Illinois

For entrepreneurs, the grass is greener … almost anywhere but Illinois

By Hilary Gowins
11/29/2012
How do American entrepreneurs decide where to set up shop? Business creators look at indicators like corporate tax rates and the health of a state’s finances when determining the best location in which to take root. According to a survey published recently by Thumbtack.com and the Ewing Marion Kauffman Foundation, Illinois isn’t quite cutting the mustard. On...

Forget reform: Illinois legislators want to borrow $4 billion

By Ted Dabrowski
11/28/2012
It was déjà vu in Springfield as proponents of more debt pushed Illinois to borrow another $4 billion from the bond market. Their promise? That the state’s backlog of bills would finally get paid down. This is exactly what we heard almost two years ago, when advocates of the massive $7 billion income tax increase...

How teachers’ salary schedules make pay increases misleading

11/27/2012
If you want to begin to understand what’s wrong with our current public school system, look no further than teachers’ salary schedules. Public school teachers unions across Illinois have clung to these outdated pay schemes, despite evidencethat shows salary schedules reward teachers for things that have little to do with improving student outcomes. Still, it is...

Piglet: $200,000 for eco-friendly customized zip lines

By Benjamin VanMetre
11/26/2012
    Providing entertainment may seem like a far cry from an essential government service, but not in Illinois. The Illinois Department of Commerce and Economic Opportunity (DCEO) doles out hundreds of millions of taxpayer dollars in grants each year. Funding entertainment is one of the many ways in which this money is used. The...

Illinois cannot afford a state-funded health insurance exchange

By Jonathan Ingram
11/26/2012
The Patient Protection and Affordable Care Act, or PPACA, permits but does not require states to establish new bureaucracies, known as health insurance exchanges, to regulate the purchase of government-approved health insurance from government-approved insurance companies. But whether the state decides to create its own exchange, defer to the federal government or create a state-federal...

Pensions and the Civic Committee

11/21/2012
Illinois has a long history of fake reforms – legislative proposals that promise to solve the great policy challenges of the day when passed, but never actually accomplish these goals. There is perhaps no bigger fake reform than the 1995 pension ramp passed by the Republican-controlled General Assembly and signed into law by former Gov....

What you need to know about Quinn and AFSCME

By Paul Kersey
11/21/2012
Q: I heard that Gov. Pat Quinn terminated the state’s contract with AFSCME. What just happened? A: The governor’s office announced that it was not going to continue to extend the contract with AFSCME Leadership Council 31. About 40,000 state employees that AFSCME represents are now working without a contract. Q: How did we get...

Illinois unemployment rate remains stagnant while neighboring states see improvement

By Ted Dabrowski, John Klingner
11/21/2012
Illinois’ unemployment rate remained at a stagnant 8.8 percent in October, unchanged since September and still far above the national unemployment rate of 7.9 percent. Adding only a paltry 4,800 jobs last month, the state has been stuck in neutral, at best. Illinois’ neighbors, on the other hand, are watching their unemployment rates drop. They’re...

Illinoisans foot $2.3 million cable bill for state inmates

By Benjamin VanMetre
11/21/2012
When families in Illinois need to tighten their belts, cable TV is often one of the first expenses to go. A state nearing bankruptcy should do the same. The Illinois Department of Corrections (IDOC) racked up a cable bill of $2,261,009 between July 2010 and June 2012. Popular channels included in this bill were MTV,...

Hostess’ labor problems run deep

By Paul Kersey
11/21/2012
At the behest of a bankruptcy judge, Hostess Brands got a short reprieve from liquidation in the form of one final meeting between management and union officials. But with the mediation failing and no more meetings scheduled, the company’s 18,500 workers (about 1,400 of them in Illinois) are almost certain to lose their jobs. A...
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Fighting poverty with employment: Chicago block clubs

Leaders of these organizations on the South and West sides connect residents to jobs and engage youth to build safer neighborhoods.

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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