Illinois

Dick Durbin’s double standard on IRS targeting conservative organizations

05/19/2013
by Brian Costin The story of the Internal Revenue Service targeting conservative-leaning organizations for special scrutiny in nonprofit status is one of the biggest scandals to hit Washington, D.C., in my lifetime. Even U.S. Sen. Dick Durbin – an Illinois Democrat – has weighed in with outrage about the IRS scandal. From the St. Louis Post-Dispatch:...

Pension cost shift: why school districts would benefit from a 401(k)-style retirement plan

By Benjamin VanMetre
05/17/2013
The problem Illinois has the worst-funded pension systems in the nation. The structure of Illinois’ current defined benefit system coupled with the political unwillingness to reform has left the state’s pension systems in danger of running completely dry. Even the head of the Illinois Teachers’ Retirement System, or TRS, Dick Ingram, said the fund may...

Illinois unemployment drops to 9.3 percent

05/16/2013
The Illinois Department of Employment Security, or IDES, announced today that the Illinois unemployment rate declined to 9.3 percent in April from 9.5 percent in March. Illinois’ unemployment rate is still nearly two percentage points above the national average, which declined to 7.5 percent in April. Source: Illinois Department of Employment Security The decline in the...

Cleveland school district, union agree to performance-based contract

05/15/2013
by Paul Kersey In Illinois we have gotten used to being kept in the dark about collective bargaining with government worker unions. Recently a bill to open up the process and have tentative agreements made open to the public before they are signed failed in committee. But it doesn’t have to be like this. In Cleveland of...

The CPS shuffle: moving students and money, with no promise of better results

05/15/2013
by Josh Dwyer When Chicago Public Schools first announced that it was closing schools, the primary justification it gave was to save money – upward of $500,000 to $800,000 per school. It needed the money to address the looming pension cliff the city is facing next year. When people began questioning those numbers, CPS’s story...

Wildlife Prairie State Park stays open through private nonprofit ownership

05/15/2013
by Brian Costin Every once in a while, government in Illinois actually gets smaller. One recent example revolves around the Wildlife Prairie State Park, which will drop “State” from its name and will be run by the Forest Park Foundation of Peoria, a private, nonprofit group, effective immediately. Wildlife Prairie Park, located 10 miles west of...

Illinois was the only state to see a double-digit year-over-year jump in food stamp use

05/14/2013
by Ted Dabrowski     Food-stamp use rose 2.7% in the U.S. in February from a year earlier, with 15% of the U.S. population receiving benefits. The number of recipients in the food stamp program, formally known as the Supplemental Nutrition Assistance Program (SNAP), reached 47.6 million, or nearly one in seven Americans. With more...

More Caterpillar layoffs in Decatur

05/14/2013
Earlier this month, Caterpillar Inc. announced an additional 300 employees will be laid off at the Decatur plant. The latest layoffs would take effect in July. The announcement comes a month after the manufacturer said 460 workers would lose their jobs effective in June. Unemployment in the Decatur metro area is 11.8 percent. Illinois has the...

Proposed TIF district would encompass Buffalo Grove government property

05/14/2013
by Brian Costin Property tax bills are hitting mailboxes this week for residents across the state. The average homeowner in Illinois has an effective property tax rate of 1.93 percent; this is the second-highest property tax rate in the country. Homeowners in Lake County pay a median effective property tax rate of 2.46 percent, which ranks...
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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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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