Illinois

Lawmakers’ pension fund posts negative investment return

By Jonathan Ingram
11/20/2012
For the third time in the last five years, the General Assembly Retirement System (GARS) has posted a negative investment return. Although the pension fund predicted it would earn $4 million in fiscal year 2012, it actually lost $81,448. The fund posted an investment return of -0.14 percent, far below the 7 percent it expected....

Illinois’ pension debt grew by nearly $12 billion last year

By Jonathan Ingram
11/19/2012
Illinois’ pension systems are one year closer to complete insolvency. According to actuarial reports, the state’s five public pension systems owe a combined $94.6 billion. That’s up 14 percent from the $82.9 billion reported last year. Worse yet, none of the pension systems have enough assets on hand to pay benefits to those who have...

Contagion: when unions and employers can’t agree, businesses fail

By Hilary Gowins
11/16/2012
When unions can’t work with employers in the private sector, companies go under. Hostess Brands Inc. is the most recent case in point, announcing that it will close its doors because of financial insolvency. Hostess has filed for bankruptcy twice since 2004, most recently this January. The company has an annual revenue of $2 billion,...

The backdoor CPS bailout

11/16/2012
Chicago Public Schools cannot erase its $1 billion budget deficit alone – it’s going to need some help. Chicago Mayor Rahm Emanuel and the school board know the situation is dire. This is why they have proposed closing 120 schools next year, a move that could save $500,000 to $800,000 per school closed. But, to...

AFSCME: The Wearing of the Green

By Paul Kersey
11/14/2012
As Illinois moves closer and closer to the fiscal cliff, the next story to watch is the outcome of three days of workplace protests planned by the American Federation of State County and Municipal Employees Leadership Council 31. The protests are directed at the state of Illinois and Gov. Pat Quinn, and are expected to...

Home rule repealed in Westmont, rejected in 4 other communities

By Brian Costin
11/13/2012
Many local voters didn’t realize it, but residents of Westmont, Ill., made history during last week’s election. By a vote of 51.5 percent to 48.5 percent, Westmont became the first Illinois community to repeal a municipality’s home rule power in 29 years. The last repeal happened in Rockford in 1983. Westmont automatically became a home rule...

Teen unemployment in Illinois: the toll of the Great Recession and minimum wage

By Ted Dabrowski
11/12/2012
The problem Only 27 percent of teens in Illinois had jobs last year – the lowest Illinois teen employment rate in the 42 years this data has been collected. The figures were worst for African American teens in Chicago, where only 10 percent had jobs. As the graphic shows, the Great Recession clobbered teens with...

The next two years in Illinois

11/09/2012
Neither Illinois Senate President John Cullerton nor House Speaker Mike Madigan will have a Republican boogeyman to point to when they speak to interest groups or members of their own caucuses.

The progressive income tax: unfair, unstable, unresponsive and inefficient

By Benjamin VanMetre
11/08/2012
Gov. Pat Quinn and many groups in Illinois are pushing for the state’s next multibillion dollar tax increase – a progressive income tax. Passing a progressive income tax is “one of my goals before I stop breathing,” Quinn said. There has been a lot of misinformation about the progressive income tax floating around. It’s time to...
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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