, which includes cuts at major companies throughout the state. According to the Chicago Tribune: Lake Forest-based Grainger Inc. said it...

TAGS: Ball Metal Beverage Packaging, Caterpillar, Citibank, Grainger, KubeTech Custom Molding, Olin Corp, Pershing, Robert Bosch Tool Corp

Chicago’s budget woes

By Benjamin VanMetre
08/01/2013
Chicago officials are reviewing the state of the city’s finances in preparation for a months-long budgeting process – and the numbers aren’t pretty. The city of Chicago released today its 2013 Annual Financial Analysis. As this document reveals, growing debt payments and unfunded pension liabilities continue to push the city’s budget into the red. As this...

TAGS: Chicago

Gov. Quinn announces $54.8 million investment in private universities

By Benjamin VanMetre
08/01/2013
Illinois can’t pay its bills. Lawmakers continue to eat away at the Illinois family budget with higher taxes. And the state refuses to stop ballooning pension payments from crowding out core government services. Yet Gov. Pat Quinn announced that Illinois will invest $54.8 million 27 private colleges and universities in the Chicago area. Some of this spending...

Three things you need to know about Chicago’s budget

By Benjamin VanMetre
08/01/2013
Chicago officials are reviewing the state of the city’s finances in preparation for a months-long budgeting process – and the numbers aren’t pretty. The city of Chicago released today its 2013 Annual Financial Analysis. As this document reveals, growing debt payments and unfunded pension liabilities continue to push the city’s budget into the red. As this...

TAGS: Chicago

More than 100,000 Medicaid enrollees found ineligible for the program

07/31/2013
by Jonathan Ingram Illinois law has long required that the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, or HFS, perform annual eligibility checks to ensure that those receiving Medicaid benefits were actually eligible for the program. After years of HFS failing to adequately perform these annual eligibility checks, lawmakers enacted 305 ILCS 5/11-5.2, which allowed...

June unemployment: More than 1 million Illinoisans unemployed or underemployed

07/31/2013
by John Klingner President Barack Obama visited to Galesburg last week to give a speech in which he said he would refocus on jobs and the economy. That’s little comfort for the unemployed workers in cities across Illinois. The economic policies the president wishes to enact at the federal level have been at work for...

For real reform, Illinois should repeal campaign contribution limits

07/30/2013
Illinois’ limits on campaign contributions are anticompetitive and unconstitutional – and the bill Gov. Pat Quinn just signed enacting sweeping changes to the state’s election code only makes the system more arbitrary and unfair. The biggest problem with Illinois’ existing campaign finance law is that it limits how much money a person can give to candidates for state office...

Betting on Illinois: Pizza with a Purpose

By Hilary Gowins
07/29/2013
Dimitri Syrkin-Nikolau doesn’t just make pizza. Through his Chicagobased business, Dimos Pizza, he also cultivates talented employees. He opens his doors to local schools. He helps foster enthusiasm and excitement within his community. That’s because, to Syrkin-Nikolau, business isn’t just about making money. He believes it’s about what he calls “purposeful profit.” “Ultimately, profit is...