Illinois

MLB union’s handling of Biogenesis scandal highlights collective bargaining weaknesses

08/10/2013

The fallout from the Biogenesis scandal in Major League Baseball – New York Yankee Alex Rodriguez fighting a long suspension, a dozen other players accepting 50-game suspensions – reveals a big problem with U.S. labor law: how unions deal with disciplinary problems. How far should a union be willing to go to protect a member...

Illinois liquor law stifles competition among distributors

By Bryant Jackson-Green

08/09/2013

Running a competitive business can be difficult – unless you have friends in government to help squash competition for you. In late May, Gov. Pat Quinn signed House Bill 2606 into law, which amended Illinois’ Liquor Control Act to prohibit out-of state brewers, distilleries and other alcohol manufacturers from owning any part of an alcohol distributor in...

Nearly 106,000 Medicaid enrollees in Illinois found ineligible for the program

By Jonathan Ingram

08/09/2013

For years, the Illinois Department of Healthcare and Family Services, or HFS, has failed to take adequate steps to ensure the people actually receiving Medicaid benefits are eligible for the program. In 2012, for example, somewhere between 15 percent and 20 percent of Medicaid files were overdue for their annual eligibility checks. The auditor general noted that...

Illinois business moves headquarters to Wisconsin

By Hilary Gowins

08/08/2013

EMCO Chemicals Distributors Inc., a chemical manufacturer, packager and distributor, announced the grand opening of its brand new, 260,000-square-foot-facility in Pleasant Prairie, Wis. That’s bad news for Illinois, as the company’s headquarters was previously located about 20 miles south in North Chicago. EMCO earns more than $300 million annually in sales, and is now the...

North Carolina ends teacher tenure

08/07/2013

North Carolina Gov. Pat McCrory signed a landmark budget bill last week – one that is full of education reforms, including the end of teacher tenure in the state. Tenure doesn’t guarantee a teacher a job for life. But it does make it much more difficult for a district to let go of a...

TAGS: North Carolina

Court rules texts, emails sent during public meetings are public

08/07/2013

The Open Meetings Act is quite clear as to what a public meeting is. “Meeting” means any gathering, whether in person or by video or audio conference, telephone call, electronic means (such as, without limitation, electronic mail, electronic chat, and instant messaging), or other means of contemporaneous interactive communication, of a majority of a quorum...

Power to the parents: using parent trigger laws to change educational outcomes

08/06/2013

As Chicago Public Schools and the Chicago Teachers Union continue to argue about the reasons for the district’s recent school closings, one thing is clear – parents have largely been excluded from the conversation. But they don’t have to be – a new law appearing in seven states across the country, if adopted in Illinois, would...

TAGS: CPS: Chicago Public Schools, parent trigger

Mercer County treasurer corruption case reveals red flags for county

By Brian Costin

08/05/2013

Mercer County Treasurer Mike Bertelsen has been charged with stealing $13,000 from a county 911 fund. As reported by a local NBC affiliate: The County Treasurer in Mercer County, Illinois has been arrested. Michael Bertelsen, 53, faces a charge of felony theft. On the afternoon of July 31st, the Mercer County Sheriff made the arrest and...

$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,...

Taxed out: 10 reforms to stop Illinois from losing people and jobs

Illinois’ tax code stands in the way of the state’s economic competitiveness. The combination of high tax burdens and a poor tax structure contributes to the loss of jobs and investment to other states. From a place of former economic dominance, Illinois now ranks 45th in gross state product (GSP) growth over the past decade...

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